Western Standard - May 29, 2026


A mission to preserve Canada's Cold War air force history

Guests
Ed McGilvery
Mentioned
Bobby Bob Wade
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Episode Stats


Length

13 minutes

Words per minute

171.95

Word count

2,316

Sentence count

55


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Join us for a special edition of The Hannover Show, a weekly politics show on the Western Standard, featuring two former Canadian Air Force pilots and current Air Force Museum Society of Alberta Director of Exhibitions and Display Ed McGilvery and Major retired Brigadier general Bob Wade.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Good evening, Western Standard viewers, and welcome to a special edition of The Hannover Show,
00:00:21.120 a weekly politics show on the Western Standard. Today is May the 28th, and our guests are major
00:00:26.940 retired Bob Wade, a former snowbird and Cold War fighter pilot. He is also currently the director
00:00:33.400 of exhibits and displays for the museum. Also joining us today is Ed McGilvery, retired
00:00:39.180 brigadier general and vice chair of the Air Force Museum Society of Alberta. Okay, so thank you
00:00:45.620 again for joining us today, guys. So I hear you are currently doing a fundraiser for the Air Force
00:00:53.560 museum but before we get into that i kind of want to hear your guys's like history because you both
00:00:59.960 were pilots during the cold war so why don't we start with you bob yeah tell us a little summary
00:01:05.240 of like what it was like during that time charlie i joined the air force in 1968 because i'd seen
00:01:12.600 the golden hawks fly over top of our farm west of edmonton and i wanted to be a fighter pilot
00:01:18.200 and so that i went through pilot training they made me an instructor because there's no fighter
00:01:22.680 jobs available I instructed for three years and then they started the snowbird aerobatic team
00:01:27.960 so I flew with the team two years and then I finally got my snow or my starfighter posting
00:01:33.240 sent to Germany for five years and then I instructed for a couple of years in Coal Lake
00:01:38.220 on the starfighter when we bought the F-18 they just moved me over to be an instructor on the F-18
00:01:43.620 so I did that for four years and then I was posted to 441 squadron which was in charge of air defense
00:01:50.600 for Western Canada from the West Coast to Winnipeg to the North Pole.
00:01:54.900 And so that we ran alert operations, flew out of Benuvik,
00:01:58.600 intercepting Russian bombers coming across the North Pole.
00:02:01.400 Then I retired to the airlines in 91.
00:02:04.740 Okay, well, what about you, Ed?
00:02:06.600 Very similar.
00:02:08.580 I graduated a little earlier than Bob in the 60s.
00:02:11.860 And actually, Bob was one of my students when I instructed on the T-33
00:02:15.020 after I got my wings.
00:02:16.860 And then I also went on 104, so a little earlier than Bob, and served in Germany for five years,
00:02:23.980 from 72 to 77. Came back and instructed on the CF-104 in Coal Lake as well. Then went to various
00:02:30.380 staff jobs. Then I came back as a squadron commander on the CF-18 and was posted to
00:02:35.340 Germany. Whereas Bob stayed in Canada instructing on the CF-18, I went back to Germany for another
00:02:41.020 four years and then came back uh pushed back to coal lake as a base grounder there so uh i guess
00:02:49.020 it's safe to say that part of my responsibilities was in norad at that time both bob and i had
00:02:54.220 originally started in the nato business and then we ended up in the norad business so that's uh
00:02:59.900 that's a a thumbnail sketch of my career in the military okay well um why don't we talk a little
00:03:05.900 bit about the history of the air force museum and your guys's involvement in it as well okay
00:03:10.780 Okay. Well, just a brief history. It used to be the museum at Crow Trial Trailed used
00:03:17.500 to be an army museum of the regiment, strictly army. And around the year 1999, Air Force
00:03:23.380 veterans and Navy veterans were approached to see if they would join to make it a military
00:03:28.100 museum with all three services, Army, Navy, and Air Force. The Navy was lucky. They had
00:03:32.880 a museum already at their reserve facility in Calgary. The Air Force had nothing. So
00:03:39.500 We fundraised and we built in addition to the main museum there and started a small
00:03:45.940 virtual, mainly virtual history, Air Force Museum in the main building.
00:03:51.260 And then in early, I guess it would be early 2010 or so Bobby, we started raising the funds
00:03:58.600 for the Cold War exhibit.
00:04:00.820 And as it turns out, we had the airplanes.
00:04:03.540 We have an F-86 Sabre 104 and F-18 in the Cold War exhibit, and it's covered.
