We had the opportunity this past Saturday to walk among a fantastic display of airplanes and cars past and present, at the Wings And Wheels Heritage Festival at Downsview Park in Toronto. Celebrating it’s 6th year, the Annual Wings & Wheels Heritage Festival had a  wonderful collection of aircraft and automobiles spanning many decades. Where else could one see vintage airplanes and warbirds side-by-side with classic and modern aircraft and vehicles. Along with aviation exhibits, vintage cars, vendors, seminars, family-friendly activities, models, simulators and airplane rides, the lovely weather on Saturday allowed us to enjoy the outdoors (and indoor exhibits) in a wonderful family environment.

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The show which celebrated the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan from 1939 – 1945, also featured an Avro Arrow (our first time seeing one up close), but the highlight for us (among other things) was getting the opportunity to have a brief chat with a distinguished gentleman who piloted one of the Lancaster Bombers during WWII. Just had to stop and say thanks for the sacrifice he and so many others made for us.

We started off touring the outside area where the vintage cars were and though myself, Caron nor Tehya are really not into vintage cars, it was still neat to see so many well maintained automobiles on display. You could almost get a sort of romantic feel as you imagined yourself driving though the country side on a summer’s day, in one of the convertible type cars which were on display. We next went by the Avro Arrow, past the live band who were entertaining the crowds, to the indoor portion of the festival.

Here is where our imagination went wild, with many of the odd-type flying machines (not sure what else to call them) and one could only imagine how brave the flight pioneers were to fly what seems like contraptions. The Lancaster Bomber restoration which looked like a work in progress was simply stunning. We had the opportunity about 8 years ago to see one up-close at the Hamilton Airshow and from that moment I was in love with this amazing aircraft. Everyone seemed to be having a good time with the flight simulators, being able to tour the cockpit of many of the military type planes and another proud moment was when we entered the hanger type building with one of the Snowbirds CT-114 Tutor Jets.
We then ventured back outside to enjoy more of the great weather and here is where we saw the Canadian Air Force’s CH-146 Griffon, which was a big hit with the patrons (see pic above), Titan P-51 Mustang and the CF-18 Hornet among other aircraft on display.

For the kids, there was a designated “kids zone” and from the lines to get their faces painted and to jump around in the bouncing castle, you could tell that they were having a good time, as were the adults.

For more info on the Wings and Wheels Heritage festival, including admission prices and dates for the next event, be sure to check out the website at: https://wingsandwheelsfestival.com/

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