Page 13 - December 2019

The Canadian War Museum’s LeBreton Gallery
contains the most extensive collection of military
technology in Canada. The Museum preserves this
collection of large military weapons, vehicles and
Virtual Reality Experience equipment so that the public can better understand
It was one of the most ambitious and dangerous reports the technology that Canadians have operated or
made during World War II. In September 1943, BBC war confronted in times of both peace and conflict.
correspondent Wynford Vaughan-Thomas boarded
The LeBreton Gallery tells stories of the human
Lancaster ‘F for Freddie’ with his recording engineer and experience of war. The artifacts on display are not
a microphone. Their destination: Berlin.
inert hunks of metal, rubber and wood but, rather,
The BBC has created this masterfully animated Virtual they represent tools used by thousands of military
Reality Experience using Vaughan-Thomas’ original personnel in peace and in war. Some are intrinsically
recording, which vividly captures the danger of the linked to an individual soldier’s story, while others
bombing raid. This unique cinematic experience can help visitors understand the scale and
transports visitors inside the bomber as the crew experience of industrialized warfare.
endures endless flak and a night fighter attack in their
The LeBreton Gallery is one of the Museum’s most
journey to the heart of Nazi-occupied Europe.
popular destinations, visited frequently by adults,
Presented in immersive Virtual Reality, this powerful intergenerational groups and young families who
experience is the closest that one can get to truly appreciate its wide open spaces. Museum
experiencing the bravery demonstrated by Bomber volunteers, many of whom are veterans, are often
Command, the median age of which was only 22 years present in the Gallery to share their lived experience
old. As described by Vaughan-Thomas upon his return, it with visitors.
was “the most beautifully horrible sight I’ve ever seen.”

Click above picture to watch video

Airplane Tours and Engine Runs
The Snowbird and Lancaster attraction tours are
available. On certain days, and nights, we have engine
runs. The engines we run are 4 Packard Merlins on our
Lancaster, a Bristol Hercules engine and a Kinner engine
on our Fleet Fawn.