An aviation veteran is expected to be a big draw for local flying fans at Red Deer Flying Club’s annual Fly-In/Drive-In Breakfast next month.
The fundraising breakfast has been happening at Red Deer Regional Airport for just over 50 years and is set for May 5 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
The star of this year’s event will be a vintage C-47 that saw action at D-Day in the Second World War. After its war service, like thousands of other war planes, it was converted to civilian use, re-designated as a DC-3, and spent nearly five decades as a passenger and cargo aircraft in Canada.
It was bought in 2018 by Buffalo Airways general manager Mikey McBryan and after being grounded for nearly 30 years was restored to flying condition in time to fly to commemorate D-Day’s 75th anniversary in 2019. Some of the parts used to restore the plane were cannibalized from retired Buffalo Airways planes parked at Red Deer’s airport.
The rebuild and restoration was documented on the first season of Plane Savers. Nearly 160 episodes featuring the DC-3 can be found on YouTube.
McBryan said in the series he was attracted to the plane by its wartime pedigree. It was one of Royal Air Force 108 C-47s that took off for France on the night of June 5, 1944 to drop paratroopers behind the German lines ahead of the D-Day landings the following morning.
The same plane flew regular resupply missions to France and later participated in the Battle of Arnhem, an unsuccessful attempt in September 1944 to seize bridges to speed up the Allied advance into Germany.
After the war, the plane was purchased by Montreal’s Canadair and spent the next 30 years as a passenger and transport aircraft for various owners.
For about the last five years, it’s been parked outside Buffalo Airways maintenance facility at the Red Deer Regional Airport.
Red Deer Flying Club past-president Kirk Seaborn said the members were kicking around ideas about how to re-energize the fly-in breakfast to draw in more people and the idea of showcasing the historic plane came up.
They approached Buffalo Airways and the response was enthusiastic.
“They’ve been working on it for about a month, draining oil and refreshing fuel,” said Seaborn.
While the plane will not be taking to the air, the engines will be run up, which is always a crowd pleaser.
Seaborn is hoping the plane proves a big draw and attracts newcomers getting their first look at what the airport has to offer.
“That’s one of our ambitions in having this happen. We’re interested in having more people get involved in this airport,” he said.
Plane Savers had a dedicated online following and Buffalo Airways is familiar to many aviation fans because of the company’s starring role in Ice Pilots NWT, a History Television reality series that ran for six years before ending in 2014.
About 200 people turned out for last year’s breakfast. It was a poor flying weather day so only about 10 planes showed up.
“We’re the first fly-in breakfast in Alberta. With that honour, we’ve found we have a higher risk of snow and bad weather.”
The breakfast, which serves as a modest fundraiser for the flying club, costs $20 for adults, $10 for children 12 and under and $40 for a family.