Rare wartime artwork painted on the noses of bombers by Canadian aircrews could be among relics soon winging their way to a York museum.

Jack Kilvington, of the Yorkshire Air Museum, hangs the maple leaf flag over the wing of a Canadian plane to mark the links with Canada Picture: Garry Atkinson

The Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington has just signed a mutual co-operation agreement with the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa which will see the two organisations trading exhibits and information.

Museum director Ian Reed said: "The educational facility we are developing here will benefit tremendously from the interchange of ideas and information."

He said that while it was too early to know what specific exhibits could be brought to Elvington, the museum was very interested in the Canadian's collection of about 50 'nose arts'.

These were designs which bomber crews painted on their aircraft as unoffical insignia and for good luck.

After the war people were keen to put the conflict behind them and many aircraft were quickly scrapped, along with their nose arts, making them rare.

During the war, the Royal Canadian Air Force 6 Group Bomber Command was based at Allerton Grange near Knaresborough and thousands of young Canadian bomber crews flew from airfields throughout Yorkshire.

The museum at Elvington Airfield already has firm links with Canada and the agreement is a sign of its enthusiasm to build on those.

It boasts the world's only complete Halifax bomber - the aircraft flown by many Canadians based in Yorkshire - and has a Canadian branch in Quebec.

Mr Reed said: "We have held lots of reunions for Canadian squadrons.

"A lot were killed in Bomber Command and part of what we do here is to mind the memory of fathers, sons and brothers who were based in Yorkshire."

The agreement comes in the year that the Royal Canadian Air Force celebrates its 80th anniversary.

Special reunion events with veterans from 6 Group are planned to take place at Elvington on June 13.

Major Harry Needham, from the National Canadian War Museum, said: "Our two institutions share many common interests and my colleagues and I look forward to working with the Yorkshire Air Museum."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.