Summer vacation in 2007 brought me to Canada. My itinerary made me travel through Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba as well as parts of Ontario.
This page is dedicated to my visit to this museum on 17Sep07, when I spent a few days in the area of Toronto and Niagara Falls.

Consolidated 28-5A Canso A "Mary K." has c/n CV 417 and has worn the following previous identities: (RCAF) 11084, CF-PQL and C-FPQL. It now wears the (fake, see below) military serial 9754. The museum preserves it in airworthy condition.
Warbirgregistry.org has more on its history.

Bob Patullo sent me the following information:
"Mary K (9754) is the identity of the PBY that F/L David Hornell was flying when he won the Victoria Cross attacking U boat 1225 on 24June1944. The U-boat was sunk but the PBY was shot up pretty good . The right engine fell of the PBY making it impossible to fly and they crash landed in the North Atlantic between Iceland and Scotland..."

This DeHavilland Canada CC-115 Buffalo (DHC-5D) sat outside and I wondered if 115461 was a new addition to the museum...
I found the following information on Airliners.net (photo by Hongyin Huo, 15Jul07)
"Owned by the Canadian Warplane Heritage. Now with wings attached, and partially painted to resemble Canadian AF CC-115 115461 in United Nations markings, which was shot down over the Golan Heights on August 9, 1974. But is in fact ex Sudan AF 811/ST-AHP."
But when I inquired, the curator Erin Napier told me the museum did not have the space for such large plane to be accommodated in the museum. The height of the tail was a problem.
Nevertheless, I hope they will find a solution to preserve this aircraft.

Jeff Rankin-Lowe forwarded following message to the Classic-Propliners forum in Nov.2008:
"It should be noted that this is for a museum, not for CAF service. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum will display this Buffalo as 115461 which was shot down by Syria while operating in support of UNDOF (United
Nations Disengagement Observation Force Golan Heights). On 9 August 1974, it was hit by three Syrian SAMs while flying over the Golan Heights and shot down despite identifying clearly as a United Nations aircraft. It had taken off from Beirut, Lebanon and was making a routine flight to Damascus, Syria. The Syrians later said it was an accident and that it had been mistaken for an Israeli attack aircraft. All nine on board were killed.
It was assigned to No 116 Air Transport Unit and operated by a crew on detachment from 424 (Transport & Rescue) Squadron.
The real 115461 was c/n 16 and was a de Havilland Canada Model DHC-5A. The CAF designation is CC-115. It was rolled out on 12 February 1968 and was t/o/s on 3 April 1968 and delivered on either 16 or 17 May 1968. DHC
and CAF records disagree, but it's likely due to the 16th being the official handover and the 17th being when it physically arrived. It entered service serialled as 9461 and the new 115*** serials took effect on 28 May 1970.
The markings are still incomplete on the museum's aircraft. The large "UNITED NATIONS" titles and "roundel" (for want of a better term for it) on the fuselage sides, as well as the anti-glare panel on the nose and the last three of the serial on the side of the nose, have not yet been applied."

I had a quick look elswhere on the airport and the Boeing 727 has quite a presence here. High fences prevented good photography but I managed to shoot a few decent pictures.

The tailnumber of this Boeing 727 cannot be read at this angle, unfortunately, except that it is Canadian C- registered. It was parked on the same ramp as the two aircraft below.

Stefan Krause offered: "looks like this one : C-FLHR "Leaving on a Jetplane" on www.planepictures.net "

LINK: Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

The best book to take with you for visiting aviation museums, are the ones compiled by Bob Ogden for Air-Britain; for this trip I carried with me the recently (2007) published guide for North America.

In 2011 a 2nd edition, fully revised and also including monuments, was published by Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd.