STAFF PROFILE: Creamer's spirit keeps eyes on the skies

By Leslie Kostal
September 22, 2011

Contributed photo

With assistance, a frail gentleman in his 80s slowly makes his way to the cockpit area. He is talkative, tells stories and seemingly enjoys himself as he navigates toward a seat he had occupied many years before – a seat in an Avro Lancaster.

As he approaches and identifies his place, he stops talking. Tears form and roll from his eyes. He stares at that spot for a few moments, then turns. “I’ve seen enough,” he says. “I want to get out.”

Frank Creamer, special constable, patrol operations with Campus Community Police Services, is plainly plane passionate. As a volunteer guide at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, located at the Hamilton International Airport in Mount Hope, he equally admires the veterans – the museum’s champions. Creamer remembers this man’s gratitude.

“Thank you, Frank,” the man says. “Thank you for taking me inside. That’s the first time I’ve been inside a Lancaster since 1944.”

“No, sir, on the contrary,” Creamer replies.  “I want to thank you for what you did.”

Creamer, a volunteer for 12 years, says it’s important for us to remember contributions people have made in the past to preserve and protect our freedom. “To that end,” he says, “our museum is dedicated to remember and pay homage to those who gave everything.”

Creamer’s love of aircraft took root in the 1950s and early-1960s living on an airbase. As is still the custom, retired aircraft are dismantled and stored in a field on their bellies. “Although we weren’t supposed to, both my brother and I and the other kids on the airbase, we used to climb over the fence and play in these jets all day,” he confesses. “It was like seventh heaven for a kid to have your own jet to play in.”

The museum was launched in 1972 by four businessmen pooling their resources to purchase and restore a Fairey Firefly – the “seed of what became a flying museum.” It has matured into a multi-faceted meeting place for aviation appetites. Even public school children participate in a program that teaches the basics of flying.

“We also have classrooms catered to Grade 10 students,” Creamer adds. There are volunteer mechanics, air marshals, pilots and archivists. A program called Voices of the Past records on video interviews with ex-pilots, bombardiers, air crew, ground crew and even Rosie Riveters – ladies during wartime who worked assembling aircraft.

“The purpose of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum is to obtain, restore and fly aircraft flown by Canadians in the Second World War up and to the present date,” Creamer says.  “Currently, we have about 44 aircraft in our collection.”

The Avro Lancaster is the museum’s prize plane.

“It’s the queen of the whole fleet,” Creamer says. “There are only two airworthy Lancasters left in the world today. So it’s a very rare airplane. People that come to the museum, that’s the aircraft they’re hoping to see.”

It was the supreme night bomber of the Second World War. After the war, Lancs were used for search and rescue, maritime patrol and photo reconnaissance duty. In the late 1940s and 1950s, these gigantic warbirds were perfect for mapping northern Canada.

Creamer passionately talks about the TBM Avenger, a torpedo bomber replacing the Firefly for anti-sub patrol throughout the 1950s; the Bristol Bolingbroke, a twin-engine light bomber used to protect our coastlines, later used as trainers for bombardiers and target tugs.

As a guide at the museum, Creamer enjoys telling stories.

“If you’re not into World War II aircraft,” he says, “it sometimes can get pretty dry. But if you can tell a personal story as it relates to that particular airplane, it makes it all a little more real.” 

He tells about a young man from Vancouver – a gunner in training – involved in a horrific crash in a Tiger Moth, an aircraft used primarily as pilot trainers. It happened at the back of a school yard in Calgary. The young man was awarded the George Cross for his bravery.

An hour’s flight in the Avro Lancaster will cost you roughly $2,500 a ticket. Creamer’s long-standing dedication earned him a seat last year on Labour Day weekend. “We flew over the Statue of Liberty, down the Hudson and the whole New York skyline was just on my right-hand side. It was just an awesome flight,” he says.  “It’s noisy, but it’s a beautiful noise if I may say so.”

According to Creamer, volunteers at the museum have one thing in common.

“It’s really the love of these aircraft,” he says. “I mean, you have to love these aircraft. It’s a passion. It’s the love of the aircraft and the respect and appreciation for the men and women who flew these aircraft both in World War II and up to the present date: preserving the freedom that we all enjoy today.”

Leslie Kostal, web administrative assistant, Department of Economics, writes periodic pieces profiling Western staff members. If you, or someone you know, has an interesting story to tell, e-mail her at Leslie.Kostal@uwo.ca.