An Antique Helicopter And Into The Final Frontier

 This appeared in yesterday's post, an early helicopter. The Piasecki HUP-3 was developed by the Americans in the 1940s, and used by the Canadians for a time.

Period recruitment posters of the RCAF are mounted on a pillar.

From an antique to the contemporary era: space. This is the other part of the museum, and we start with a look back at the first manned mission to land on the Moon. Canadian technology took part in the Apollo program.

Canada would be launching satellites into space in the 1960s as well, in the Alouette, Anik, and Hermes programs. Models of these are on display.

Here we have a scale model of the International Space Station. The Canadian Space Agency is part of the work going on up there, and so Canadian astronauts are regularly up in the ISS.

A Mixture Of Helicopters

 Alongside the Labrador helicopter I showed you yesterday are a number of other helicopters. We start with the Bell HTL-6, a fairly familiar design.

Here we have the Sikorsky S-55, an early helicopter type that saw both military and civilian use.

The Sikorsky Sea King is a formidable helicopter, used both by the military and in a civilian variant.

Versatility At Work

 Across from where I left off yesterday is another example of VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) technology. The Canadair CL-84 Dynavert was an innovative, if little used, addition to the military.

A standard of the military first developed by Boeing and used by many countries: the Boeing Vertol. The Canadian variant is the CH-113 Labrador, used for decades in the military for search and rescue and other purposes. A tough workhorse of a helicopter that does the job.

Interceptors

Another look at the Harrier to start things today, quite sleek and elegant.

A superb fighter: the CF-116A.

Side by side, two wonders. The first, in the foreground, is the Lockheed CF-104 Starfighter.

The crest near the cockpit caught my eye, featuring Hercules slaying the hydra.

Beside it and mounted above is the nose section of an Avro Arrow. This was a Canadian military innovation program of the 1950s meant to serve as an all-weather interceptor. The program was cancelled by the Diefenbaker government at the time in what was a bone-headed decision, and nearly all of the aircraft were destroyed. This nose section, along with a few pieces in other locations that are less recognizable, is all that's left.

Innovation

Today I begin with the CF-101B Voodoo, an interceptor fighter jet. This particular one served in the American Air Force before being retired; it was repainted in Canadian colours for its addition to the collection.

Across from it, another innovation, the Canadian Artemis Jr. moon rover, which impressed NASA for a potential moon program, which was postponed.

As the Cold War went on, military planners worried that long runways would be targets for attack. The response was the concept of VTOL- Vertical Takeoff and Landing. The Harrier, seen here, is the best example of that kind of plane.