EPISODE 333; IMAGINATIVE CREATION OF SIX ENGINED MULTI-GUNNED PIECE OF WW 2 FOLK ART (Provenance -British
Commonwealth Air Training Plan)
alan skeoch
May 2021
ALAN SKEOCH: DONOR
Where did I ever purchase this huge piece of aviation folk art? The answer is lost in the
foggy part of my brain. It is one big piece of folk art which I was told, at the time of
purchase, was built by a pilot or pilots being trained between 1940 and 1945 under the
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
I have sent some neurons scurrying around my brain to find where I bought the plane.
We will see how successful they are in time.
A few years ago I did a CBC radio story on a Halifax bomber (HX 313, 424 Tiger Squadron, #6 Bomber
Group. based at Slo[tpm pff Sea;e. Yorkshire). In the process I visited he Canadian warplane museum
at Downsview but did not donate the folk art immediately. For a couple of years it hung in our barn…high
up, out of danger. Then for some reason I figured the model was too important to hang there.
ENTER GORDON JOYCE
“Gord, would you have time to restore this model…some propellers are broken and gun barrels gone….
needs to be repainted exactly as it was…what do you think?”
“Give me a week or so…love to do it.”
And a week later Gord had it ready. Ready for what?
“Alan, what are you going to do with it?”
“Donate it to the Canadian Airplane Museum up at Downsview.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
I am not sure if Gord came with me that day. I do remember the place was in chaos. The building
was beng renovated for some other purpose and the museum had to move to Hamilton…fast move
done by volunteers. Booted out in other words.
A VISIT TO DOWNSVIEW: CHAOS
“What do you have there?” asked the man in charge
“A folk art model of a six engined bomber made somewhere near Oshawa between
1940 and 1945. pilot or pilots being trained under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan..etc.etc.
I would like to donate it now that it is restored.
“Put it over there.”
(Not sure my name was even taken…I felt sorry for those volunteers)
This was not quite the reception I expected. But the chaos of moving made me forgive
them. I had hoped the model would be a delight for children visiting the museum with
parents or grandparents. The aircraft is pure imagination. There is joy in imagination.
That happened several years ago. The museum has been successfully moved to
Mount Hope near Hamilton.
I wonder what happened to my model?
alan skeoch
