THUNDER BAY – It’s not every day an 80-year-old plane flies into Thunder Bay for tours.
On Sunday, Jim Allan, president of Fairview Aircraft Restoration Society, said this is one stop along their cross-Canada tour.
“This is to show the aircraft. Today we have a good reception here and we’re touring people through the airplane where they can see firsthand and feel the history.”
You just have to sit in the pilot seat to feel the history of this aircraft, Allan said.
“It's 81 years old and has had three major life lines during it. It hunted submarines out of Iceland then hauled freight for the air force. It hauled freight commercially mostly out of Winnipeg and then was converted in 1978 to a waterbomber by the government of Newfoundland.
“They bombed water and it sank and salvaged up onto the shore. We bought it onshore, as is where is and spent basically nine years rebuilding it. It's now a flying museum and we have taken it across the country to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and we're working our way back doing shows like this so people can see and feel the history of this aircraft,” he said.
Allan said a lot of historic airplanes end up getting sold outside the country.
“We have a very rich Canadian aviation history. Bush flying was developed in Canada, very largely. We built some really iconic airplanes that they have in Canada.
“This is a Canadian built PBY-5A . . . it's a really important part of our Canadian heritage and our Canadian history. It's a good statement of what Canada has been able to do in the past."
Donald Wieben, aviation mechanic for the Fairview Aircraft Restoration Society, said the airplane was fighting fires in the Northwest Territories when it went down.
Roughly 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle the plane had an accident while picking up water and damaged the hull and a wing.
“It sank in 100 feet of water. The airplane was salvaged and brought up on shore but was damaged too badly to fly out. The company took the engines off and salvaged what they could and left the airplane there.
“A group of us in Northern Alberta found out about the airplane. It was Canadian built and had a lot of Canadian history and so we were able to buy the salvage and found a way of moving it across the tundra and getting it back into a place where we could work on it and repair it,” Donald said.
The public is especially interested in the airplane, he said
“We did a few low passes when we came in and I had a number of people mention it. I appreciate it, seeing it flying and they come here to and they spend a lot of time reading our storyboards and what the history of the people that were involved with these airplanes was," Donald said.
Oliver Evans and Gary Wieben are captains of the plane.
Evans learned to fly 45 years ago. Ten years into flying, Evans “flew one of these all the way from Victoria, B.C. to Africa.”
Gary has been flying for approximately 33 years. He said he started working with this plane about seven years ago.
“To fly this airplane in the last seven years, I've had to learn the differences on this plane and they're huge,” Gary said.
Both Evans and Gary said they feel honoured to fly this plane. They agreed that a lot of the people who flew it before them were very courageous, especially during the Second World War, water bombing and rescuing people.
The Northwestern Ontario Aviation Heritage Centre helped bring the Canso aircraft to the Wasaya Airlines Terminal over the weekend where it was on display.
On Aug. 10 and 11, the Northwestern Ontario Aviation Heritage Centre will also host Wings of Time, a celebration of Thunder Bay's aircraft manufacturing heritage and a tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
For more information visit noahc.org.
