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Displaced from its home in Toronto’s Downsview Park just over a year ago, the Canadian Air and Space Museum has started a fundraiser to open a new home at Toronto’s Pearson Airport. Their goal? To raise $500,000 to refurbish and begin operations at their new home..
The Canadian Air & Space Museum (CASM) is a not-for-profit organisation based in Toronto. For 15 years CASM has been located at Toronto’s Downsview Park, in the historic de Havilland Aircraft buildings, the oldest aircraft factory in Canada. The museum is home to the only full-scale replica of the Avro Arrow, as well as many other priceless artifacts spanning decades of Canadian aviation and space history.
In September 2011, the buildings were designated to be repurposed and the Museum needed to find a new home. The museum’s collection is currently housed in 44, 40-foot freight containers.
One year later, the Canadian Air & Space Museum has held discussions with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) regarding the potential opening of a revitalized Museum at Lester B. Pearson International Airport. The new location under discussion is located near to the main runways at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, next to Highway 401.
“A ‘new’ Canadian Air & Space Museum has the potential to realize a world-class facility dedicated to the achievements of our pioneers and to inspire a new generation of air and space innovators and entrepreneurs,” said Ian McDougall, Chairman of the not-for-profit Canadian Air & Space Museum. “Yet the road ahead is long, and our immediate concern is focused on the safety and preservation of the existing collection. We are appealing to all Canadians to contribute towards this very worthwhile cause and help keep the legacy of Canadian history alive.”
Notable in their fundraising efforts is an endorsement by Harrison Ford who himself owns and flies a de Havilland Beaver.
Anyone interested in donating can visit the museum’s fundraising campaign is now online. There are several donation levels to choose from, starting at $5.
Related: See SpaceRef’s story on the closing of the Air and Space Museum in 2011.
