History and happiness at Classic Wings
By FRANCIE HEALY If you’re looking for Bob Hanson, look up. Chances are he’ll be fl ying overhead in his red helicopter. Or his World
War II fi ghter jet. Or Eisenhower’s personal Airforce One. Or the plane that once belonged to Fidel Castro. This is a guy who started fl ying when he was 43, learned astoundingly fast,
and three years later had some of the world’s most beautiful and historic fl ying machines. Even better, he shares them. These magnifi cent vintage planes aren’t tucked
away in some museum. They’re at Russ Beach Airport near Smiths Falls where, if you request it, you can see them up close and personal. “There’s no place you can go in Canada,” he says, “where you can put a
helmet on a kid and let him sit in a fi ghter jet.” Bob calls his personal collection Classic Wings, and he wants others to
enjoy them. “The whole idea is to promote aviation for kids,” he says. And, he adds, this is simply “a fun place” − a fun place with very special,
very, rare, aircraft. Children’s and church groups often use it for events. Recently 36 kids from China paid a visit. Bob was looking forward to welcoming a Brockville air cadets group in June − about 40 or 50 kids who would be treated to a big barbecue and, given enough pilots on hand, airplane rides and an aerobatic show. “There were about 10 different events here last year,” he says. The planes are living, fl ying, functioning bits of history. There are 17 of
them dating from 1939 to the 1990s. Two are fi ghter jets: one from Russia, one from Czechoslovakia. There are planes that fl ew during WWII, and there are wartime training planes. They are all magnifi cently restored in their original colours. They’re
66 BOUNDER MAGAZINE
www.bounder.ca
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