Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre, Aviation museum in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada.
The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre is an aviation museum housed in a large hangar that displays more than thirty aircraft designed for flying in remote regions and fighting forest fires. The collection includes historical and modern machines that shaped how northern Canada was explored and protected.
The centre sits on an air base founded in 1924 by the Ontario Provincial Air Service, where pilots invented aerial forest firefighting techniques that were copied worldwide. This groundbreaking work established bush flying as a vital industry for northern Canada.
Bush planes shaped how people reached remote communities and how firefighting became possible in vast forests across Canada. The centre shows how these aircraft remain central to rescue and supply operations in regions without roads.
Plan to spend a few hours exploring the hangar, as there are many aircraft and details to examine. Good walking shoes are recommended since you will be on your feet for much of the visit on a large floor space.
The centre preserves the first de Havilland Beaver ever built, an aircraft that entered service in 1948 and transformed bush flying across North America. Seeing this original machine reveals why this particular design became the gold standard for remote region operations.
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