Exploring the Shearwater Aviation Museum
Parker Lytle | March 16th, 2023
Hi everybody! I’ve been so busy with school and hockey, that’s why I’ve taken a long break. Speaking of break, it’s March Break so me and my mom decided to go visit the Halifax Aviation Museum located in Shearwater, NS! Today on Parker’s Perspective I’ll tell you all about it.
When we first walked in, there was a kind lady at the desk named Christine who greeted us and told us how to tour the museum. We walked down a hall covered in plaques honouring the men and women who have served as a part of the Armed Forces at the Shearwater base. At the end of the hall we decided to go left. The room was like a huge warehouse. There were real planes scattered all around the space. I even got to see a retired Snowbird. It was really cool to see an aerobatic aircraft up close! I also got to see a plane from WW1 The Fairey Swordfish LS326. I learned that being a pilot in WW1 was very dangerous because the planes were made of wood and fabric. The engines could spit back oil and burn a pilot's face. Pilots would often wear scarves so that they could wipe the oil off of their goggles so they could see better.
Upstairs there was a very special memorial set up for the CH148 cyclone helicopter crash of 2020 that took the lives of 6 crew members. I didn’t take any pictures of this exhibit, but I spent a lot of time reading about this tragedy. 2020 was a hard year for Nova Scotia.
The next place we went was to see the helicopters. They were a lot bigger than I expected them to be! The one I liked the best was the CH124 Sea King. There were steps to get up and look inside! At the museum they had a flight simulator which was cool, but my absolute favourite part of my visit was being able to sit in the cockpit of a training aircraft!
Our last stop was back to visit with Christine at the gift shop. I picked up a very cool bomber jacket and military hat. Now I really look the part, and I can’t wait to join Air Cadets! Christine also mentioned that the Aviation Museum will be installing a new exhibit in April, so I’m definitely going back to check it out, and you should too! Until next time, this has been Parker’s Perspective, “over and out!”
