July 16, 2025 - Driving from Alaska to Maryland
British Columbia Aviation Museum, Vancouver Island
Fleet Aircraft was set up in Canada in 1930 by Reuben Fleet of the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation to get around import regulations. The Model 2 was a low powered trainer for the civilian and recreational market. Twelve were manufactured for the Canadian market before being succeeded by the Type 7, 600 of which were produced as a military trainer. Total production in North America was 1,250.
The Museum’s example was the 4th of the initial production run. It was delivered in 1930 and spent its nearly 50 year career in northern BC. It was mainly engaged in prospecting, usually operating on floats.
This little exhibit on Canada's maritime patrol aircraft interested me since that was my specialty in the U.S. Navy: maritime patrol.
Below are models of all the maritime patrol aircraft flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Models include PBY Catalina flying-boat, B-24 Liberataor, Avro Lancaster, and Lockeed P-2 Ne;tune. Since 1980 the RCAF has flown the Lockheed CP-140 Aurora, an aircraft based on the Lockheed P-3 Orion airframe, but mounts the electronics suite of the carrier-based Lockheed S-3 Viking. The RCAF has 14 operational Auroras.
Most of the Auroras are home-based in Nova Scotia, but three are home-based on Vancouver Islands, just up the east-coast from this museum, as part of 407 Long Range Patrol Squadron, CFB Comox.
On November 30, 2023, acquisition of sixteen P-8A Poseidon aircraft for the RCAF was announced. It is anticipated by the Department of National Defence that the first aircraft will be delivered in 2026, with full operational capacity by 2033.
Below are models of all the fighter jets flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Since 1982, the RCAF has operated the McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet. They currently have approximately 100 Hornets operational.
Currently, Canada has a procurement framework in place to buy 88 Lockheed Martin F-35As. But final commitment to all 88 is not locked in — Canada is in a holding pattern / review process. A decision is expected (or was expected) by late 2025 (fall/early winter) whether to proceed with the full F-35 order, reduce it, or adopt an alternative/mixed fleet.
The museum's restoration shop where they are currently restoring a very rare Avro Lancaster.
The Museum's Lancaster was one of 430 built in Canada by Victory Aircraft of Malton, Ontario. It was flown to England in 1945 but never went into action. It returned to Canada in June 1945 and was used for maritime patrol. Upon retirement, it was acquired by the city of Toronto and displayed on a pylon for 34 years. The museum acquired the aircraft and had it trucked/ferried to Victoria.
Only 17 Lancasters are known to exist. Of those, two are airworthy. Originally the museum wanted to make this one airworthy but it was cost-prohibitive, so this one will look great but will not be airworthy.
Avro Anson. The “Anson” was built in huge numbers over an eighteen year period, served twenty five nations, and was finally withdrawn 36 years after the prototype first flew in 1935. The first two were airliners, but its early years were spent in combat roles. When out-classed it went on to an illustrious career as a trainer for pilots and aircrew for multi-engined combat aircraft, and returned to its original role as a communications aircraft.
The RCAF used 4,413 “Ansons” between 1940 and 1954, many of these being licence-built in Canada. This was the largest number of a single type in the history of the Air Force. Many surplus aircraft saw civilian service after the war.
A Pietenpol Air Camper hangs overhead. Bob McDonall built the Pietenpol between 1978 and 1984 but he never flew it and donated it to the museum in 1990.
The Pietenpol is a simple parasol wing homebuilt aircraft designed by Bernard H. Pietenpol. The first prototype that became the Air Camper was built and flown by Pietenpol in 1928.
The Air Camper was designed to be built of spruce and plywood. One of Pietenpol's goals was to create a plane that was affordable and easy to construct for home builders. Building an Air Camper requires basic woodworking skills and tools.
Pietenpol himself built more than 20 Air Campers. More than 300 Pietenpols are registered with the FAA today. It is estimated than hundreds have been built, perhaps low thousands.
