If you saw it in a movie, you'd scoff with derision and pigeon hole it along with those cheesy scripts where the protagonist is apparently able to park freely right outside the main doors of a major airport and minutes later take off in an airliner with its landing spoilers fully deployed.

(Hey, the movie Airplane is a timeless comedy classic - Ed. )

On a hot July day in 2010 I walked around the corner of the warehouse in the northwest Calgary community of Sunnyside and raised my camera just as Rangeland Trucking was backing in to extract Calgary's Mosquito - CF-HMS of Spartan Air Services fame. This after a decade of incarceration in a now leaking and about to be sold warehouse - the Mossie fuselage was finally seeing the light of day. Clearly fate and the Goddess of Mosquitoes had decreed that I should arrive there at that instant.

Richard de Boer, our President, was already there of course but I was, as usual, late. I suffer from PTS (Pathological Tardiness Syndrome) for which there is no known cure. I also suffer from PPS (Pathological Procrastination Syndrome) for which there are help groups but which I haven't gotten around to joining yet.

We had previously received an anonymous tip-off that the Mossie was going to be moved after lunch to a new but unspecified City warehouse location. There was an easy way to find the location. After taking many pictures of the parked Mossie we simply tailed the massive Rangeland truck and its precious cargo all the way to the City's warehouse. Here I took more pictures before our Mossie moved past the wire fence and then into the 'gated community' grounds of the warehouse itself.

About a week later Richard received an early morning message saying that the wing was now about to move.

Here I must digress; there is great moral rectitude in early rising but completing the trifecta of evils for PTS and PPS sufferers is NOS (Night Owl Syndrome). After a long day of work and a 3:00AM computer session I retired to bed grateful in the knowledge that I could have a long sleep with no interruptions. After all, any Mosquito move was already proven to take place only after lunch. Wrong!

Richard's urgent voice on my message machine (with some feeble excuse about working) directed me to scramble immediately. I awoke from my dreams of pixels and pilots running to their Spitfires and being helped into their parachutes and harnesses. Unfortunately there was no one to help me and I live some considerable distance from Sunnyside. Worse, it was still rush hour. Fortunately various previously prepared contingency plans went live and cameras were packed and ready with batteries charged.

I calculated that I might miss the departure from Sunnyside or, worse, might delay there thinking the truck had not yet arrived to collect the wing. Cunningly I decided to head up Deerfoot Trail, which they had to cross to get to the warehouse and trace the already known route back to Sunnyside to intercept them en route if need be.

They fell perfectly into my trap but had the audacity to try and fool me by camouflaging the truck.

Several other trucks had already passed when I saw one that was a very drab grey, unlike the retina-searing red, 28-wheel, 45-ton monster crane truck with two complete sets of turning wheels I was expecting. I couldn't see what was loaded behind it until I was almost level with it.

But there it was! The Mossie wing on 16th Avenue and Centre Street. I loosed off a volley of reflex shots as it passed by, trying to make good its escape. An Immelman turn immediately came to mind but Honda Civic's are not good at this manoeuvre. No matter, with my superior speed I soon caught up and followed it right into the warehouse. In a clear acknowledgment of defeat, the gates to the warehouse fortress were now down, unlike last time and I was unable to reach the loading bay. Here many more pictures were gathered before the wing disappeared through the heavily modified warehouse door.

Pictures of CF-HMS at last!

I am not sure that I will ever be able to forgive Richard for dragging me out of bed so unceremoniously in the middle of the night so to speak; worse he has shown no remorse whatsoever, adding further insult to injury he makes unhelpful comments like "it's good for you" and "it builds character" and "it's all in a good cause."

I am afraid I can only agree with the last sentiment. The outdoor pictures were very useful as previous pictures were rare and compromised by low indoor light and the restricted space.

Now Calgarians can at last see their historic Mosquito in all its glory! These CF-HMS move pictures have already been used in our event displays and to promote the Calgary Mosquito Society to Calgary City Councillors in several of our informational materials.



After 10 years out of public view, trapped in a leaky warehouse Mosquito CF-HMS creeps outside in the sunshine of a beautiful July day. CF-HMS was carefully handled by Rangeland Trucking & Crane, a local company with years of experience moving small aircraft. (Peter Cromer)



Reunited once again with his boyhood friend CMS President, Richard de Boer, basks in the sun and the glow of his beloved Mossie. (Peter Cromer)



While the crews from Rangeland and the City finished securing the Mosquito and closing the warehouse, Peter used the opportunity to snap dozens of pictures. (Peter Cromer)



Even non-aviation people were interested in sudden appearance of the Mosquito. Maybe she's a student from the nearby Alberta College of Art and Design? (Peter Cromer)



The Mossie moves at last! Hopefully the next time this scene is repeated it'll be aimed towards the town of Nanton, the Bomber Command Museum of Canada and her long-deserved restoration. (Peter Cromer)



Before entering the new warehouse complex, Peter shot some more photos. Although she's dusty the red streaks on the fuselage are actually stains caused by the dope that was applied to tighten the fabric when CF-HMS was made. (Peter Cromer)



Back out of sight - at least for now - and in a building where the roof doesn't leak. (Peter Cromer)



Target, 9 o'clock. Peter successfully intercepted the Mosquito wing in his hurried dash across the city. (Peter Cromer)



Although he wasn't allowed inside the compound, the truck slowed enough for Peter to snap a bunch of photos of the 54 foot, one-piece wing. Because of its flat surface the wing bore the brunt of several years outside in Calgary's wide-ranging weather. (Peter Cromer)