The federal government recently announced that it will contribute $8.8 million for the construction of a new home for the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada. Fifteen million dollars had already been raised in donations and provincial funding. The entire project cost is expected to be $35 million.

The 8,000 m² (86,000 ft²) facility will solve the problem the museum had been facing since last October, when their lease of a privately owned facility expired.

As reported in an earlier edition of eFlight months ago, the museum’s collection had  to be distributed in various locations around the province, including in private hangars until a solution was found.

In addition to a workshop, the new facility will include nine exhibition galleries, a children’s zone and a library.

“Inside its walls will be the story and the rich traditions of aviation in Western Canada, and how in so many ways it led the world,” said Winnipeg MP Jim Carr when he made the funding announcement.

The museum’s collection, the second-largest for an aviation museum in Canada, includes Canada’s first helicopter, the Canadair CL-84 tilt-wing aircraft, many historic military and commercial aircraft and bush planes.