The Noorduyn Norseman, a true “bush plane”, being the result of research by its constructor, Bob Noorduyn, as to what would be the optimum specifications of an aircraft for Canadian bush conditions. The prototype first flew in November 1935 and 903 were built by the end of the Second World War. Many served in the United States Army Air Force. It was the first Canadian designed and built aircraft sold on the world market, and played a key role in establishing the reputation for excellence and performance enjoyed by Canadian aircraft manufacturers today.
The museum's “Norseman” started life as a USAAF UC-64A in 1944. It returned to Canada in 1956. It saw a variety of owners, and eventually crashed at a mining site at Bronson Creek, B.C. It was badly damaged by the crash and a curious bear. BCAM bought the aircraft for scrap value and acquired another fuselage from Gimli, Manitoba. With assistance from the Millennium Fund, a lengthy restoration returned the aircraft to airworthy condition. It was rolled out in August 2003 and flew only once, as insurance costs proved to be prohibitive! Our “Norseman” is featured on the BCAM logo.
I was surprised to see this Russian Kamov KA-32 in the museum's hangar. Surprised because it is a civilian's version of the Soviet Navy's anti-submarine helicopter KA-27 "Helix". Notice that it has two counter-rotating rotors which eliminates the need for a tail rotor.
The KA-32 are used in Canada for fire-fighting, heli-logging and flying cranes.
The Viscount is powered by four turboprop engines. The plane looks very similar to the Lockheed Electra (and the P-3 Orion).
It entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner.
The Viscount was well received by the public for its cabin conditions, which included pressurisation, reductions in vibration and noise, and panoramic windows. It became one of the most successful and profitable of the first postwar transport aircraft; 445 Viscounts were built for a range of international customers, including in North America.
This particular aircraft entered service with Trans-Canada Airlines (now Air Canada) in 1955. Its last flight into Victoria was in 1973.
And now to see the star of the show, the museum's gigantic Martin Mars. Because the museum is on an active airport, to go outside you have to be escorted on a museum tour. Here a group of us are headed outside to see the Mars; our tour guide is wearing a yellow vest.
Here is my first look at the Hawaii Mars.
The Mars story began 86 years ago when the US Navy ordered a prototype for a large flying boat for patrol service.
The Glenn L. Martin Company scaled up their PBM Mariner patrol bomber design to produce the prototype XPB2M-1 Mars.
The prototype made its first flight in mid-1942, but by then the Navy needed a large transport aircraft. The Navy was satisfied with the prototype's performance and ordered 20 of the modified JRM-1 Mars. The first, named Hawaii Mars, was delivered in June 1945, but with the end of World War II the Navy scaled back their order, buying only the five aircraft which were then on the production line. Though the original Hawaii Mars was lost in an accident on the Chesapeake Bay a few weeks after it first flew, the other five Mars were completed, and the last delivered in 1947.
Named the Marianas Mars, Philippine Mars, Marshall Mars, Caroline Mars, and a second Hawaii Mars, the five production Mars aircraft ferried cargo between Hawaii and the Pacific Islands.
At right is a Douglas A26 Invader, a late Second World War combat aircraft. The pair of 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800s provided a blistering performance and it was very versatile. It proved to be so valuable that it also served with distinction in the Korean War, and by 1963 was being remanufactured for further service in the Vietnam War. This elderly aircraft went on to serve as a combat aircraft into the late 1970s. However in the 1960s it acquired a new profession as a fire bomber. 2,500 were built.
The A-26 was Douglas Aircraft's successor to the A-20 (DB-7) Havoc, also known as Douglas Boston.
The museum's A26 “Invader” entered service with Conair of Abbotsford BC in the spring of 1970. It completed over 2,000 hours of duty in its new role, until its last operational flight in 1984. Conair is a world leader in aerial fire-fighting, and generously donated the aircraft to the Museum in 1989.
