THUNDER BAY — A visit by North American Harvard aircraft is up in the air.
The original date for the event was scheduled for this weekend; however, because of possible poor weather, it has been tentatively rescheduled for the weekend of Aug. 17, with a possibility of cancellation altogether.
Denise Lyzun, who’s on the board of directors for the Northwestern Ontario Aviation Heritage Centre, said the flying conditions are not good.
Three of the four aircraft are from southern Ontario, and one is from the West, she said.
“They had called us yesterday or this morning and said, 'You know what, they're not going to let us go.'
“You have to consider these aircraft were built in the 1950s at Fort William here. And so, they're very old.”
Lyzun said they’ve been beautifully restored and there were a lot of people excited to see them.
“Unfortunately, the event has been postponed initially this weekend. However, we got a phone call again saying that there's going to be possibly some scheduling issues for those aircraft next weekend. It may not be possible for some of them to come and that will just make having the event not plausible.
“We're going to reconsider everything. We're going to take a really good look at what's going to be available and what isn't available. By tomorrow, the public will know one way or another, whether we're going ahead next weekend or we're cancelling it totally.
The situation is disappointing after all the hard work poured in and the excitement that people had, she said.
“We certainly have to consider the schedules of these Harvard aircraft because this is the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force. These aircraft have been flying all summer so they have to make sure they're flying safely.
“It was going to be a real fun big event.”
