K225 wrote:
Can't make Trenton this year unfortunately, my old stomping grounds, but am ground Crew when we launch the Corsair to Trenton Friday morning. Hopefully everything goes Ok. Was involved when we rebuilt the main spar on our Finch was parts man at the time, also tried to locate a canopy for it. Thought Blake had a lead on one not sure if it came through. I am seeing things move more positively at VWoC having been involved from the start its been interesting to say the least. Will be interesting to see what develops.
As a Finch owner and the "go to Finch/Kinner guy" in Canada , I helped VWC obtain the aircraft.
During the restoration , they reached out to me weekly for advice and technical info.
Also, helped Blake by providing leads for a canopy which he purchased for the VWC Finch and checked out a pilot or two.
VWC elected to not install the canopies as they felt that an open cockpit ride would attract more revenue.
While I understand that to an extent, this is exactly the kind of thing that draws criticism in the form of not representing their aircraft correctly which in turn educates the future generations inaccurately. This kind of thing unravels all that other Museums and groups are striving to achieve.
Hopefully they will one day get back on track but their future is not very secure at this point.