Apr 20, 2026: The Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association has taken possession of a replica Second World War Spitfire which has long-been a fixture of the Kitchener skyline.
The Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association’s newest addition will honour two past-presidents, including a highly decorated Second World War pilot.
The association, backed by a team of volunteers, was busy Monday plucking a replica Second World War Spitfire from the roof of K-W Surplus in Kitchener, where it has been a local landmark since 1997. The aircraft was then scheduled to be transported to a temporary location before being moved to the association’s home at the Tillsonburg Regional Airport.
The mission was expected to begin at 8 a.m. and take most of Monday to complete.
“This is exciting for us because Charley Fox, one of our past-presidents, was the Spitfire pilot in (the Second World War) credited with taking out Field Marshal (Erwin) Rommel after D-Day so Rommel could no longer supervise the defences of France and Normandy,” John Britton, the association’s vice-president, said.
Born in Guelph, Fox attended Guelph Collegiate and Vocational Institute before joining the military when the Second World War broke out. After two years of providing flight instruction in Dunnville, he was transferred to Bagotville, Que., for combat training.
Fox was deployed to Europe in 1943 and received training on Spitfires before joining the 412 Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force in January 1944. He flew numerous dive-bombing sorties, including three missions on D-Day.
On July 17, 1944, Fox was on a reconnaissance mission and strafed an unknown black staff car. It was later learned that one of the passengers was Rommel, who was seriously injured in the attack. As a result, Fox was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his “exceptional” courage. He finished his operational tour in January 1945 having flown 224 sorties.
Fox died in a car collision in Tillsonburg in October 2008.
An overpass in nearby London is named in the pilot’s honour while the association plans to use the replica Spitfire as the centrepiece of a memorial garden paying tribute to Fox and Canadian astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason, who was the association’s president at the time of his death in April 2022. One of Canada’s first astronauts, Tryggvason was aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1997.
Tillsonburg artist Stella Jurgen has created a rendering of the Memorial Garden and will also pay tribute to the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Coast Guard,the Merchant Marines and the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
Plans call for the garden to include both a stone and plaque commemorating the Tillsonburg Regional Airport as an RCAF training base. There will also be benches donated by the association’s three founding fathers, Bob Hewitt, Norm Beckham and Len Fallowfield.
The association also plans to sell engraved bricks to donors that will then be installed on the base of the replica plane’s structure. The proposal is now awaiting approval from Tillsonburg town council.
Britton said Ray Whittemore, former owner of K-W Surplus and a longtime member, supporter and benefactor of the aircraft association, asked the association in December if it would like the replica aircraft.
“He had brought it over from England with a Hurricane aircraft that is now at the Hamilton Museum,” Britton said. “We took his proposal to our board, and they said ‘yes, we would love to have this aircraft.’
“Then we had to go through the airport advisory committee and ask them if it could be part of the memorial garden that we’re planning to build.”
After receiving Whittemore’s offer, association members went to the community for support and an advisory body that includes the local legion, the Oxford County Historical Society, the Tillsonburg Historical Club, Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman and Oxford MP Arpan Khanna was formed.
On moving day, the association had 10 volunteers, as well as two flatbeds and a crane that were donated, to take the aircraft off the KW Surplus roof on Victoria Street and move it to Tillsonburg. Upon arrival, the replica Spitfire will be examined for repairs and, when completed, it will be repainted to resemble the colours flown by Fox during the Second World War.
“We approached the City of Windsor — the city has a Hurricane and a Spitfire at Franklin Park — and they supplied us with photographs,” Britton said. “They also supplied us with the engineering, which is about $20,000 to have the post made.
“We have forwarded all of the information to the town’s engineering department.”
The association is raising funds to recoup expenses for the removal, transport, repair and painting of the replica aircraft as well as for its installation on a pole structure in the garden.
A charitable organization, the association is dedicated to showcasing the Harvard aircraft and honouring those who served in them in the Second World War. The association celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2025.
Article by Vincent Ball and Jacob Robinson.
Article courtesy of the Norfolk and Tillsonburg News. Click here to read the Original Article.