I took another trip this weekend to the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre located in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. It is a nice little museum dedicated to the preservation and restoration of all things bushplane and forest fire fighting. It is located in the old Ontario Government hanger which was used for years as a regional fire fighting base for their air fleet.
Time to get going on our tour.
As you enter the lobby, you will note a replica of the Silver Dart hanging from the ceiling. This was the first aircraft to make a powered flight in Canada. As you walk through the lobby after paying the admission fee, you are confronted with the gift shop on your immediate left. Here you can see the lobby with the Silver Dart hanging from the ceiling. This was taken from within the gift shop.
The gift shop has two rooms to it, with plenty of gift shop items.
On the way to the main exhibit, you have to enter a long hallway. On the right is a tribute to Dr. Roberta Bondar, a Saulite who was the first Canadian woman in space. Here, you can read about her history, as well as see some items from here 1992 flight aboard the Discovery.
Meet the Noorduyn Norseman, designed in 1935, it was the first float plane designed and buit for Canadian bush flying. This one was built in 1938, and is now the oldest operational Norseman in the world.
The Norseman has a display around it featuring some very nice period things including...
and a few cases of Northern Brewery beer...which is no longer in production.
Here we have a Fairchild Husky. The Husky was an early competitor of the Beaver. Despite having a larger cargo capacity, it was under powered and only 12 were ever built. This example was the last one manufactured.
On the other side was a nice exhibit of various float plane pontoons.
Just past the pontoon display, was the first theater called the Ranger Theater. This is a 15 minute long multimedia show that features some neat effects such as water spraying, smoke, and spot lights on some of the models hanging around. There is also a mock up of a float plane with the narrator who tells his story from a video screen cockpit door.
Moving to the front of the hanger, is a DeHavilland DHC-2 Beaver. This example, constructed in 1948, was the second Beaver built. It is also the oldest still flying Beaver in the world.
Behind the Beaver is a mock up of a fire camp circa 1955.
Next up is a Grumman Tracker. This is an ex-US Navy carrier based anti-submarine aircraft. Many of these surplus planes have been converted to chemical fire bombers. This one is painted the colours of its donors, Conair of Abbotsford, BC.
A Bell 47D helicopter is currently being restored to match one owned by the Ontario Lands and Forests in 1953, which was the first to be owned by a Government agency in Canada. Looking at this, it only brought back many a MASH episodes for me.
Next up is their biggest plane in the exhibit, a Canadair CL-215. Designed in 1966, it was the first purpose built water bomber. It is capable of picking up 5.455 liters of water at a time and dropping it on a fire.
The CL-215 has a rich history locally. The Ontario Ministry hanger that the museum is using, stored a small fleet of these for the longest time. It is amazing that the museum was able to score one, as there were only 125 produced, and they were sold to 11 countries. The CL-215 is still in use today.
Here is the interior of one. The large water tank is located under the floor.
Looking from the stairs that leads down from the water bomber.
An old Stanley Steamer car.
A DeHavillland Fox Moth being currently restored in the museums restoration area. This Fox Moth was reconstructed from the ground up to flying conditions by CBHC volunteers. Designed in 1932, several were used in Canadian bush operations before and after WWII.
Next to the restoration area, is a Republic Seebee. The Seebee was produced between 1946 to 1947. Only 1060 were ever produced. The Seebee is an amphibious airplane that was quite popular in the civilian market. Many of these were used in bush plane duties due to their built in capability of using water as an airstrip.
Stinson Reliant SR-9: The Reliant was known as the Gull-Wing Stinson and was considered the Cadillac of small aircraft at the time. This example was part of the Air Service fleet from 1937 until its sale to Green Airways in 1948. 1397 Stinsons of all models were ever built.
On display are the remains of CF-AJE which crashed near Franz in 1937. The Super Universals were very successful aircraft used for both passenger and freight.
Buhl CA-8 Airsedan wreckage. On display are the remains of 2 of 4 Buhls constructed in the hanger. CF-OAT and CF-OAR. The aircraft were built in hopes of creating a greater load-carrying capacity. Unfortunately the Buhl was not a successful machine and all were lost.
On display were a few fire fighting rail equipment used by fire crews to get in and out of a fire that was located near train tracks.
Another wreck, this time of a Noorduyn Norseman. The remains of CF-AYO, the prototype Norseman, which was also used in the 1941 movie Captain of the Clouds, starring Kimmy Cagney.
Part of the forest fire fighting section of the museum, were several exhibits dedicated to communication. Here is a mock up of a typical Ontario Ministry of Resource fire fighting communication office.
DeHavilland 89A Dragon Rapide. From its first flight in England in 1934 to the end of production in 1944, over 700 Rapides were built. They were used as light passenger and transport aircraft on the West coast and in Quebec.
Fokker F.V;;b-3m Tri-motor Replica. This full scale replica was constructed for the 2009 Fox Searchlight movie Amelia starring Hillary Ssmurf and Richard Gere. The film tells the story of legendary aviatrix Amelia Earhart.
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That concludes this short and limited tour of the Bushplane Museum located in Sault Ste Marie.
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