CANADIAN AVENGER - THE SURVIVORS As of August 2009, Forest Protection Limited of Miramichi, NB has three Avengers in their fleet of aircraft, all ex-RCN. These are the last working Avengers left in the world and they fly fire protection sorties in Miramichi and surrounding areas. The now named T13 and T23 were originally TBM-3's and T22 was a TBM-3E. All were modified for their civilian role. FPL used to have five Avengers in the fleet but two were sold to Australia.When fighting a fire, the aircraft are loaded on land with 600 US gallons of water/fire retardant which takes an average of two minutes to load. The inventory of spare parts for the Avengers is getting thin but a sufficient amount is still available to keep the fleet running.
There are three static-exhibit Avengers which are owned by Museums in Atlantic Canada. One is at at the Shearwater Aviation Museum NS, another at the Atlantic Aviation Museum in Halifax NS and a third at the Woodmen's Museum in Boiestown NB.
All photos in this table by Phillip Rody.
Credits and References: 1) Phillip Rody <phillip_rody(at)rogers.com>
2) Yves St. Germain <ystgermain(at)rogers.com>