To Continue Please Select A Location

Vintage Aircraft Restorers Hangar & Vickers Vedette Project

Completed Vickers Vedette "flying boat" aircraft recreation, being admired by two young children

Inside a representation of the Moose Jaw Western Aeroplane Company hangar is where a group of hard-working volunteers from the Vintage Aircraft Restorers worked on several projects for the Museum, including building a replica of a Vickers Vedette ‘flying boat’.

When the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) needed an airplane for aerial mapping and forest fire patrols in Canada’s north, it turned to Canadian Vickers, a boat building company in Montreal. Canadian Vickers built the first Vedette in 1924. Another 60 followed in 5 different versions.

The Vickers Vedette looked like a boat with wings. The biplane had a wooden hull and an open cockpit. The passenger sat in front of the pilot. The engine was mounted pusher-style behind the pilot with the propeller facing the back.

No complete Vickers Vedette has survived anywhere in Canada.

In 2003, the WDM acquired parts of an original hull, which is on display near the hangar.

The Vickers Vedette project was highlighted in the January-February 2011 edition of the Canadian Museum Association publication Muse.

In 2014 the VAR Vedette Project won a Ninety-Nines Canadian Award in Aviation.

 

Parts of the original hull of a Vickers Vedette on a pedestal in front of a recreated hangar where a reproduction of the Vedette is in progress
In 2003, the WDM acquired parts of an original hull, which is on display near the hangar.

 

Three men look on at the wooden body of the Vickers Vedette "flying boat" aircraft, bare wood visible and held up by straps while it is worked on
A group of hard-working volunteers from the Vintage Aircraft Restorers spent several years building a complete replica.

 

Vintage Aircraft Restorers crew members at the Vickers Vedette dedication ceremony in 2017.


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact