One of the RCAF’s longest-serving aircraft went into retirement in style with a final flight that took it almost the full length of the country. The CC-115 Buffalo, travelled from its home base at Comox, B.C. to Summerside, PEI where it will be spruced up for static display. The Buff is being phased out after more than 50 years of service, primarily as a search and rescue platform. It is being replaced by the C295 Kingfisher. For the last 20 years, the De Havilland-built aircraft have been used exclusively in Comox but at one time they were spread across the country, including the former base at Summerside.
The former base was one of the biggest on the East Coast and flew search and rescue and long-range surveillance missions until it was closed in 1992. Some of the pilots and crew who worked at the base in its heyday turned out to greet the airplane. “It was just tremendous. It just took me back almost 38 years. I flew in a Buffalo as well, but not as a pilot,” 38-year RCAF veteran Carl Delaney told the CBC. “When we’re out to sea during a rescue and when you see a Buffalo coming, you knew they were on your side and we could save somebody’s life.”