de Havilland Test Pilot George Neal (centre) poses with James Brooke (left) and David Gillespie (right) owners of the world's oldest flying de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk (No. 11) at the "Wings and Wheels Heritage Festival" at the Toronto Aerospace Museum on the weekend. George Neal conducted an "instrument check" test flight in this aircraft on March 24, 1947 at Downsview.

Wings & Wheels Heritage Festival Celebrates 60 Years of Toronto Aerospace Innovation	May 2006

Bombardier Aerospace was a major sponsor of the Toronto Aerospace Museum's recent "Wings & Wheels Heritage Festival" which celebrated more than half a century of innovative aircraft design and development the Bombardier site at Downsview airport in central Toronto.

The two-day fly-in festival celebrated the 60^th anniversary of the first flight of the prototype DHC-1 two-seat Chipmunk training aircraft at Downsview on May 22, 1946.

The all-metal Chipmunk was the first original postwar aircraft design developed by de Havilland Canada, a predecessor to Bombardier Aerospace in Toronto, and the first of a long line of Downsview-built aircraft sold throughout the world.

The Festival is a community fundraising event for the Toronto Aerospace Museum, the only aviation heritage and science and technology attraction in the Greater Toronto Area. The event is co-hosted by Parc Downsview Park Inc. a federal government cultural agency which owns the site of the original aircraft factory established at Downsview in 1929.

To mark the historic birthday, the Toronto Aerospace Museum hosted a historic homecoming of Chipmunks which attracted 13 aircraft from Canada and the United States --- the largest North American gathering of Chipmunk aircraft in recent memory.

The Chipmunk re-launched the aircraft manufacturing industry in Toronto after the Second World War and established Downsview as a world leader in the development of innovative and enduring aircraft designs.

Many of the engineers and managers who started their careers working on the Chipmunk in 1946 would late develop the Beaver, Otter, Caribou, Buffalo, Twin Otter, and Dash 7 short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft, and the modern Bombardier Q Series Dash 8 family of turboprop airliners in production at Downsview today.

More than two dozen vintage aircraft and a hundred classic cars participated in the festival. Highlights included the world's oldest flying Chipmunk, Serial No. 11, built at Downsview in 1947 which made a 3200 km flight from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, several D.H.82C Tiger Moth biplane trainers and a postwar DHC-2 Beaver bush plane.

Bombardier Aerospace showcased a new Q Series 300 airliner awaiting delivery to Air New Zealand, and the public observed daily test flights of brand new airliners and business jets assembled at Downsview for customers throughout the world.

The goal of the Wings & Wheels Heritage Festival is to create an annual aviation event in the heart of the city which gives aviation fans and the general public an opportunity to celebrate the important role the local aerospace industry has played in Toronto's history and economy.

Bombardier Aerospace builds the quiet and fuel-efficient Bombardier Q Series turboprop aircraft --- Q100, Q200, Q300 and Q400 --- and Bombardier Global 5000 and Global Express XRS ultra long-range business jets at its Downsview facility. The site currently employs over 3, 500 people.

Since 1929, more than 7,000 aircraft have been built at Downsview and exported to various countries around the world.