00:04:11.640 It's a complete facility for the Cold War exhibit for the NATO aircraft, okay?
00:04:16.220 And then we decided we had to build a Cold War exhibit,
00:04:21.540 covered Cold War exhibit for the NORAD aircraft.
00:04:23.660 So we procured three aircraft, a T-33 trainer, a CF-100, a CF-101.
00:04:29.140 It all served North American air defense.
00:04:31.700 and we built um we built the foundation the concrete foundation for those three aircraft
00:04:38.480 and that cost a little over two million dollars for that and now we we're short of funds to
00:04:45.380 purchase we don't have enough money to build an overall facility of sprung shelter to cover these
00:04:50.940 aircraft and that's what that's what we're uh really funded fundraising right now about we've
00:04:56.020 How much have we spent, Bobby, right now?
00:05:00.280 Yeah, we spent $2.1 million putting in that foundation floor.
00:05:04.020 It's got underfloor heating, so I can move airplanes around on top of the cement,
00:05:09.260 which is really important.
00:05:11.520 And we'll probably need about $4.1 million to complete the structure.
00:05:18.280 We have $1.1 million in the bank,
00:05:23.100 But we need another $4.1 million to finalize the overall sprung shelter of the of the final Cold War exhibit for the NORAD.
00:05:30.400 I should point out, this is very important, I think, Leah, is that it's a it's a quite an interesting tourist attraction in Calgary.
00:05:40.540 And I like to quote from from TripAdvisor, the Air Force Museum Society of Alberta ranks as the second overall attraction out of over 400 things to do in Calgary.
00:05:51.580 based on consistently high travel ratings on TripAdvisor.
00:05:55.740 So, you know, if we can finish this exhibit,
00:06:00.000 we hope to move up to number one, if you will.
00:06:02.360 And right now, we've got dozens and dozens of volunteers
00:06:05.000 that access docents and fundraising and maintaining
00:06:10.200 and running the Air Force Museum.
00:06:12.780 So we're very fortunate that we've got, like I say,
00:06:15.140 dozens of veterans and people that are interested in aviation
00:06:18.280 that are helping us out with this endeavor
00:06:20.480 and keeping the museum running day to day that's good yeah it's important to us uh because that
00:06:27.360 cold war never got much attention really to the canadian public kids aren't taught about the cold
00:06:33.680 war in school and we wanted to tell that story because there were 937 air force people lost
00:06:40.240 during that cold war and none of that was combat those were just day-to-day operations
00:06:45.920 and eddie and i both did you know i lost 38 boys i flew with every day in 23 years you know so it's
00:06:51.360 important to us to tell that story we both did yeah exactly you know and uh it's important for
00:06:58.240 canadians to understand that you know peace is not the absence of war but the maintenance of
00:07:04.480 those hard-won freedoms that we uh we served to accomplish back in that cold war right that's why
00:07:11.520 we want to tell that story i think it's worthwhile pointing out that last year we had over 50 000
00:07:16.320 visitors to our museum and dozens and dozens and hundreds of school children and we believe that
00:07:22.880 is very important because the motto of our museum is preserve remember and educate so if we can talk
00:07:28.720 to the school children about uh what the core was all about the sacrifices that canadians made
00:07:34.400 uh to preserve the pieces bob said then that's important to us but we've got literally thousands
00:07:41.120 of school children visit our museum every year that's pretty good well um also i'd like to know
00:07:47.440 once you do raise these funds how long do you think it'll take to finalize the building's
00:07:53.040 completion let's take about five months yeah yeah yeah and uh sprung structures are the is a
00:08:01.360 manufacturer of the buildings themselves and they're uh world renowned you know for how well
00:08:07.360 they do at that and phil sprung the owner of sprung structure is really excited about getting
00:08:14.000 the structure built and getting these airplanes on display they've been a very very solid supporter
00:08:19.680 of our museum for years because they built the first sprung shelter now they're they're waiting
00:08:24.480 for us to find the money so they can build the second sprung shelter so we really want to get
00:08:29.520 those airplanes uh undercover because uh yeah you know if you leave mountain elements with the
00:08:34.400 weather in Calgary with the snow and ice and whatnot, it's not conducive to preservation of
00:08:39.840 those historic aircraft. And those historic aircraft are very important. There's not many
00:08:43.920 of them around, so we want to make sure we look after them. That makes sense. Well, I would also
00:08:48.960 like to know, would you be able to get any snowbirds also into the exhibit once it's built?
