Canadian Mosquito Heading to Britain...

[norman malayney]

Gentlemen,

More information on the proposed sale of the Calgary Mosquito aircraft. Naturally, as per previous post on this forum, many aviation enthuisasts in Canada, and especially Calgary are not happy with this news.

The government of Alberta, Canada has a special Heritage fund garnered from oil and gas revenues. The fund so far has reached 16 BILLION dollars as an emergency "Rainy Day" fund, should money be required to overcome any future financial government deficits. Even with this amount of money "invested safely" the provincial government previously has shown a lack of interest in supporting its museums and various other heritage projects. Thus aviation museums and organizations in the province cannot count on provincial government support.

It remains to be seen if CAPA--the Canadian Aircraft Preservation Association--will become involved in this dispute. They can, under the the "Cultural Properties Export and Import Act provisions", block the export of any historical aircraft that is 50 years or older. But if they do, then the Calgary Air Museum will most likely withdrawn from this organization.

Establishing an endowment fund with $500,000 in this day and age is peanuts--an insult to a person intelligence. Several more millions added to such a fund is what is earnestly required for the museum to stand on its feet.

Norman Malayney
__________________________________________________________
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 9:03 AM
Subject: Mosquito Sale

PLEASE CONSIDER THE APPEAL BELOW AND HELP KEEP OUR MOSQUITO IN CANADA!

Friends and Supporters;

Thank you for your interest and support on this issue: it all helps. My point in going public was to get this issue out from behind closed doors where the only information that City Council had to work with was that provided by the people at the Museum and that information was, as I said, very limited and very selective in order to promote the sale.

Ultimately it is still and only City Council that will decide what happens to the Mosquito and the Hurricane. If you have the interest and willingness, please send them your concerns. It is easy as you can hit all the Aldermen and the Mayor with just two addresses. Even a quick "Don't do it!" will help as they need to hear from the electorate on this issue. The addresses are:

<AlderWeb@Calgary.ca> and <themayor@calgary.ca>

If you are willing, please convey this note to anyone else whom you think may have an interest stopping this deal. Also, the Aero Space must hold its annual general meeting before the end of March. If you are not a member, join and have a voice. I am pretty certain they are going to revoke my membership by board vote ASAP as I held yesterday's press conference in the museum without telling them I was going to do so.

One positive thing to already come out of the media attention already is that we now know exactly what the 'deal' is. The Mosquito will be sold for $1M. As part of the deal, the buyer in England will also take the Hurricane to the UK, do a static display restoration on it and return it to Calgary. The City will keep half of the million and use the other half to set up an endowment for the museum.

If you would take just a minute and drop them a line, it will help to build the case to prevent this disasterous 'deal'. And then pass this info on to others who may be willing as well.

Thank you again.

Richard de Boer
235-1350 H
560-2427 C

It matters not where you live as preventing these airplanes from leaving the country is a national issue.

[Fleet16b]

Guys

I have just got off the phone with the Curator of a major Canadian Aviation Museum who has asked not to be named.

He has been following the Mosquito issue closely and states to me that quote " it is highly unlikely that the deal will in any way go thru or that the aircraft will leave Calgary"

He seemed to know what he was talking about ...I guess time will tell if his info is accurate.

Fleet16b

[Fleet16b]

Guys

I have just got off the phone with the Curator of a major Canadian Aviation Museum who has asked not to be named.

He has been following the Mosquito issue closely and states to me that quote " it is highly unlikely that the deal will in any way go thru or that the aircraft will leave Calgary"

He seemed to know what he was talking about ...I guess time will tell if his info is accurate.

Fleet16b

[daveymac82c]

Thanks for the update Fleet16B,

I can't wait to learn more about the situation when it becomes public.

Cheers,

David

[Warbirdnerd]

An Update:

City balks at sale of museum's vintage plane

Kim Guttormson
Calgary Herald


Thursday, March 06, 2008


A proposal to sell a Second World War-era plane encountered turbulence at a city committee Wednesday, with aldermen opposed to the vintage Mosquito leaving the country.

But members of the Aero Space Museum -- which orchestrated the proposed sale in exchange for its Hawker Hurricane being restored and an endowment fund for future restorations -- said the offer is the best chance for both planes.

