Vintage airliner may be on the move again
To get a revamp by aircraft-structure students at UCFV
Brian Lewis
The Province
Sunday, August 26, 2007
In its earliest days in the late 1930s, the twin-engine Lockheed Lodestar represented state-of-the-art aviation -- and made headlines on a number of fronts.
Millionaire aviator Howard Hughes used it to set an around-the-world flying record of three days, 19 hours in the summer of 1938. Soon after, it figured prominently in newsreels of British prime minister Neville Chamberlain flying home from Germany to announce his "peace in our time" agreement with Hitler.
This 14-passenger, transcontinental "airliner" was also the flagship of Trans-Canada Airlines' fleet between 1941 and 1947.
Today, very few of these magnificent flying machines remain, but one of them -- CF-TCY -- has been sitting for over a decade in Delta's Heritage Air Park at the foot of 104th Street beside Boundary Bay.
This particular aircraft was part of TCA's fleet and was once Canada's version of Air Force One in the U.S. when it served as the official carrier of Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, other dignitaries and visiting heads of state in the early 1950s.
However, this historic aircraft, which is owned by the Langley-based Canadian Museum of Flight, won't be at the Heritage Air Park much longer.
It's getting a much-needed cosmetic overhaul, thanks primarily to the University College of the Fraser Valley's aircraft structures technician program, which runs out of the UCFV's Aerospace Centre at Abbotsford International Airport.
The museum is currently working on the logistics of moving the Lodestar from Delta to Abbotsford. Since its flying days are long past, the Lodestar's wings may have to be removed, given its 13-metre wingspan.
However, if the wings are removed, it won't be the first time that's happened.
This aircraft was discovered at Chicago's Midway Airport in the 1960s, where it was about to be sold for scrap. The buyer, who owned an Illinois air museum, had to remove the Lodestar quickly so he hacked off its wings with a chainsaw.
When the Illinois museum closed in the late 1980s, the Lodestar was sold to the Canadian Museum of Flight, which at that time was located at Crescent Beach.
According to Bill Marr -- a spry 90-year-old who lives in Langley and flew this particular aircraft for TCA in the late 1940s, when the air museum moved to its current home at Langley Airport in 1996 -- there was no room for the Lodestar, so it was taken to Delta Heritage Air Park and has been stored there ever since.
"I'm very pleased that somebody is finally going to look after this aircraft," says Marr, who in his nearly 34 years with TCA-Air Canada flew just about everything from the Lodestar to a Boeing 747.
UCFV aircraft-structure instructor John Marshal is just as delighted. "This is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our students," he says. "There are many lessons we can transfer directly to the Lodestar and even though it'll never fly again, we'll approach the project just like a real aircraft with all the paperwork and documentation." And since CF-TCY is still an officially registered aircraft, students in the 11-month certificate program will be able to log their work and time on the Lodestar to help meet their apprentice and licensing requirements.
Once the work is done, the Lodestar will be placed on permanent display at the Canadian Museum of Flight in Langley.
If you have a story idea or noteworthy item about anything in the Fraser Valley, e-mail Brian at
blewis@png.canwest.com© The Vancouver Province 2007
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