Warbird Information Exchange

I'm based in the U.K. but during an arranged visit last month to some operators at Red Deer, Alberta, Canada I discovered and photographed what appeared to be the nose off an RCAF North Star.

The artefact was in a compound adjacent to the airfield car park. It comprised the intact nose including all cockpit windows, with instrumentation etc in situ. Externally it carried RCAF type scheme (i.e fuselage flashes of the right style and colour, plus the code 22 in the same position as on C-54GM North Stars).

The nose is of the early configuration (i.e. of the same profile RCAF North Stars had before radomes were fitted to them - which I gather was not until 1956.)

If this is a genuine North Star remnant, then this all suggests it could be off 17522, but that airframe was written off at North Luffenham in the U.K. May 1954 ! I believe the u/c hit an unmarked mound of building materials during its landing run and this shocked the airframe to such an extent that it ruptured the fuel cells. The reported nature of the airframe damage didn't indicate that the nose was damaged and I wonder if some elements of the airframe were removed and returned to Canada perhaps as a training aid or spares source?

Can anyone confirm if what I found is part of North Star 17522 - if so where's it been since 1954 and why is it now at Red Deer. If it's not what I'm surmising then what really is it?

Thanks in advance for your help,
Tim