Weeda Stamps: News


FOX TALES ON STAMPS Edition #536 Friday, January 13, 2012
British Columbia Aviation Museum
	Right next to the Victoria Airport in Sidney British Columbia are the grounds and hangars of the British Columbia Aviation Museum. On a cold and wet winter's day the large dry interior space of the museum seemed to be an ideal destination. The Victoria Airport began as a WWII Air Force Station and training base. Here, Madison, Ainsley and Samantha hang out with a pilot decked out in WWII flying gear. Canada's iconic first rate jet fighter that never was, the Avro Arrow, now only exists in model form. To read more about this symbol of cold war politics and technology, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_CF-105_Arrow. The Avro C102 Jetliner was a prototype jet airliner which first flew in 1949. Considered to be an aircraft ahead of its time, Howard Hughes was one of the potential buyers of this design. Unfortunately Avro was too overwhelmed with building the CF-100 fighter to follow up on the potential of the Jetliner. The Jetliner prototype was scrapped in 1956. Click on the link for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_C102_Jetliner The BC Aviation Museum has a lot of hands-on activities. Here Sam takes an RCAF trainer out for a spin. One of Canada's most famous early bush planes was the Noorduyn Norseman. This example in the museum is in airworthy condition. A total of 903 Norseman aircraft were produced and every year in July there is a Norseman Floatplane Festival in Red Lake, Ontario. This festival is held in part to recognize the huge contribution the Norseman aircraft made to the opening of Northern Canada. The spartan interior gives you a good idea of the tough and simple design of this aircraft. The Norseman was designed to operate from remote and unimproved areas and was equally capable on wheels, floats or on skis such as these. Here Ainsley takes a simulated airplane up for a simulated joyride. The Supermarine S.6B was a British racing seaplane built to compete in the Schneider Trophy races of the 1930s. The technological advances incorporated in this aircraft later led to the development of the famous Spitfire of WWII reknown. You can see a three-quarter scale replica of a Spitfire with D-Day markings in the background of this photo. Canada is a big country and as such, commercial aviation has played a key role in the development of Western Canada in the 20th century and beyond. The museum recently completed a new hangar to accommodate their Vickers Viscount turboprop airliner, faithfully done up in TCA livery. This aircraft was acquired in 2005 and serious restoration work began in 2007. 445 Viscounts were built between 1948 and 1963. The pressurized airliner was designed to carry up to 48 passengers and had a cruising speed of slightly over 300 miles per hour. It was intended for medium range routes. The Type 700 series Viscount had a two pilot cockpit, probably a good idea considering all the switches and levers that needed managing. The four 1500 horsepower Rolls Royce Dart turboprops drove four-blade constant speed propellers. While noisy by today's standards, apparently the passengers found the loud rumble of the engines reassuring. To learn more about this handsome and successful early postwar airliner, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Viscount The museum is a bit small to accommodate a full size Martin Mars water bomber so an accurate scale model will have to do. The two surviving Martin Flying Boats are flown out of Sproat Lake, not far from Port Alberni. The girls finished off their visit with a try at a computer flight simulator program.
Answer to Last Week's Salvation Army Quiz
	We received eight correct answers to last week's stamp identification quiz. That means an $8.00 donation to Salvation Army. Here's the portion of the stamp we asked you to identify Here's the answer - Canada #274, the 1947 Alexander Graham Bell issue.
The Salvation Army Quiz
	We show you a minute portion of the design of a postage stamp. You have to determine which stamp it is. Send us an email with your answer. We hold a contest almost every newsletter. For every correct answer we will donate $1.00 to our favourite charity, the Salvation Army. Click here to go to the The Salvation Army International Home Page to see what services they offer to communities around the world.