In a small town in south-eastern Ontario there is an out-of-the-way museum that most people, outside of the town, likely don’t even know exists. Campbellford, Ontario hosts the Memorial Military Museum, owned and operated by Harold Carlaw for more than 50 years.

The museum was started, more by chance, than by intention. Harold Carlaw was about 19 years old when he had his first opportunity to become a part time scrap-dealer. He had the opportunity to buy and sell scrap for profit by means of the purchase of ex-RCAF, war surplus aircraft. A friend of Harold’s was a scrap dealer and it was through him that he bought his first scrap airplane, a Mk II Avro Anson. Soon after, he purchased a Cessna Crane Bobcat, number 8841, which is still sitting on an upper level of the museum without fabric. He still has the original horizontal stabilizer and enough assorted parts to eventually put together a full static display airplane.

At the age of 21 he started his own automotive collision repair business and combined it with his part time scrap dealing. In 1951so started the true beginnings to the museum he has today.

Most of his aircraft purchases came from war assets, Crown Disposal that scrap dealers had to bid on. Not long after his Bobcat purchase, along came a 1944 Canso (the Commonwealth version of the PBY Catalina). Though the wings unfortunately went for scrap, his intention was to create a boat out of the fuselage, which still sits on the trailer unit he brought it back to his yard on.

Through the years Harold has purchased quite an assortment of aircraft, military vehicles, and military memorabilia, all out of his own pocket. He doesn’t do this for profit, he does it for the love of collecting and to honour those who have fought for our freedom. There are some items that have been donated by ex-military personnel and/or the spouses of those who have passed on but the rest of it he’s purchased at auctions, yard sales, and where-ever and whenever he could.

Another aircraft in the collection is an Avro CF-100 Canuck, the airplane designed and built by Avro Canada as an all-weather interceptor. The engines for the ‘Clunk,’ as it was affectionately known, was also Canadian designed and built in Canada by Orenda Engines of Malton, Ontario.

The T-33 and CF-5 (known as the F-5 in the USA), both American designed aircraft, were built in Canada under license by Canadair for the Canadian Air Force. Both were used by the Air Force as late as the 1980s before most were retired and cut for scrap. A practice that continues today and is currently happening at CFB Mountain View, Ontario, a former WWII base just south of Belleville, Ontario.

The Canadian Forces Snowbirds fly the Canadian designed and built, 2-seat trainer Tutor, an airplane that has now been flying with the Canadian Forces for more than 40 years. Though retired from training Canadian Forces pilots as a stepping stone from propeller driven aircraft to fighter jets, it still flies with the world famous aerobatic team and is expected to do so for another 10+ years. Harold has an additional 8 in storage at his son’s airstrip and hopes one day to have them painted up in Snowbirds colours and displayed along Hwy 7 for all to see. If he can get his hands on another 9 Tutors after that, he’ll do the same thing and paint them up in Golden Centennairs colours and display them in the same way.

Other aircraft in the collection include the fuselage of an Expeditor, the fuselage of a Republic Seabee, a gyrocopter, an ultralight, a Canadian Forces Beech Musketeer, and a huge assortment of aircraft parts and various engines. One engine set aside in its own display ‘case’ is from a Canadian Forces Voodoo, a P&W J-57 which offered up 15,000 lbs of thrust, currently mounted on a mobile maintenance support unit. Another engine is a working, Packard built, Mk 29 Rolls-Royce Merlin, similar to ones used in aircraft such as the Spitfire and Hurricane.

Inside the actual museum you’ll find something that may initially shock you until you realize it’s not full scale. An Avro Arrow ‘mock up,’ 60% scale model that was designed and built by the National Arts Centre in Ottawa for a stage play. Harold had the opportunity to bid on it when assorted props from the play came up for sale. Too large to fit into the ‘hangar’ side of the building he built, it sits on a trailer with one wing section still attached and the remainder stored around the museum. The other half of the building is used for smaller artifacts which include medals, cap badges, uniform badges, uniforms, disabled weapons, aircraft parts, photos, manuals, books, plastic models, r/c models, aircraft engines, propellers…. and much more.

There are a number of unusual items that you’ll find while browsing the museum. Among them are a B-17 alarm clock, a P-51 Mustang telephone, a wall mounted engine for a Siskin biplane fighter, and a propeller from the Canadian version of a Curtiss Jenny known as a Canuck that is stamped “X214X, Sgt. Lakieffer, MSE, Carruthers Field, Nov. 11, 1918.” There is also large model of the Avro Arrow on a stand, signed by the most well known Avro Arrow test pilot, Jan Zurakowski. This Arrow model was actually created by Harold and his son in their workshop and many were sold to various museums across Canada.

Though there is a jar for donations inside the door, Harold doesn’t ask or expect it. He created this musuem for the love aviation and the military. At 79, he is still full of energy and works, daily, at restoring artifacts that come into his possession. He’s also working on his own aircraft building project, a Fokker DVIII replica that will be used for static display with working control surfaces and a running engine, fully to scale and based on original plans.

If you’re in south-eastern Ontario, in the Trent Hills area, stop in at Campbellford and visit the museum. It’s just off Hwy 30, tucked away in the town amongst houses and beside the auto collision centre he started over 50 years ago, now owned by his eldest son. Harold will show you around and can tell you anything you want to know about everything he has on display. He has no formal aviation or military background, but you wouldn’t know it. An amazing man with an amazing passion for collecting .. and more importantly, sharing. If you’re interested in visiting, donating, or even volunteering at the museum, contact Harold Carlaw, Memorial Military Museum at 705-653-4848 in Campbellford, Ontario, Canada.

By Kevin Moore, Contributing Editor & Photographer
thestickandrudder@sympatico.ca

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