Canada Aviation and Space Museum at Rockcliffe Airport

Updated: October 2026 – If you think of Canada and aviation, you think of bush pilots on floats, of the turboprops of De Havilland Canada and of an interceptor that never entered service. You find all of that in one place: at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum at Rockcliffe Airport in Ottawa. This is the country’s national aviation collection – with exhibits that exist only once worldwide, such as the nose of the Avro Arrow or the nose of the Avro Canada Jetliner.

This page is your spotter guide for Rockcliffe. It honestly shows you what you see here and what you do not, how to photograph the hall, which registrations you should not miss and what applies at the active airfield next door.

Set expectations first: a museum with an airfield, but without jets

The museum does not stand just anywhere but right at a real airfield. Ottawa/Rockcliffe with the codes YRO and CYRO lies on the south bank of the Ottawa River, a few kilometers northeast of downtown. In 2018 it was recognized as Canada’s oldest airfield still active. The runway has nothing to do with a commercial airport, though: of once three runways in a triangle only the 09/27 with about 1,012 meters of asphalt is still active. The airfield is uncontrolled, and there is no tower.

The day-to-day operator is the Rockcliffe Flying Club, a nonprofit flight school with Cessnas and simulators. Next to it lies the Ottawa/Rockcliffe water aerodrome on the river, the most important water landing site in the capital region. By the way, the museum itself owns the airfield.

For you that means: with a bit of luck you see trainers in the traffic pattern and in summer floatplanes on the river. There are no plannable waves, scheduled jets or freighters here. In the rating the spot therefore gets only one point for aircraft movements – and full marks for type variety. If you are looking for scheduled traffic in Canada, plan on Ottawa’s main airport in the south of the city or travel to the big hubs like Toronto Pearson.

Why Rockcliffe: an airfield full of history

The site was originally a military rifle range. As early as 1918 the first experimental mail flights took off here under the British Royal Air Force. In 1920 the field opened as Ottawa Air Station, as one of six original airfields in Canada. Because the runways reached to the riverbank, land planes and floatplanes could operate here alike – a peculiarity that was perfect for the land of bush pilots.

In the Second World War Rockcliffe was involved in pilot training under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Military flying ended in 1964, and the military left entirely in 1994. In that same year, 1964, the National Aeronautical Collection came into being: it united the aviation holdings of the then aviation museum at Uplands Airport, the aircraft of the Canadian War Museum and the museum of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The aircraft stood for a long time in wooden wartime hangars.

In 1982 the collection was renamed the National Aviation Museum, and in 1988 it moved into the current triangular hall. In 2006 an additional hangar was added so that all aircraft are under cover. After a renovation the museum reopened in November 2008, and shortly afterward an expansion of about 2,600 square meters was approved. Since May 2010 it has carried its current name, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum. It is run by Ingenium, a federally owned corporation that also operates the science and technology museum and the agriculture museum in Ottawa.

The collection at a glance

The collection comprises well over 100 aircraft, civil and military, from the time before the First World War to today. It is especially strong in bush planes of the 1920s to 1940s and in military aircraft from both world wars and the Cold War. The following table is a guide – aircraft move into restoration or storage or are rearranged.

Area	Focus	Examples for spotters
Pioneers	First flights in Canada	Replica of the 1909 Silver Dart
First World War	Fighters and reconnaissance aircraft	Sopwith Camel, Sopwith Snipe, Bristol F.2B, Fokker D.VII, B.E.2c
Bush planes	Opening up the north	Junkers W 34, Norseman, Beaver, Otter
Second World War	Fighters and bombers	Lancaster KB944, Spitfire, Hurricane, Mosquito, Bf 109F, Me 163
Cold War	RCAF jets	Canadair Sabre, CT-133, CF-101 Voodoo, CF-188, CP-107 Argus
Commercial aviation	Airliners and business aviation	Boeing 247D, Viscount, DC-3, North Star, DC-9, Challenger 604
Helicopters	Rescue and navy	CH-113 Labrador, CH-135 Twin Huey, Sikorsky R-4B
Space	Canada’s contribution in space	Canadarm of the Space Shuttle Endeavour

If you travel to Ottawa for a particular exhibit, check with Ingenium beforehand whether it is currently on display. Some aircraft are in storage and can only be seen on tours.

