Look, up in the sky… it’s not a bird, it’s a plane! It’s the…
Parts of Canada are burning, and wildfires are having a devastating impact on our forests and communities, causing carbon emissions to spike globally. But we’re uniquely positioned to mitigate this situation with the most powerful tool in the fire-fighting arsenal: water bombers!
A quick historical perspective: during the second world war, the A.V. Roe factory in Malton, Ontario turned out Lancaster heavy bombers at the astonishing rate of one per day. They contributed mightily to ending the war in Europe, and post-war were converted to Search-and-Rescue roles.
By the late ‘40s the same facility produced an aircraft that nearly had the distinction of being the very first commercial jet-powered passenger plane: the Avro Jetliner. Sadly, the Korean war refocused production on fighter planes, and Avro built CF-100 Canucks instead.
In the late ‘50s, Avro launched what was widely regarded as the greatest high altitude supersonic interceptor of its time, the legendary Arrow. My dad was an RCAF pilot and would’ve flown that magnificent aircraft, had it not been sacrificed on the altar of fiscal and political expediency - but don’t get me started!
Sputnik then ushered in the era of ICBMs, supposedly making manned-aircraft obsolete, but a few years later Canada bought second-hand Yankee warplanes, CF-101 Voodoos, and CF-104 Starfighters, both of which would eventually be replaced by yet another U.S.-made aircraft, the CF-18 Hornet, soon to be retired.
Today, geopolitical wrangling now pits the Yankees’ lockheedmartin F-35 lightning ii against a viable contender from our NATO ally in Sweden, the Saab j-39 Gripen, as replacements for our aging hornets. Both are very expensive warplanes, some of whose cost might be better allocated elsewhere.
We are indeed at war with a relentless, fiery enemy whose greatest nemesis is an extraordinary aircraft designed and built right here in Canada: the Canadair CL-415. Nicknamed the Super Scooper, this dedicated water-bomber has proven its worth for decades now, across the country and overseas as well.
This remarkable amphibious plane can repeatedly scoop and drop a 6,000 litre load in less than 10 minutes, depending on the water’s proximity. Its enormously powerful engines and high-lift wing make it very manoeuvrable, therefore ideally suited to the extremely dangerous mission profile.
The threat of wildfires is real and growing, causing massive economic chaos across the country and worldwide. The solution is obvious: deploy squadrons of Canadian-made water-bombers!
We have a proven aircraft, the raw materials and facilities to build them, and the highly-skilled pilots and ground-crew (currently serving in the RCAF) to fly and maintain them. all that’s now needed is the political will to crank them out at the same rate as those Lancasters during a very different war!
Ken Steacy is a Canadian comics artist and writer. In a 50-year career as a visual storyteller he has chronicled the exploits of Astro Boy and Iron Man, collaborated with writers Douglas Coupland and Harlan Ellison, and in 2019, co-created the graphic novel War Bears with Margaret Atwood. His father was an RCAF fighter pilot during the Cold War.