The C-54E was bought by Buffalo Airways the following year, and is still current with them at Yellowknife, North West Territories, where I photographed it again years later.

Shortly after I deplaned at YZF this Buffalo C-54E landed and taxied past. Welcome to Yellowknife I thought to myself with a smile.

Tanker 58 was brought back to operational status for the 2015 fire season because of delayed Electra certification. Here, she is under maintenance in the Buffalo hangar in Yellowknife where she arrived the previous night. The control panel for the fire retardant tanks, installed by Aero Union, is to the right of the captain's control wheel. The red lanyard indicates the control surfaces gust lock has been set.

If only I had known they would manage to get this beauty ready for a ferry flight across the lake that same evening. She departed to Yellowknife some five hours after I left. With 27,673 hours on the clock, she was put up for sale after the 2015 fire season and still is in 2020.

Tail art to underscore the environmental task as a fire bomber, for which she was being readied once more. The text says "Mountain Aven Protecting N.W.T. Beauty".

The pride taken by 'Buffalo Joe' and his company in the operation of this propliner is evident from the nose art. The "First around the World" logo was adopted by the Douglas Aircraft Company after a group of Douglas World Cruisers had successfully circumnavigated the globe - in 1924.

By now you would think this 65 year old would be up north for fire season. Nice to be able to find it in Red Deer though.

Was active during the 2014 fire season and again in 2015 when certification was delayed on Buffalo's Electra firebombers.

Buffalo had eight DC-4's and a DC-6 stored at Hay River during my visit in September 2014. Six of the eight are visible in this photo.

Very attractive colors on this DC-4 parked behind the Buffalo Airways hangar at Yellowknife Airport