By Skies Magazine | June 17, 2016 Estimated reading time 4 minutes, 48 seconds.
Flight deck of the North American B-25 Mitchell. While flying over Southern Ontario, explore the twin-engine wartime bomber from cockpit to tail-gun position. Eric Dumigan Photo
On Father’s Day weekend, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum (CWHM) in Hamilton will be holding Flyfest, an event where you can purchase rides in a variety of their aircraft. On June 18 and 19 the price of all aircraft rides will be reduced for this special event.
One of Canada’s most iconic bush planes, the Noorduyn Norseman, is now available for rides at the museum and is sure to be a popular aircraft. Prices for a flight in the Norseman are $80 for a member and $140 for non-members. For an extra $20 you can fly right-seat up front. Note that these prices are for Flyfest weekend only.
The CWHM offers a rare chance to fly in the Noorduyn Norseman, a Canadian-built bushplane. Eric Dumigan Photo
Other aircraft available for rides will include Second World War trainers such as the de Havilland DH-82C Tiger Moth, Boeing Stearman and Harvard. The museum’s Westland Lysander, de Havillland DHC-1 Chipmunk and Beech 18 C-45 are also on the schedule for the weekend.
The North American B-25 Mitchell twin-engine medium bomber, famous for the “Doolittle Raid on Tokyo” will be one of the more popular aircraft to fly in. Passengers can experience sitting in the tail-gunner position as they race over the rural Ontario countryside.
The open-cockpit Boeing Stearman is one of the many aircraft available for rides during Flyfest. Eric Dumigan Photo
The CWHM will debut the 2016 paint scheme for its Lancaster bomber. Slated to fly both days, the Lancaster will feature “Lady Orchid” nose art on the left side of the aircraft. The right side will maintain the Mynarski Memorial Lancaster markings. The heavy four-engine bomber will also be open for ground tours each morning.
Waterloo Warbirds will also be attending Flyfest with their two-seat de Havilland Vampire and Canadair-built Lockheed T-33 “Mako Shark.” Both classic jets are available for rides through advanced booking with Waterloo Warbirds at [email protected][removed]/* <!–[CDATA[ */!function(t,e,r,n,c,a,p){try{t=document.currentScript||function(){for(t=document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’),e=t.length;e–;)if(t[e].getAttribute(‘data-cfhash’))return t[e]}();if(t&&(c=t.previousSibling)){p=t[removed];if(a=c.getAttribute(‘data-cfemail’)){for(e=”,r=’0x’+a.substr(0,2)|0,n=2;a.length-n;n+=2)e+=’%’+(‘0’+(‘0x’+a.substr(n,2)^r).toString(16)).slice(-2);p.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(decodeURIComponent(e)),c)}p.removeChild(t)}}catch(u){}}()/* ]]–> */[removed]
The CWHM offers many other exhibits and aircraft to explore as well as a cafeteria and well stocked gift shop. Ken Cothliff will be signing his latest book, Under the Maple Leaf.
View of the cockpit from the cabin of the Beech 18 C-45. Eric Dumigan Photo
The reduced flight rates make the event very popular, so attendance is limited to 2,000 people per day, with rides being sold on a first come, first served basis.
For more information and advance ticket purchase, check out the event website.
