The Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta had a special event back in May for the 80th anniversary of the “Dambusters”. After they ran the Lancaster, the Halifax Crew ran one of their Bristol Hercules engines. Afterwards, I had an opportunity to speak one on one with their spokesman Karl Kjarsgaard, who is the Director of the Halifax Project. In our brief discussion he shared information that I was unaware of and totally enlightened by. So much so, that it becomes the focus of Part two of this article.

The organization is Halifax 57 Rescue Canada. They are in the process of restoring a complete and running Handley Page Halifax bomber with Bristol Hercules engines to be based at the Bomber Command Museum in Nanton, not just as a static exhibit but to actually run and taxi it as well.

There are only 3 intact Halifax Bombers remaining in the world, all are static display only:

1) Yorkshire Air Museum in York, England – This Halifax crash landed near Stornoway, Scotland January 13, 1945. The fuselage was then purchased by a chicken farmer and used as a coop. It was recovered and restored in 1984 using pieces from other Halifaxes. It’s painted as “Friday the 13th” of 158 Squadron.

2) RAF Museum in London, England – April 27, 1942 this Halifax was part of the raid on the German battleship “Tirpitz” during which it took flak and made a wheels-up landing on frozen Lake Hoklingen in Norway but sank 12 hours later. Discovered in 1971 and recovered in 1973. It is displayed unrestored as a “crash diorama”.

3) National Airforce Museum of Canada Trenton, Ontario – This Halifax was hit by flak April 24, 1945 and ditched in Lake Mjøsa in Norway. Discovered in 1991, raised 1995 by Halifax 57 Rescue. Restoration was completed in 2005.

The long-term plan for the Halifax 57 Rescue’s current project is to have enough space in Nanton to house both the Lancaster and Halifax, run both and eventually taxi both. It would be the only runnable Halifax in the world, and the Bomber Command Museum would be the only museum with 2 runnable and taxi-capable WW II commonwealth bombers! Nanton town has promised 5 acres of land adjacent to the museum for this purpose.

Is the Halifax the most significant combat aircraft in Canadian aviation history?

Good question, so consider the following.

71% of all combat in bombers done by Canadians was done in the Halifax! 20% flew the Lancaster and less than 10% flew the 2-engined Vickers Wellingtons. So, it’s a natural that a Halifax should be rightfully displayed next to the Lancaster.

During their service with Bomber Command, the Halifax flew a total of 82,773 operations and dropped 224,207 tons of bombs, while 1,833 aircraft were lost.

The Halifax was flown in large numbers by Commonwealth and Allied nations, such as the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Free French Air Force and Polish forces.

However, to give a bit of context, out of all 7-men Halifax bomber crews, the breakdown is as follows: A Tour is 30 combat trips. 24% of crews completed their Tours. Of the other 76% of Crews, 12% were injured or killed in training, 13% were shot down and became POWs, and 51% were killed in combat.

Imagine, the average age was 21-22 years old, flying 65,000 lbs of aircraft, burning 2,000 gallons of high octane fuel, carrying 8,000-10,000 lbs of bomb payload with minimal training and experience at night. All while being fired upon by enemies. Boys that were Men of great courage.

You would be surprised by how many names that appear on the Memorial Wall at the Bomber Command Museum are of Halifax bomber crews. We all owe a lot to this aircraft and the crews who flew in them.

I feel the Halifax is a victim of history much like the Hurricane. When you say “Battle of Britain” people think Spitfire. Although a beautiful and well performing fighter, they weren’t the only one used. The Hurricane made major contributions to that battle but seems to lack the proper credit it’s due. Likewise, with bombers all the attention is focused on the Lancaster, albeit a great bomber but, the Halifax should receive more recognition then it does.

After the war, they saved a lot of Lancasters but many Halifax aircraft were cut up. Some were used in various civilian roles such as freighters however, the last of the Halifax aircraft used in a military role was by Pakistan up to 1961.

Halifax 57 Rescue Canada is currently restoring a Halifax destined for the Bomber Command Museum of Canada In Nanton, Alberta. Due to lack of space there, it is being worked on elsewhere and as parts are completed they will be moved to the Nanton Museum.

They have 8 engines in total, 3 are in really good condition, 1 low time and 2 factory 0-timed. The other 5 are donors for parts such as cores, cylinders, etc. Some engines came out of a crate after sitting for 60 years. Imagine trying to un-pickle an engine after that long. Engine #1 is in hibernation, #2 was the one they ran that day.

The “Core” is the central piece of fuselage and wing portions from inboard engine to inboard engine. This piece of their Halifax was found in a scrap yard in Malta, south of Italy and purchased for a dollar a pound!

An undersea diving effort in Sweden recovered various parts including control surfaces, flaps, a tailwheel assembly and wing joint parts.

Karl said there is a lot of “Horse trading” required to move this project forward.

A museum in England had the wrong propellers (DC 3 props) on their static display Halifax. So the Halifax 57 guys 3D printed 12 perfect and correct blades for static display only, and traded them for 28’ of Halifax wing that can bolt right on. To left, wing section being loaded for shipping to Canada.

They also found in crates 12 of the correct runnable propeller blades for their project and traded some spare Lancaster, Harvard and Merlin parts for them. See picture at right of a very happy Karl.

This organization is doing fantastic work saving this rare piece of Canadian aviation history and their motto says it all… ”We Leave no Halifax behind”.

For more info or to make a donation:

Just google fundrazr 417498 to see a wealth of information on this project including update posts and videos, etc. There are 185 reports.

See this link for great videos:

https://www.timekeeperscanada.com/airpllanehunters-org

Also check out their Facebook page.