Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada Re-Assembles Junkers F.13

Last February, we reported HERE on the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada’s efforts to restore a rare example of a Junkers F.13, the first all-metal transport airplane to enter mass production and operational service around the world. Now, after nearly 50 years in the Canadian bush and nearly 20 years of restoration in Canada, Germany, and Hungary, the Junkers F.13 named City of Prince George is being reassembled for display in the museum.

As related in our previous article, the Junkers F.13 CF-ALX City of Prince George is one of just five original F.13s to survive to the present day. Originally built at the Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG factory  in Dessau, Germany in 1930 under the name Königsgeier (King Vulture), the aircraft was soon exported to Canada, where it served to link rural communities and facilitate mining operations in the expansive Canadian bush of northern British Columbia and Yukon Territory until it was written off during an accident on July 23, 1933, near McConnell Lake, British Columbia. The two-man crew, consisting of pilot William McCluskey and flight engineer Fred Staines, along with their two passengers, prospectors Gordy McLennan and Hugh McMillan, all survived the crash without serious injuries, and were rescued after several days of surviving near the wreckage of the airplane. With the crew and passengers rescued, what could be retrieved from the aircraft, including its Junkers L5 inline engine, were salvaged and flown out aboard a Junkers W 34 transport, CF-ABK, while the rest of the Junkers F.13 was left abandoned until volunteers from the Western Canada Aviation Museum (now called the Royal Aviaton Museum of Western Canada since 2014), led by Keith Olson and Gordon Emberley, brought the aircraft back out of the bush after 47 years, but kept the aircraft in storage due to the extensive damage that needed to be restored.

In 2005, the Western Canada Aviation Museum made a mutually beneficial arrangement with the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin, Germany, which would display the unrestored aircraft at their main campus in Berlin shortly after it was flown back to Germany aboard a Lufthansa cargo plane, before getting the aircraft restored by an aircraft restorer in Héreg, Hungary, then at the DTMB’s restoration facility in Berlin. Additionally, the WCAM/RAMWC has loaned the Deutsches Technikmuseum the wreck of a Junkers W 33, Canadian registration CF-AQV for restoration as well.

In September 2024, the King Vulture/City of Prince George made its third voyage across the Atlantic Ocean when was returned to the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada. Since then, the museum’s restoration team has been hard at work reassembling the Junkers F.13 to go on permanent display in the museum’s building at Winnipeg Richardson International Airport. By April 2025, the City of Prince George’s wings, horizontal stabilizers and vertical stabilizers were all reattached, and in May, the museum had the aircraft’s pontoon floats reattached, as the aircraft primarily operated on floats given the lack of dedicated airfields at that time, along with the more plentiful rivers and lakes still in British Columbia and Yukon Territory.

While it has been necessary to use new metal in the restoration project in order to make the aircraft complete once more, the multi-continent restoration has sought to use as much of the original structure as possible. So far, no engine has been mounted back in the aircraft, but even with this in mind, the aircraft is still remarkable, considering the transformation it undertook to get to this point. The Junkers F.13 at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada is also remarkable for being the sole Junkers F.13 displayed outside of Europe, with the other four survivors being found in France, Germany, Hungary, and Sweden, not to mention the modern replicas built in recent years in Germany and Switzerland.

The Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada is a world-class destination that offers immersive exhibits and inspiring storytelling experiences. Dedicated to preserving and sharing Canada’s rich aviation and aerospace legacy, the museum invites visitors to explore the achievements of the past while sparking curiosity and ambition in the next generation of aviators and innovators. Since opening its doors, the museum has rapidly established itself as a must-visit attraction in Winnipeg. For more information, visit the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada’s website HERE.