By Skies Magazine | July 25, 2013 Estimated reading time 1 minute, 55 seconds.
The Reynolds-Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin, Alta., will add the 100th airplane to its collection with an official handover ceremony on July 27. The plane, a Conair Firecat, was a firefighting aircraft developed by Conair Group of Abbotsford, B.C. It was originally built as a Grumman S-2 Tracker, a type of anti-submarine aircraft that served with the Royal Canadian Navy from 1956 to 1990.
“This addition gives the Reynolds-Alberta Museum the second-largest collection of vintage aircraft in Canada,” said Noel Ratch, museum director. “The Conair Firecat also has a strong Canadian story, so we’re adding another Canadian plane to one of the most significant collections of Canadian aviation artifacts in the country.”
The Grumman S-2 Tracker is significant to the history of Canadian aviation, as it was built in Canada at a time when much of the nation’s military hardware was purchased elsewhere. The plane helped revitalize Canada’s weakened aerospace industry following the cancellation of the Avro Arrow.
Conair Group, Canada’s largest provider of firefighting aircraft, purchased 35 surplus Grumman S-2 Trackers from the Canadian and U.S. governments as they became available, and heavily modified them to fight fires, renaming them Conair Firecats. The Firecat that will be turned over to the Reynolds-Alberta Museum was acquired by Conair in 1983.
The July 27 ceremony will see Conair representatives present the plane to Heather Klimchuk, Alberta Minister of Culture. Conair’s founder, Barry Marsden, is a member of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, located at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum.
For more information about the Reynolds-Alberta Museum, please visit www.ReynoldsAlbertaMuseum.com.
