A Trip to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

The CWHM is an experience well worth the trip. I usually visit the museum while attending a scale model show so I usually don’t get the opportunity to take in the full collection. But what I do get to see is great and the museum has you step right on up beside the airplanes. Even better is the restoration area where you can see them bringing these planes back to life.

Whether a collection is locked tight under plexiglass or involves only hands on exhibits for the kids, I think museums are a catalyst for lifelong learning. I do not pretend to know anything about how to go about displaying a collection or how to design a museum. However, I think it is more important that a museum piece encourages questions and further knowledge rather than simply providing a final answer.

I posted a video of my last visit. There you will find a decent overview of the collection and you will get a good idea about the layout of the purpose built hangar. I also have some thoughts as to the importance of these ‘living museums’ (although I am sure I am misusing that term!). You can head on over to YouTube to see the video or you can click below:

Last Thing

The museum has had some hard times these last two years because of our never ending health issue. If you have never been, or it has been a while, I can’t think of a better excuse to see the collection. I imagine their fly days are also something to experience. As I always say, hopefully we can someday soon resume our running around airplanes and playing in cockpits with reckless abandon.

So, what do you think about living museums vs traditional ones? Do you agree that museums exist to encourage questions about the past and develop lifelong passions? Or do you think these are too old fashioned to be relevant to people of today? I’d like to hear what you think.