An iconic beagle famous throughout the cartoon skies as a First World War flying ace has landed at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada.
“Snoopy and the Red Baron” is a travelling exhibit from the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Centre in California, bringing the Peanuts character’s most recognized alter ego to museums around the world.
“It features one of Snoopy’s most famous personas – the flying ace—where he’s trying to take down the infamous Red Baron during (the First World War),” said Vanessa Desorcy, a marketing and communications specialist with the museum.
Sporting a leather flying cap, goggles, and his signature scarf, Snoopy took to the skies atop his doghouse, his imagination transforming it into a Sopwith Camel biplane as he fought the elusive Red Baron – another flying ace based on German fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen.
The temporary “Snoopy and the Red Baron” exhibit is pictured on Oct. 18, 2024 at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada. (Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada/Facebook)
The exhibit is currently on layover at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada until Jan. 4. It invites visitors to learn about the favourite Peanuts storyline through high-quality reproductions of original comic strips.
The exhibit recounts the flying ace’s first introduction by Schulz in 1965 and how the cartoonist researched all aspects of the war to bring authenticity to the strips.
The museum is also offering a number of Snoopy-centric workshops on everything from comic strip creation to Peanuts-themed Christmas ornaments.
The exhibit also comes just in time for Remembrance Day.
“There’s a little section, a few comic strips highlighting Veterans Day and how it started in the States, and it features a few of the (First World War) flying aces from that period, as well,” Desorcy said.
– With files from CTV’s Ainsley McPhail
A display in the “Snoopy and the Red Baron” exhibit is pictured at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada on Oct. 18, 2024. (Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada/Facebook)