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TORONTO AEROSPACE MUSEUM

The Toronto Aerospace Museum will host a "Wings and Wheels Heritage Festival" at Downsview Park on Saturday and Sunday, May 27-28, 2006 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first flight of the famous de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk training aircraft in Toronto.

The museums first Wings and Wheels Heritage Festival fundraising event will bring together aviation and car fans at a unique venue Æ a Second World War aircraft factory that is being redeveloped by Downsview Park as an exciting cultural space.

The festival will include a historic fly-in of Chipmunk aircraft from throughout North America as well as other unique vintage and contemporary aircraft associated with aviation in the Toronto area. Complementing the aircraft fly-in, car clubs from throughout the Greater Toronto Area will be invited to display their classic automobiles over two days.

A festival ticket will include admission to the Museum and all indoor and outdoor aircraft and car exhibits. The festival is a fundraising event for the Toronto Aerospace Museum, a registered charity.

More than 30 Chipmunk owners in Canada and 130 Chipmunk owners in the USA have been invited to bring their aircraft to the Wings and Wheels Heritage Festival. The museum hopes to have at least two dozen Chipmunks, plus other aircraft on display at Downsview. Participating aircraft will be confirmed in the spring.

Attractions will include an opportunity to take a flight in a vintage aircraft and meet with many people passionate about restoring, collecting and enjoying historic aircraft and automobiles.

The DHC-1 Chipmunk was designed and built in 1946 by The de Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd. in the Museums hangar at Downsview Park. It flew for the first time on May 22, 1946 and became one of the Worlds most successful primary training aircraft, and the first Canadian designed aircraft manufactured in several countries.

More than 1,375 two-seat Chipmunks were built in Canada, England and Portugal. They were used flying clubs and more by more than two dozen air forces to teach tens of thousands of pilot candidates to fly. The Chipmunk was the primary RCAF training aircraft of the 1950s and 1960s, and it served with the Royal Air Force for 50 years. Today, the Chipmunk is a highly-valued aerobatic aircraft.

The Toronto Aerospace Museum will also be partnering with other aviation groups in the Toronto area to provide the public with opportunities to learn about careers in aviation and aerospace, and the important role Toronto plays in the world aviation community.

The Toronto Aerospace Museum is located in part of the de Havilland heritage aircraft factory at Downsview Park where some of Canadas most successful and innovative aircraft were developed and the first Canadian spacecraft was assembled.

The Museum collection includes more than a dozen aircraft associated with development of aviation and the aerospace industry in Toronto.

Highlights of the collection include the City of Torontos rare 1945 Avro Lancaster bomber Æ one of only 20 in existence in the world Æ which is being painstakingly restored, and a full scale replica of the famous Avro Arrow supersonic interceptor developed in the Toronto area in the late 1950s and cancelled and scrapped in 1959. Piston and jet powered military trainers, anti-submarine aircraft, and several Ontario-built light aircraft are also on display.

The Toronto Aerospace Museum is located at Downsview Park, 65 Carl Hall Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3K 2E1 (Keele St. & Sheppard Ave. area). For further information and museum hours, visit the museum web site: www.torontoaerospacemuseum.com or telephone 416-638-6078; Fax 416-638-5509; or Email tam@bellnet.ca . For information on Downsview Park, visit www.pdp.ca