The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario was a great destination for myself and my two mechanically-minded and tactily-inclined kids.
We planned to see some planes which in itself, would have been pretty cool. What we enjoyed instead was a wealth of war memorabilia, stories of adventure and heroic deeds, and at least an hour for two kids with loads of imagination in a flight simulator. (What is it with kids and buttons? and dropping bombs?). They sat in the cockpit of a warplane while a volunteer, who knew an awful lot about piloting a warplane gave them a tour. He happily answered a barrage of questions about the ejection button and shared more stories of heroics that hinted at personal experience.
I was awed by these aircraft - the beautiful craftsmanship, the expert restoration, and the sheer size! I watched mesmerized as the museums' PBY-5A Canso Amphibian backed up (very slowly!) into the hanger. Its 104 foot wingspan cleared the doors with barely a foot to spare. Later I stood beneath the open 33 foot bomb bay of the museums Avro Lancaster and imagined the power of this aircraft - one of only two airworthy Lancasters left in the world.
For more information: Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, Tripadvisor
We planned to see some planes which in itself, would have been pretty cool. What we enjoyed instead was a wealth of war memorabilia, stories of adventure and heroic deeds, and at least an hour for two kids with loads of imagination in a flight simulator. (What is it with kids and buttons? and dropping bombs?). They sat in the cockpit of a warplane while a volunteer, who knew an awful lot about piloting a warplane gave them a tour. He happily answered a barrage of questions about the ejection button and shared more stories of heroics that hinted at personal experience.
I was awed by these aircraft - the beautiful craftsmanship, the expert restoration, and the sheer size! I watched mesmerized as the museums' PBY-5A Canso Amphibian backed up (very slowly!) into the hanger. Its 104 foot wingspan cleared the doors with barely a foot to spare. Later I stood beneath the open 33 foot bomb bay of the museums Avro Lancaster and imagined the power of this aircraft - one of only two airworthy Lancasters left in the world.
For more information: Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, Tripadvisor