A council committee is recommending the city pitch-in $800,000 toward the restoration of two vintage airplanes so long as matching funds can be found.
The move looks to restore both the de Havilland Mosquito and the Hawker Hurricane to museum quality and keep both the airplanes in Calgary.
The issue has proved to be an antagonistic one.
Over the summer the City opened up a bidding process and city administrators took submissions on how the public thought the planes should be restored.
On Wednesday, the City heard four options. The first involved hiring a private company to restore the planes, which would come at a price tag of $1.6-million.
The second option would be to have volunteer groups fundraise and restore the planes themselves. The City settled on this option, opting to jump-start the process with the $800,000.
A British man had also offered to buy the Mosquito so he can keep it and restore it to flying capacity.
In return, he would restore the Hurricane (but not to flying capability) and then return it to Calgary, along with an endowment fund worth roughly $1 million.
But that offer drew sharp criticism from a group of local aviation enthusiasts who didn’t want to see the Mosquito leave Alberta and argued an army of volunteers could restore the plan.
The fourth option was to leave the planes in storage.
The city owns the two aircraft. But for roughly 40 years they have sat in storage and are sorely in the need of restoration.
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