My granddaughter Quinn sitting in the cockpit of a CF-100 aircraft at the Warplane Museum in Ancaster, Ontario on a recent visit. Quinn’s great-grandfather, my father (more info here) flew CF-100s along with a bunch of other fighter jets in the Royal Canadian Air Force. This plane was made by Avro — maker of the infamous Avro Arrow — and was nicknamed “The Clunk” because of the noise the landing gear made when retracted (it was also affectionately known as the Lead Sled). It was the first straight-winged aircraft to go supersonic.
Quinn also sat in a yellow Fleet Fort, a trainer that De Havilland built to take over from the Tiger Moth trainer.
They have quite the collection of planes at the museum, including one of only two Lancaster bombers that are still flying (you can pay to go up in it) and a bunch of other planes my dad flew, including the Chipmunk — another trainer that preceded the Tiger Moth — and the F-86 Sabre, the T-33 and the CF-104 Starfighter (nicknamed The Widowmaker). There’s a T-33 outside the museum standing on its tail:
