British Columbia Aviation Museum

Welcome to the British Columbia Aviation Museum – where history takes flight! If you would like to learn about aircraft and aviation history, then you will love to visit our Museum. We have aircraft on display that once flew in Canadian skies but mostly over British Columbia. Some of these aircraft date from 1910 and some are from modern times. We have experimental aircraft, a commercial airliner and military aircraft along with helicopters and seaplanes. All these aircraft were once quite familiar over BC communities but are now very rare. For younger visitors and their families, we have hands-on activities that will help them learn more about aviation.

Services

Our Museum is bigger than it looks! It consists of three hangars in the south-east corner of Victoria International Airport, on land leased from the Victoria Airport Authority. Victoria International has grown out of the historically significant Patricia Bay Airbase.

Our Main Display Hangar was built soon after the British Columbia Aviation Museum was established in 1988. Various spaces off the Main Hangar have been added over the years. The Restoration Shop was added in the 1990s, and it was so successful at turning bits and pieces into reasonable facsimiles of flying machines that new display space, the Henderson Hangar, was added in the early years of the 21st Century.

Flying Machines

These are all exhibits that have lifted, or were intended to lift, a person or persons off of the ground. Admittedly a few were not too successful but most of our exhibits illustrate important moments in BC’s aviation history. Few of our exhibits are now airworthy, most having been rebuilt for static display.

The Early Birds (pre 1913)

DaVinci Ornithopter
Chanute-Type Glider 1896
Gibson Twin Plane

The Hawks (1914 – 1918)

Nieuport 17
Royal Aircraft Factory SE5A

The Home Builts (1919 – 1935)

Pietenpol Air Camper
Lincoln Sport Aircraft

The Bush League (1920 – 1939)

Eastman “Sea Rover”
Fleet Model 2
Noorduyn “Norseman”

The War Birds (1939 – 1945)

Avro “Anson” Mark II
Bristol “Bolingbroke” Mark IV
North American Aviation “Harvard”
Supermarine “Spitfire”

The Post-War Era (1945 – 1959)

Auster AOP 6
Lockheed T-33 “Silver Star”
Luscombe “Silvaire”
Republic RC-3 “Seabee”
Vickers “Viscount” 757

The Booming 60s (1960 – 1969)

Douglas A26 “Invader”
Falconar AMF-S14 “Maranda”
Westwind “IV”

The Modern Era (1970 -)

Rutan “Quickie”
Schreder “Airmate” HP 11-A
Trident “Tri-Gull”
Piper PA-28 “Cherokee 180”

The Choppers

Bell Model 47D
RotorWay “Scorpion II”
Sikorsky S-55

Engines

Piston Engines
Allison V-1740
Anzani
Bristol Type 734 “Hercules”
Curtis “Challenger”
deHavilland “Gipsy 1”
deHavilland “Gipsy Major”
Franklin Model 4AC
Hall Scott L-4
Jacobs L4 MB
LeBlond Model 5D
LeRhone Rotary
Lycoming IO 360 A 1B
Pratt & Whitney R-985 “Wasp Jr.”
Pratt & Whitney R-2800
Ranger Aviation L-440-3
Rolls Royce (Packard) “Merlin” Mark 29
Rotax
Wright “Cyclone 9” R-1820
Wright “Cyclone 18” R-3350-24WA

Gas Turbines
Avro Canada “Orenda 11”
Pratt & Whitney (Canada) PT-6A-20
Rolls Royce “Nene” Mark 1
Rolls-Royce “Dart 535”

Models and Displays

Bush planes and trainers
deHavilland “Tiger Moth”
Bellanca “Air Cruiser”
Supermarine S-6B
Tribute to Avro Canada and the “Arrow”
Aerial Firefighters’ Corner
Airlines of Canada
Aviation Art
The Broomfield Collection
The “Fugo Balloon”
Link Trainers
Memorial Room
Canadian military aircraft types, and the “Falcon” missile
The Propeller Collection
Early Airborne Radar
RCMP Aviation
Tribute to “The Snowbirds” Aerobatic Team
Wood & Canvas wing structure sample

Gallery