"We have two boxes of junk that will never move," said Gord Lowe, an alderman who spoke to the committee as a private member of the museum's board, of the two planes.

"The Hurricane will stay in a box, it's a huge loss to Albertans and to Calgarians," Lowe said.

The committee heard the Mosquito and the Hurricane are in storage, with pieces in cardboard boxes.

A number of airplane enthusiasts appeared before the committee to express concern about letting go of the de Havilland Mosquito Mark 35 -- which was built in England after the Second World War and came to Canada in the mid-1950s to be used for photo mapping.

"This is about one thing and one thing only. Money," said Richard de Boer, who used to sit on the museum's board. "They need the money to fund ongoing operations."

Some argued that volunteers could restore the Mosquito and pointed to an offer from the Nanton Lancaster Air Museum to take the plane on loan and put it back into shape.

"If the Mosquito were to go to Nanton, we'd repair it at our own charge. We have the skills, we have the ability. I feel the plane should not leave Canada," said one man, who volunteers at the Nanton museum.

The dogfight over the deal boils down to how best to preserve both planes, which have been neglected for decades.

"What we're weighing here is the high cost of doing nothing," said Erika Hargesheimer, the city's general manager of community and protective services.

Lowe and the museum board argue the Hurricane -- built in Montreal in 1942, based with the RCAF's 133 Squadron in Lethbridge and used to fly home defence missions off the West Coast during the war -- has more heritage value and that leveraging the Mosquito can provide long-term stability for the museum.

"The museum is struggling to maintain its current collection, struggling to restore other aircraft in our collection, struggling to maintain our education program," Lowe said.

The majority of the committee opposed selling the plane overseas. But the actual recommendations being voted on weren't related to approval of a sale.

It will go to city council March 17.

kguttormson@theherald.canwest.com

© The Calgary Herald 2008

Found it here:
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/new ... ea37b2fe41

[JohnH]

This really cracks me up. I don't remember any similar outrage when Jerry Yagen bought his Canadian Mosquito (which was also a pile of junk) a few years ago. It may be the next flyer. Don't get me started on Canada....My uncle up the road in Edmonton died without a will (the one who was involved with Gary/Mark's PBY) and his house sold last June. That stupid place still hasn't gotten my family the money, 9 months later.


John

[Ontario-Warbird]

Don't get me started on Canada....

That stupid place still hasn't gotten my family the money, 9 months later.

Well I for one would love to hear what you got to say about Canada, being I am Canadian.

Dave C
[/quote]

[Asterperious]

This really cracks me up. I don't remember any similar outrage when Jerry Yagen bought his Canadian Mosquito (which was also a pile of junk) a few years ago. It may be the next flyer. Don't get me started on Canada....My uncle up the road in Edmonton died without a will (the one who was involved with Gary/Mark's PBY) and his house sold last June. That stupid place still hasn't gotten my family the money, 9 months later.


John

That fact that your uncle died without a Will and had many assests is reflective only of his own negligence or indifference and has nothing to do with it being 'Canada' - try dieing without a Will in the US and see how long it takes to get through all the probate, your heirs will still be waiting.

I will preface all this by stating that I was born and rasied in Calgary and have been involved with the Aerospace Musuem for a long time, many former staff, (current colleagues) board members and volunteers are friends of mine. The issue with the current situation is a long result of very poor managemnt of an excellent collection in a poor facility in the wrong end of town - pretty familiar situation to countless small aviation musuesm really. I suspect that a lot of this is intended not to actually get rid of the Mosquito but to manipulate teh City into providing more operational funding. Most of the really sexy aircraft there are proerty of the City of Calgary, not the musuem, they have an operational agreement to care for and display the aircraft.

The Calagry Mosquito is hardly a piece of junk, Yagen bought the remains of a crash to use the metal parts for his new built replica. Any flying Mosquito henceforth would primarily be a replica. The Calgary mossie is in need of attention and stabilization but is an excellent static candidate of a susbtantially ORIGINAL mosquito. The guys at Nanton would do an excellent job on it and I think this is the best possible outcome.

The Hurricane is not that bad either, it is hardly an indictment of a musuem or anyone else doing a restoration to have parts in cardboard boxes, come on really that is a pretty silly thing for anyone to have stated to a reporter as being a concern or a justification to sell the airplane.

