Water bombers overhead (updated, 13 photos)

The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre (CBHC) is celebrating its 23rd annual Bushplane Days Saturday until 5 p.m., and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday Sept. 16.

Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for children five to 12, free for children four and under.

“We’re celebrating ourselves as a museum, the reason we’re here, celebrating how bush planes opened up the north...this is why we’re here, this is what we’re celebrating and we’re giving back to the community for supporting us all year long,” said Edie Suriano, Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre marketing and promotions coordinator, speaking to SooToday early Saturday afternoon.

A Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) CL-415 water bomber plane and an EC-130 water bomber helicopter wowed the public as they flew past on the Sault Ste. Marie waterfront earlier Saturday.

Iron Man, Wonder Woman and Skye from Paw Patrol were on hand to greet kids and adults Saturday. Spiderman, Cinderella and Chase from Paw Patrol, along with Chopper the Bushplane Beaver, the Bushplane Museum’s own mascot, will be available Sunday.  

“As a woman, I’m very proud to say the co-pilot this year of the CL-415 water bomber plane is Allison Bennett, a woman flying the CL-415 water bomber,” Suriano said (another woman who pilots the plane is Jennifer Chwastyk, a commercial pilot for 30 years, recently hired by the MNRF and based in Dryden, Ontario).

Bushplane Days, which continues from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, also includes inflatables for children, a chance to check out Treetop Adventures for an indoor treetop walk, take rides on miniature trains from the Algoma Model Engineering Society and see model airplanes from the Soo Modellers.

Visitors can also enjoy live music from Ken Suriano on saxophone and band Dusty Roads, arts and crafts for children, refreshments for all and prizes for children at Bushplane Days.

“When I see smiling faces and happy kids and an awesome turnout, it makes me proud everybody’s happy,” Suriano said, the Bushplane Museum the only one of its kind, as bush planes were the forerunners of Canadian civil aviation.