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Alberta Aviation Museum

Alberta Aviation Museum
Alberta Aviation Museum.jpg
Alberta Aviation Museum is located in Edmonton
Alberta Aviation Museum
Location in Edmonton
Location 11410 Kingsway, Edmonton, Alberta
Coordinates 53°33′57″N 113°31′2″W / 53.56583°N 113.51722°W / 53.56583; -113.51722
Type Aviation museum
Website Alberta Aviation Museum

The Alberta Aviation Museum is a museum in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is located on-site at the former Edmonton City Centre (Blatchford Field) Airport on the southwest corner of the field (11410 Kingsway Avenue).

The museum operates daily except for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day.

The Alberta Aviation Museum hangar is the last remaining example of a 'double-double' Second World War British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) hangar. These hangars, built for the BCATP across Canada, were made of pre-cut wooden timbers of British Columbia fir. They could be built as single units, double units, and the 'double-double' which is four units.

Built in 1940 after 3 double hangars for RCAF Station Edmonton, it was originally opened 5 October 1940 as No. 2 Air Observers School (AOS) under the command of Wop May. After the USA entered the Second World War the airport was used to service United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) aircraft heading to Alaska until the new USAAF base that was to become CFB Namao (now CFB Edmonton) opened outside of Edmonton and absorbed some of the traffic. Postwar the museum hangar was used by No. 418 (City of Edmonton) Reserve Squadron, Pacific Western Airlines and for Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line) construction before becoming a car dealership in the late 1960s.

Known in Edmonton as "The Hangar on Kingsway", it has been designated 'M' Hangar, Hangar #6 and later Building #14 by the Edmonton City Airport. It is now a designated municipal and provincial historic site.

With the closure of the city centre airport the fate of the museum was, for a time, uncertain. However, since that time the building has been designated as a municipal and provincial historic resource. The Alberta Aviation Museum, now recognized by the Alberta Museums Association, will remain in its current location and act as a community fixture for the new residential neighbourhood, Blatchford.


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