Kermit has a potentially flyable Mossie in the US at Oshkosh, why beat up on Calgary when the more likely candidate to fly is already here in the USA?

[daveymac82c]

Please do the favour of taking this talk about Canadian politics and Canada bashing to the off topic section before it goes crazy on this thread. It doesn't belong here. Thanks.

Cheers,

David

[groundpounder]

i had heard that bob jenn's plane might be flying sometime in the future. any updates on it's status??

[warbirdcrew]

i had heard that bob jenn's plane might be flying sometime in the future. any updates on it's status??

Groundpounder, there is a very large difference between a flying airplane and a bird locked away in a cage never to see the light of day. While the restoration might be coming along, I would count on the latter.

[Ontario-Warbird]

Please do the favour of taking this talk about Canadian politics and Canada bashing to the off topic section before it goes crazy on this thread. It doesn't belong here. Thanks

.


Actually David this type of talk should not even be allowed anywere on this site. I don't think that our freinds to the south would like it if we bashed their country or politics.

Cheers Dave C
[/quote]

[Simcoe Warrior]

Don't get me started on Canada....My uncle up the road in Edmonton died without a will (the one who was involved with Gary/Mark's PBY) and his house sold last June. That stupid place still hasn't gotten my family the money, 9 months later

John

Not having a will in this day and age is pretty irresponsible.

As for the Mossie, this is a no brainer it belongs in Nanton with their Lanc. If 57 Rescue Canada can salvage the Halifax they are after for the museum it would quite the trifecta.

Mosquito, Lancaster, Halifax.

[JohnH]

Don't get me started on Canada....My uncle up the road in Edmonton died without a will (the one who was involved with Gary/Mark's PBY) and his house sold last June. That stupid place still hasn't gotten my family the money, 9 months later

John

Not having a will in this day and age is pretty irresponsible.

As for the Mossie, this is a no brainer it belongs in Nanton with their Lanc. If 57 Rescue Canada can salvage the Halifax they are after for the museum it would quite the trifecta.

Mosquito, Lancaster, Halifax.

Totally true, and among the tears and the love there's been a lot of angry words among my family about the deceased person, I can't believe it wasn't taken care of. It's a tragedy for sure and made it all the more painful. Thankfully I and my family are moving on from the hurt. Thanks.

John

[Warbirdnerd]

Looks like it is staying put...

City nixes sale of vintage warplane to British buyer
Last Updated: Wednesday, March 5, 2008 | 5:06 PM MT Comments2Recommend5CBC News
One of the last Second World War de Havilland Mosquito bombers left in Canada will remain in a Calgary warehouse for now, a city council committee decided Wednesday.

A buyer from the United Kingdom had expressed interest in purchasing the twin-engine aircraft, which has been in storage in a Kensington warehouse since the 1960s, but the committee has decided not to sell it.

Hundreds of Alberta servicemen flew the de Havilland Mosquito during the Second World War.
(CBC) The directors of the Calgary Aero Space Museum, which is in charge of caring for the warplane, had endorsed the deal, worth a possible $1.5 million.

But Richard De Boer, an aviation buff and founding member of the museum, lobbied against the sale and said the city or museum should restore the aircraft because of its significance for Calgary.

"That very airplane arrived in Calgary the day after VE-Day," de Boer said Wednesday.

"So the city's celebrating, everybody's going wild and here comes [a] de Havilland Mosquito known as F for Freddie, 213 combat missions, and it shows up and it starts buzzing downtown Calgary, lower than the rooftop level of the Palliser hotel and the Hudson's Bay building — a spectacular event."


'It can be propped up, glued up, kibbled together and it might stand up for a while, but it is not a museum piece.'
— Ald. Gord Lowe, museum board memberAld. Gord Lowe, who sits on the museum's board, said the directors are disappointed by the committee's decision because the museum doesn't have the money to properly restore the aircraft.

"The Mosquito, in my view, cannot be restored in its current situation," said Lowe. "It's been butchered. It's been ground. It's been damaged. It can be propped up, glued up, kibbled together and it might stand up for a while, but it is not a museum piece."

Found it here:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/ ... stays.html