The Avro Arrow: Canada’s lost interceptor

No exhibit attracts as many visitors as the Avro CF-105 Arrow. The supersonic interceptor from Avro Canada first flew on March 25, 1958. On February 20, 1959 the government of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker stopped the program – the day went down in the industry’s history as “Black Friday”. Subsequently the aircraft, engines and documents were destroyed.

What remained stands in Rockcliffe: the cockpit and nose landing gear of RL-206, the first Arrow Mk 2, plus two outer wing sections of RL-203 and an Iroquois engine. The nose section looks bigger than many expect. Photograph it from a low position and slightly at an angle from the front, and the power of the fuselage comes into its own. The Jetliner nose next door is part of the story too: with the C-102 Jetliner Avro Canada built one of the first jet airliners in North America, and here too only the nose has survived.

Lancaster KB944 and the war years

The Avro Lancaster Mk.X KB944 is a Canadian-built bomber and one of the largest exhibits. On top comes the nose section of a second Lancaster, KB848. Around the bomber stand fighters of the war years: three Spitfires (Mk.IIB, LF Mk.IX and Mk.XVIe), a Hurricane, a Mosquito and the Sea Fury of the Canadian navy. German types are also represented, including a Bf 109F, an Me 163 Komet rocket fighter and an He 162 jet fighter. How to reliably recognize such classics in the sky is shown in the article Identifying vintage aircraft in the sky.

Bush planes: the heart of the collection

For European spotters this section is the real discovery. Canada was opened up from the air, and you find the aircraft for it side by side in Ottawa: the Junkers W 34 CF-ATF, the Noorduyn Norseman, the DHC-2 Beaver CF-FHB and a DHC-3 Otter. On top comes the DHC-6 Twin Otter CF-DHC-X, the first Twin Otter built, of a type still in service worldwide today, and with C-GNBX the first DHC-7 Dash 7. You can follow the line from De Havilland Canada to today’s Dash 8 here almost without gaps – differences from other turboprops are explained in the article Telling the ATR and Dash 8 apart.

Photographically bush planes are rewarding: they are compact, and you almost always get them fully in the frame. Watch for skis and floats, which make up the character of these aircraft.

Airliners: from the Boeing 247 to the DC-9

The airliners show how Canada’s scheduled aviation grew. The Boeing 247D CF-JRQ and the Lockheed 10A Electra CF-TCA stand for the early years. The Vickers Viscount 757 CF-THI was the version of the British turboprop built for Trans-Canada Air Lines, the predecessor of Air Canada. Next to it you find the Douglas DC-3 C-FTDJ – its story is told in the article Douglas DC-3 –, the Canadair North Star, a Canadian-built variant of the DC-4 with Merlin engines, and a DC-9-32 CF-TLL. With the Challenger 604 a business aircraft from Bombardier is also represented.

Cold War and Canadian in-house designs

Canadair built numerous licensed and in-house designs, and many of them stand in Rockcliffe: two Canadair Sabre Mk.6, the trainer CT-133 Silver Star, the submarine hunter CP-107 Argus, the trainer CT-114 Tutor and the CF-116 (CF-5A). A true one-off is the CL-84 Dynavert, a tilt-wing vertical takeoff prototype from the 1960s. On top come jets like the CF-101 Voodoo, the F-104 Starfighter and the CF-188, the Canadian version of the F/A-18 Hornet.

