H-44a \u201cFlying Banana\u201d<\/a> that was being stored at the Reynolds Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin, Alta., for its long journey to the Greenwood Military Aviation Museum (GMAM) in Greenwood, N.S.<\/p>\n\u201cWith the great team we had, and a civilian crane to assist us, it took about three hours to load the frame and parts and make sure everything was secure for the cross-country trip,\u201d said Warrant Officer James Gilmour, the 408 (Tac Hel) Squadron maintenance flight aircraft servicing officer.<\/p>\n
The helicopter, affectionately named the Flying Banana due to its curved shape, was the predecessor to the CH-113 Labrador helicopter in Canada\u2019s search and rescue fleet. Specifically, 103 Search and Rescue Squadron used the H-44. The GMAM general manager, Major Robert Johnson, spotted the helicopter on a visit to Westaskiwin.<\/p>\n
Noting the fuselage number and familiar paint scheme, Maj Johnson convinced the Reynolds Heritage Foundation Society chairperson, Byron Reynolds, that the restoration and display of the H-44a should be done in Greenwood. \u201cA team will be assembled this fall to start on the restoration project,\u201d said Maj Johnson. \u201cOnce completed, this will bring our museum\u2019s aircraft collection to 10.\u201d<\/p>\n
The remaining airframe and parts of the helicopter will be shipped in the coming year. The project is slated for completion in four to five years. When it is completed, 408 (Tac Hel) Squadron members \u2013 past and present \u2013 will be able to look at it knowing that they had a special part in bringing this project to fruition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An historic move by 408 Tac Hel Squadron July 31, 2012 By Capt Rodney Dietzmann On June 8, 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, located at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton, but belonging to 1 Wing Kingston, Ont., played a unique part in seeing that a part of Royal Canadian Air Force history is preserved. Ten members of the squadron\u2019s maintenance flight loaded most of the airframe and parts of an H-44a \u201cFlying Banana\u201d that was being stored at the Reynolds Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin, Alta., for its long journey to the Greenwood…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-408-squadron-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1589"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4683,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1589\/revisions\/4683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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