Summer of Expo 86 Vancouver at YVR by Henry Tenby
Airborne Props and Jets Alive, February, 1987

The summer of 1986 was a great summer in Vancouver, as anyone who lived here then will remember, it was summer of the World’s Fair Expo 86.

As a 22 year old aviation enthusiast, I remember all my local aviation friends were eagerly awaiting the news of which interesting aircraft charter was coming to town bringing guests for Expo 86. And I couldn’t wait to get out to the airport with my cameras loaded with Kodachrome, to photograph as many of the exotic visitors as possible.

These were the days when aircraft spotters exchanged kodachrome slides. I had probably 50 pen palls all over the world who I exchanged slides with through the mail. That summer was my golden opportunity to shoot as many exotic aircraft on slide film as I could.

Looking back 30 years in hindsight, the summer of Expo 86 was the most interesting period at YVR, and I can say that as someone who was born and raised here, and spent most of my youth (when not at school) at the airfield.

I learned early that aviation journalism would help expand my network of aviation friends and correspondents, so I wrote for enthusiast publications whenever the opportunity presented itself. Presented bellow is my report from Vancouver on the neat happens during the summer of 1986. They were very good memories indeed!