Silver Dart and Canadarm

At the start of the tour stands a replica of the Silver Dart. With the original the first powered flight in Canada succeeded on February 23, 1909 in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. For the hundredth anniversary in 2009 the museum opened an exhibition on Canadian aviation history. The most recent major exhibit is the Canadarm, the robotic arm of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, on view in Ottawa since May 2, 2013.

Photographing in the hall

A day in Rockcliffe is photographically the opposite of a day at the airport fence. Instead of telephoto, wind and runway direction in use, short focal lengths, light sensitivity and patience count. Whether tripods are allowed you clarify beforehand in the visitor information or at the entrance.

Focal length: A standard zoom covers most subjects, and a true wide-angle helps with the Lancaster, North Star and Argus. You need a telephoto at most for details on hanging exhibits or on the Canadarm. Which focal length suits what is explained in the article Wide-angle and standard lenses for spotting.

Light: The hall looks bright, but for the camera it is much darker. Raise the ISO before camera shake ruins the picture. Mixed light likes to tint silver fuselages yellowish – shoot in RAW or set the white balance manually.

Reflections: Polished metal surfaces like those on the Viscount or the Boeing 247 reflect the ceiling lighting. A step or two to the side often helps more than any setting. Tips for shooting through display cases are given in the article Shooting through fences and glass.

Subject	Challenge	Solution
Lancaster KB944	Large, dark paint	Wide-angle, expose tightly, details
Arrow nose	Looks flat head-on	Lower, angled position
Bush planes	Skis and floats	Whole landing gear in the frame
Viscount, Boeing 247	Reflections	Change position, RAW
Canadarm	Long and narrow	Diagonal, longer focal length

Planning your visit: opening, admission, getting there

The address is 11 Aviation Parkway, Ottawa, ON K1K 4Y5. Opening hours, closing days and ticket prices change by season and program. So check them before every visit on the Ingenium website (as of October 2026).

• Museum offerings: Besides the exhibition there are changing programs for families and groups – what is currently on is listed with Ingenium.
• Tours: Some tours lead behind the scenes to restoration and storage – check dates beforehand.
• Airfield: The airfield lies right next to the museum. According to the airfield operator you reach Rockcliffe from downtown in about ten minutes by car or about 25 minutes by bike.

By car you are most flexible. OC Transpo buses also run nearby; check line and frequency beforehand in the trip planner. By bike you reach Rockcliffe via the riverside paths along the Ottawa River. Most visitors from Europe combine Ottawa with a bigger North America trip. Tips on planning, rental cars and a camera in your luggage are collected in the article A plane spotting trip to the USA – much of it applies to Canada just as well.

Combine: what else to plan for in Canada

A museum day at Rockcliffe goes well with a day of real traffic. In Ottawa itself you head for the main airport in the south of the city for that. If you travel on, you will find in the west the Larry Berg Flight Path Park at Vancouver Airport – there widebody jets land right over you, and on the coast the floatplanes of Harbour Air are out, keeping alive the tradition of the bush pilots from the museum.

If you collect museums on a grand scale, you will find similarly strong ones in the USA: the Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles Airport, the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. In Europe IWM Duxford is the obvious counterpart, because there too museum and active airfield come together.

Rules at the airfield

In the museum photography for private purposes is common, and you clarify the details in the visitor information. Outside an active airfield begins: do not enter the airfield, stay on public paths and keep your distance from hangars and the club’s parked aircraft. At the water aerodrome the same applies to docks and moorings.

Conclusion

The Canada Aviation and Space Museum is the must-visit for anyone who wants to understand Canadian aviation. Nowhere else do the Arrow nose, Jetliner nose, a Canadian Lancaster and such a complete line of bush planes stand under one roof. For spotters it is above all a collector’s destination: many types and registrations you photograph here you will find nowhere in Europe.

Live traffic plays only a minor role at Rockcliffe – a few club aircraft and, in summer, floatplanes on the river. If you know that, come at opening and pack a wide-angle, you get a quiet, rich museum day and can add a side trip to the main airport if needed.