Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre

Testimonials

"The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, is not your usual stuffy, 'hands-off' kind of museum. There are not many places that allow you to not just touch the exhibits, but, in some cases, invite you to climb right inside of them.

At the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre, you can stand inside the massive fuselage of a Canadair Aerial Tanker (water bomber, in layman's terms), climb an actual fire tower and take a seat in a flight simulator. Not to mention get up close and personal with the numerous planes on display inside the centre, all the while learning about the history of bush flying and forest protection in Canada.

You're sure to feel some patriotic stirrings and more than just a twinge of pride as you realize the important role Canadians have played in the exploration of the north as well as fire fighting around the world.

It's all thanks to the centre's volunteer members who actively acquire, restore, preserve and display floatplanes, bushplanes, water bombers and forest fire fighting equipment along with other aviation and forestry-related artifacts in order to celebrate the achievements of Canada's aviation and forest fire fighting pioneers."

- SHELLY DWYER, AOL Travel

"I found a gem of an aviation museum while on a Hapaq-Lloyd German Cruise Lines voyage of the Great Lakes.  The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre is located in the historic former Ontario Provincial Air Service hangar at the edge of the St. Mary's River in downtown Sault Ste. Marie (often called the Soo), Ontario, Canada. The original hangar dates back to the 1940s; this is where bush piloting started, as well as firefighting using belly drops of water and chemicals.

Sault Ste. Marie is actually two cities separating the USA and Canada, split by the St. Mary’s River and also is the industrial hub for the lock system that raises and lowers ships from Lake Huron to Lake Superior.  The C. Columbus, the Nassau, Bahamas registered ship that I was cruising on, was not due to channel the locks until late that night, so a stroll a few blocks down Bay Street on the Canadian and larger of the two Soos (100,000 plus) found me piloting my way to the "Yellowbird" museum.

The bush planes are all in the original 1948 era hangar, and I have the chance to stop and visit with the renovation crew and mechanics clanging away on steel and aluminum. They perform superb jobs to bring new life back into the rare and often still serviceable and flyable relics.

The Centre also houses a Flight Centre with exhibits, flight simulating computers, a Beech 18 cockpit, simulated flights in a Beaver, a Link Trainer, and a pilot aptitude test. The flight adventure simulator takes me on a flight over Sault Ste. Marie and the local landmarks, following the ACR Tour train and I experience the thrill of fighting a forest fire. Many of the first and more modern bush pilots mug shots are forever placarded in black and white drawings. 

I happen to stumble into the wrong theater to hear a fire fighting lecture before getting ousted to the proper theater. The lightning locator is a real time computer based system that records all lightning strikes in Eastern North America and it is a vital component of the sophisticated fire prediction system based in Sault Ste. Marie.

I am fueled up so it is now time to choke back the throttle for another thrilling Beaver bush plane flight into the great Canadian North."

- Kriss Hammond, JetSetters Magazine