The 5th annual Wings & Wheels Heritage Festival at Downsview Airport will feature of a helicopter fly-in on Saturday and Sunday, May 29-30, 2010 as part of its many aviation and vehicle attractions.
The Festival provides aviation and automobile fans with a rare opportunity to view aircraft and classic cars up close, in the heart of Toronto, Canada’s largest city.
Aircraft and helicopters will fly into Downsview Airport throughout the weekend, and classic car and motorcycle clubs and vehicle owners from throughout southern Ontario will participate in a two-day “Show & Shine” event.
“There is definitely a lot of interest in helicopters from festival visitors and the Toronto area helicopter community is developing an annual social event and showcase, ” said Kenneth Swartz, a board member of the Canadian Air & Space Museum, the charity that sponsors the fundraising festival. “May 20 was the 70th anniversary of Igor Sikorsky’s first free flight of the VS-300, which gives us an important milestone to celebrate.”
The festival has previously attracted a Bell 47G, JetRangers, LongRangers, 222B and CH-146 Griffon, Eurocopter 350B-2 and TwinStar, and MD520N. There is no change to attend the fly-in an crew and passengers receive free admission to the festival.
Downsview Airport is privately-owned by Bombardier Aerospace which builds the Bombardier Global 5000 and Global XLS ultra-long-range business jets and the Q400 turboprop airliner in Toronto.
Since production flight test activity will take place throughout the festival weekend, all fly-in visitors, including helicopters, must pre-register on the http://wingsandwheelsfestival.com/ web site, at the request of Bombardier.
In June 1946, a prototype Bell 47 visited Downsview to be fitted with airborne geophysics instruments, prior to making the first helicopter visit to northern Canada. Between 1981 and 1996, Downsview was also home for the CAF’s No. 400 and No. 411 Tactical Helicopter Squadrons equipped with the Bell CH-136 Kiowa until CFB Toronto closed in 1996.
Established in 1929 by The de Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd. , Downsview is was where famous STOL utility aircraft like the Beaver, Otter, Caribou and Twin Otter were developed, and it also served as an Canadian air force base for 50 years. Today, the airport is within the city of Toronto, with a major shopping mall, hotels and a subway station within 1.5 miles of the Festival site.
Two years ago, Rotor-City, Toronto’s first-full service helicopter FBO opened across the street from the Museum, marking the return of helicopter operations to the airport, which has otherwise been used Bombardier’s production flight test activity since 1996, except during the Festival weekend each May. Locally-based helicopters include an R-22, JetRanger, 350B-2, TwinStar and AW119 Ki Koala.
About the Canadian Air & Space Museum
The Canadian Air & Space Museum in Downsview Park in Toronto tells the distinctly Canadian stories of aerospace and airline history and innovation, and recounts the stories of people and organizations connected with these innovations. The Museum showcases Canadian innovations and achievements, linking the ‘past present future’. The Museum contains notable artifacts and aircraft, showcasing the development of aviation and space innovations in Canada, including a former CAF CH-136 Kiowa helicopter once based at CFB Toronto and a full-scale, museum-quality replica of the Avro CF-105 Arrow supersonic interceptor from the 1950s. For information on tickets, directions, donations and Museum hours, call 416-638-6078 or visit http://www.casmuseum.org/.
