By Jean-Pierre Bonin

The Montreal Aviation Museum (MAM) rolled out the only replica of the Montreal-built 1929 Curtiss-Reid Rambler on Tuesday (Nov. 14/17)

The three-year project was completed just in time to celebrate Montreal 375 and Canada 150 anniversaries.

The Rambler is a two-wing single-engine trainer. Its foldable wings were intended to save hangar space but it turned out they also had a tendency to fold while airborne. This and the venue in Canada of a de Havilland Tiger Moth assembly line probably explains why only 44 were built.

The replica unveiled last Tuesday November 14 has two original upper wings and a salvaged original Cirrus engine.

The MAM received the Canadian Aeronautical Preservation Association (CAPA) 2017 Excellence in Restauration award “To recognize the completion of […] the restoration of an aircraft with special significance for the history of aviation in Canada” for the Curtiss-Reid Rambler Mark II..

More info on this project in the next issue of COPA Flight.

MAM is situated in the historical “Old Stone Barn” on the Macdonald Campus of McGill University in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue (Montreal), Quebec.