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Shirley Render, executive director of the Western Canada Aviation Museum, says a new museum will help present aviation history in new and exciting ways. (PHOTO BY MATT PREPROST)

Development of the new Western Canada Aviation Museum was given an early signal for takeoff last week after receiving a $2.5-million gift to kick start financing for the project.

The Exchange Income Corp. made the donation towards the museum’s capital campaign slated to launch later this year.

"It’s our first lead gift," said campaign co-chair Ross Robinson.

"We’re in the planning process so there will be announcements out later this year. It’s not going to be an easy job, but it’s one we’re very enthusiastic about."

The donation was part of an EIC announcement to spend $10 million to build a new 60,000-sq. ft. maintenance facility located beside the museum’s current location.

Ground is expected to break on that facility this spring, the company said.

The museum, located at 958 Ferry Rd., plans to relocate to the former airport terminal site by 2017, Robinson said.

A new 110,000-sq. ft building will make the museum more accessible to the public and travelers, he said.

"We’re almost landlocked where we are with the runways and taxiways. So we want to move to a better location right next to the new terminal building," he said.

"That will be a great advantage for us."

The museum’s current building was constructed in the late 1930s, and was the operational headquarters of Trans-Canada Air Lines, now Air Canada. Queen Elizabeth officially opened the museum in 1984, said Shirley Render, the museum’s executive director.

"This was designed to be a passenger terminal with a very small hangar area. We just need more space," she said, noting part of the museum’s collection is parked outside and in a compound at another airport
"Airplanes are not small boxy little things that you can fold the wings in at night."

The new facility will allow the museum to present aviation history in a more exciting and real way, Render said.

"For the aviation buff, they’re happy to have the aircraft lined up," she said. "But we want to be able to create the human face behind the airplanes."

That includes more themed galleries, she said, like a bush gallery that will give visitors a better sense of what bush flying was like.

"Right now most of our bush aircraft are presented. But, there was always a pilot and mechanic. What was their story?" she said.

Other aspects of the new museum will include a temporary space for visiting aircraft, she said.

Render echoed Robinson, saying the new location will better boost the museum’s public exposure.

"Being within walking distance of the new terminal will make a huge difference," she said.

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matt.preprost@canstarnews.com