00:08:55.840 Yeah. We're currently waiting for the delivery of two snowbird airplanes
00:09:02.080 from back in the earlier days not the ones the teams flying today but back from earlier times
00:09:08.300 that retired 20 years ago and were sent to a school for training down in Borden Ontario so
00:09:15.400 I'm waiting to take delivery of those and we'll put them on pedestals facing each other just like
00:09:20.520 the head-on pass that the snowbirds do during their air shows well that's cool so it's going
00:09:24.940 to be cool yeah yeah oh do you when do you think you're gonna get them like I shouldn't get them
00:09:29.380 this summer now uh i'm sure everybody's heard that the snowboard team's shutting down after
00:09:34.420 this season you know so there'll be more airplanes available uh unfortunately but uh it's a it's a
00:09:42.900 story that's uh had 55 years of history you know i flew on the team in 70 years 73 74 you know 55
00:09:51.060 years ago you know so that's a lot of air shows and uh it's kind of got a canadian reputation
00:09:58.100 yeah now people identify with the strawberry aerobatic team well i also like to know where
00:10:04.340 you guys like storing the airplanes right now without the building being constructed
00:10:11.780 we have this the concrete pad and as bob's already pointed out the concrete pad was uh
00:10:16.580 we needed desperately needed that uh uh and we need to do it right because uh you know to
00:10:22.660 to ensure the integrity of the building.
00:10:26.220 So when we took the airplanes,
00:10:28.360 and it's interesting, we procured the airplanes.
00:10:31.240 The CF-100 is an old air defense fighter
00:10:33.720 that was active in the 50s and 60s.
00:10:36.040 We needed two aircraft to make one, if you will,
00:10:39.000 because both of them were in such rough shape.
00:10:41.380 So now we combined the two into one aircraft.
00:10:44.720 So we've got the T-33 trainer, the CF-100, the CF-101,
00:10:49.040 which were air defense aircraft,
00:10:50.720 they're sitting on the concrete foundation now oh okay so they're so but it's still they're open to
00:10:55.840 the air so there's a little bit more work that has to be done on the aircraft uh so uh the concrete
00:11:02.080 foundation is a is a good place for the work to be done yeah yeah bobby no yeah because i have to
00:11:07.840 uh rebuild the cockpits uh of both those airplanes and also paint them you know and so we want to
00:11:13.280 paint them in colors that they served in during the uh cold war or that era of our history
00:11:20.480 does it also you said like painting and all that stuff but does it cost money to maintain
00:11:24.640 the aircraft oh yes it costs money to maintain the whole operation you know the lights the water uh
00:11:31.280 uh the electricity uh maintain the aircraft itself because we do have to paint them uh you know every
00:11:37.440 couple of years especially the one if you notice of crow child trail there's an f5 on a pedestal
00:11:42.400 there that has to be painted what every three or four years yeah yeah it's 50 000 if you paint
00:11:47.680 better but yeah we're talking about fundraising for a capital project here but we also have funds
00:11:54.000 but we do have funds to maintain operations and maintenance those as well yeah yeah that's good
00:11:59.520 to know well why don't you guys also tell the audience where they can donate i'd love to tell
00:12:05.680 them uh we have a website and you can um you can donate through the website uh when you go to visit
00:12:12.560 at the museum we have a a paypal touch facility but you can also send any donations by mail
00:12:20.480 into the air force museum society and i'll just give you the address if i may
00:12:24.480 and it's four five two zero road trial trail southwest calgary t2t5j4 and you can make
00:12:33.600 attention ed mcgill over your bob wade and we'll get it and we'll get it okay sounds good it'd be
00:12:38.960 very nice if people would would help us out for sure definitely okay and once you do raise funds
00:12:44.320 for this when's a timeline for it to be built when we get the money okay yeah we prefer to do
00:12:50.880 in the summer but we can't move until we get the money we like i say we we have some money on hand
00:12:55.680 but not nearly enough okay yeah that makes sense okay guys so if you want to donate definitely
00:13:01.360 recommend that we'll also put the address on the screen if you guys need it and the website as well
00:13:06.240 to donate um hope you guys enjoyed this video if you are at all interested in more of our videos
00:13:13.280 you can check out our youtube channel and our website which has a bunch of news on it so it's
00:13:18.160 westernstandard.news where it's ten dollars a month or a hundred dollars a year
00:13:22.160 $100 a year. And thank you very much everyone. Have a good night.