The two-day event takes place June 25 and 26 at Hamilton International Airport, where the museum (pictured) is located.
Hamilton’s Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum is set to celebrate its 50th anniversary with the “Skyfest50” airshow on June 25 and 26.
The weekend event will feature the historic Fairey Firefly which has been grounded for eight years due to mechanical issues. The Firefly was the first aircraft in the museum’s collection in 1972, after two Toronto pilots Alan Ness and Dennis Bradley bought the plane and undertook its restoration.
The airshow will also feature other planes that are a part of the museum’s collection like the B-25 Mitchell, Canso, and Dakota. There is also a list of visiting aircraft that are confirmed for the event which include the Mosquito, Hurricane, Spitfire, P-51 Mustang, P-40 Warhawk, Fw 190 replica, and P-39 Airacobra. The famous Lancaster bomber will not be flying but will be open for tours of the plane’s interior.
In addition to the airshow, the museum is also celebrating a “homecoming” Friday, June 18, which will allow members, staff, and volunteers both past and present to gather.
All events require tickets which can be purchased on the Warplane Museum’s website. The Saturday event is sold out, although tickets remain for Sunday’s event and for Friday’s “preview” event. Festivities run from 9am until 5pm each day.
A commemorative book will be available for purchase. The book, entitled “Fifty Years: Canadian Warplane Heritage” is co-authored by Al Mickeloff and Bill Cumming. It is a hardcover, limited edition souvenir book. Only 1,000 copies have been printed.
Rounding out the rest of the 50th year celebrations will be an Air Force Day event in August 2022 and a black-tie gala on October 15, 2022.
Hamilton International Airport itself, originally known as Mount Hope Airport, opened in 1940 as a Royal Canadian Airforce Base to train pilots for deployment in World War II. Nowadays, the airport is the third largest cargo airport after Toronto-Pearson and Vancouver International Airport, respectively. It also offers passenger services through Air Transat, Sunwing Airlines, Swoop, and WestJet, with the newly created Lynx Air beginning operations in late June 2022.
The Warplane Heritage Museum was born out of a desire to preserve the history of the Hamilton Airport’s original intent as a Royal Canadian Air Force base and, in turn, the airplanes that inhabited its airspace.
Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Kevin Geenen reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He is a regular contributor with The Hamilton Independent and has also been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, Niagara Independent, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. He is known for Hamilton crime updates and social media news graphics. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal from Governor General David Johnston. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
