Latest arrival at Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

[CWH Museum]

The latest acquisition by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, a Cessna L-19 Bird Dog, arrived today in Hamilton.

The aircraft arrived in several pieces from Sault Ste. Marie by truck. It had been in storage for several years after it was damaged in a landing incident. According to the Museum's Chief Engineer, Jim Van Dyk, "the Bird Dog should be a relatively quick and simple restoration to complete compared to others we have done. However, it won't be started until the Avenger is complete. The aircraft is relatively complete and we've been gathering parts including a second engine."

The Cessna L-19 Bird Dog entered service with the Canadian Army in 1954 for use as artillery spotters and general liaison aircraft. They were fine observation platforms for checking accuracy of the Army's gun and self-propelled howitzers. In 1973, the L-19 Bird Dog was retired and replaced with the Bell Kiowa helicopter. Following their Army service, many of these aircraft became tow planes for the Royal Canadian Air Cadet League's glider training program.





Although a paint scheme has not been chosen, this is what it could look like eventually:

[spookythecat]

We've got a couple in our Cascade Warbirds group in that scheme. It's a winner in my book!

[P51Mstg]

The flying Birddog is pretty awesome.... Canadian scheme is a nice change of pace.......

Mark H

[Tom H]

Congrats CWH!

If you keep it up you'll catch up to us (in terms of collection size).

Great work...cool bird

Tom

[m charters]

Ok, who took the pic of the fat guy leaning against the truck, hey that fat guy is me!
The Canadian scheme was in a few variants, polished and Camo are the two that we will likely choose from. Nice with the ARMY insignia, we lack that at CWH.

[m charters]

Does anyone know the whereabouts of a good cockpit section for an L-19? That is th emost extensive damaged area of the aircraft. Although it can be rebuilt, it could speed up the process if someone had one available for sale or trade. The fusealge and tail aft of there is fine.

[Manonthefence]

A nice new addition to the fleet. Will it be on display in September? I am coming across the pond and will be popping in with any luck.

[Russ Blow]

Does anyone know the whereabouts of a good cockpit section for an L-19? That is th emost extensive damaged area of the aircraft. Although it can be rebuilt, it could speed up the process if someone had one available for sale or trade. The fusealge and tail aft of there is fine.

J.W.Duff Aircraft in Colorado usually has a lot of L 19 parts and aircraft.

[shrike]

Does anyone know the whereabouts of a good cockpit section for an L-19? That is th emost extensive damaged area of the aircraft. Although it can be rebuilt, it could speed up the process if someone had one available for sale or trade. The fusealge and tail aft of there is fine.

J.W.Duff Aircraft in Colorado usually has a lot of L 19 parts and aircraft.

Your best bet to get ahold of Duff is to Fax him at 303 321 6790. He doesn't do email, and he gets lousy cell reception in the yard.

[m charters]

Thanks fellows. Will pass along to the museum the info.


Mike