We talked 
about the old
days when the service was new and pilots flew by the seat of
their pants and bailing wire where necessary. Rick would point to
this plane or that one, explaining in great detail exactly how he
had been able to acquire it. Many were donated, yet many more
were recovered from the bush where they had crashed decades ago.
Then board by board, wire by wire, he and many others would
painstaking rebuild, reassemble, and repaint the wreckage until a
beautiful historic plane stood before t
hem ready for display. From its oldest model, a
Curtis HS2L flying boat to the newly arrived CL-215 Waterbomber
still under its shipping wraps, the Centre tells the story of
the adventurous band of pilots, air engineers and others who flew
patrols for fire watch, photographic mapping and medical flights
as they supported those hardy individuals who ventured forth into
the great North. Most of these magnificent planes will fly, and
do on occasion. The planes are a big attraction and quite an
accomplishment for the team at the Centre but it is by no means
the whole story.
For the story of the OPAS would not be complete
without including the relationship they had with the forest fire
fighting service. Many of the plans were developed or modified to
be used as waterbombers, that scooped up hundred of gallons of
water from the many surrounding lakes, and dumped it on the brush
surrounding a fire, as a retardant, this action also created a
"safe zone" around the fires so the ground firefighters
could safely fight the fire on the ground. In one corner stands a
modified fire tower complete with its alidade, an instrument used
for sighting a fire location in degrees so that it could be
triangulated with other 
tower observations. and one of the old 1953 GMC
pick-up trucks. When owned by the department of Lands and Forest,
this truck was used to transport staff, equipment and food
supplies for the day-to-day activities of the fire service. There
were approximately 1000 of the trucks in service. The Centre is
designed to intrigue the minds of children, and a child's area is
under development. There is already the cockpit of a Beech 18
which can introduce you to the layout of the instruments and
controls in a typical bushplane. There is a small flight
simulator computer program which Laura used to take a 
small plane
off a runway and fly around until loosing control and crashing
into the ground. After several attempts, she actually got pretty
good at turning an climbing, and finally made a successful
landing, which was far better then I did. Not all is polish and
show, as many areas house partially completed restorations or
just the remains of some recovered wreck. There is a engine test
cell which still operates. Overhauled engines were ground tested
here, before returning to service. The process of testing is now
demonstrated on a 550 hp. 
Pratt and Whitney R1340 Wasp engine. The
bushplanes, and specifically the waterbombers represent a narrow
margin of plane history but stand unique in their adaptation to
the unique needs of a growing land, filled with wilderness and
lakes. The Center has captured the true spirit and splendor of
this period of greatness in aviation history. There is more to be
found on their own web-site at www.bushplane.com
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