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News Release
Canada Aviation Museum Receives Labrador Helicopter
NR : 04.056 - July 26, 2004
Ottawa – The Honourable Mauril Bélanger, Associate Minister of National Defence, will present a CH-113 Labrador Helicopter to the Canada Aviation Museum in a ceremony scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. tomorrow. The ceremony, hosted by the Canada Aviation Museum, will mark the retirement from active service of this illustrious fleet of search and rescue helicopters.
Weather permitting, Labrador 11301, the first Labrador to enter service with the CF and last to retire, will conduct a fly-past of its new home.
“T he Labrador has assisted many Canadians in distress across the country throughout the years. Its transfer to the Canada Aviation Museum will serve to preserve its memory and is a tribute to the men and women of the Search and Rescue community who each day risk their lives to save others,” said the Honourable Mauril Bélanger, Associate Minister of National Defence.
The Canada Aviation Museum is proud of its relationship with the Department of National Defence,” said Mr. Anthony Smyth, Director General of the Canada Aviation Museum. “Labrador 11301 will serve as a reminder to Canadians of the hundreds of lives saved and people rescued, often in near-impossible conditions.”
Since its introduction to service in the Canadian Forces, the Labrador has flown more than 20 000 missions and logged nearly 190 000 hours of flying time. One of the most memorable missions occurred in 1980, when the cruise ship M/V Prinsendam caught fire off the coast of Alaska. The Canadian Forces assisted in the rescue of all 510 passengers in what was, at the time, the largest single marine rescue in history. The Labrador fleet has been the workhorse of the Search and Rescue community for more than 40 years of faithful service and countless rescues. It will be retired, but never forgotten.
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Note to Editors
The ceremony will commence at 2 p.m. with a Labrador fly-past and landing at the museum. The Honourable Mauril Bélanger, Associate Minister of National Defence, Major-General Richard Bastien, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff, Mr. Anthony Smyth, Director General of the Canada Aviation Museum, and Mr. Lorne RodenBush, first Canadian Labrador pilot, will speak at the ensuing transfer ceremony.
Journalists interested in covering the ceremony are requested to arrive at the Canada Aviation Museum main foyer by 1:30 p.m.
For further information on the ceremony, please contact the Canada Aviation Museum at (613) 991-3834.
For further information on the CH-113 Labrador helicopter, please contact 1 Canadian Air Division Public Affairs Office at (204) 833-2500 ext 5524.
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