COVER N. 520 - FRANCE

Postmark: Bureau Philatélique of Lyon Bellecour - 07.10.2024 

Posted on the 7th October; Received on the 10th October 2024

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Canadair…. On first look it may sound strange, but the noun formed by juxtaposing a distant country’s name and the place wherein everything undulates, everything exists, as Mario de Sá-Carneiro, the famed Portuguese Modernist poet once put it, is a summer household name for the south of Europe.

Forest fires…. a consequence of climate change and  mismanagement of forest but also of natural causes or not so natural devious minds fuelled by the pleasure of seeing everything gown down in flames…..

Every year my country is plagued by this reality and the situation only tends to get worse for indeed climate is changing fast and the summers are getting hotter and drier with each year that passes. All it takes is a spark, and huge expansions of forest are decimated, property and life put at risk. The current year was one of the worst, with almost 150 thousand hectares of land affected by fires, with the loss of 9 lives, direct of indirectly due to the fires, not to mention property and  the horrific impact on fauna and flora.

Aerial means like helicopters, airplanes and drones are irreplaceable in their role as first line fire-fighters, and for large forest fires like the ones we unfortunately have to deal with, heavy water bombers are really a much needed tool.

Enter the Canadair, in its several guises: 215; 415 and now 515

Conceived in the 60s of last century right from the start as a water bomber by Canadian concern Canadair (which would in time be incorporated into Bombardier) the original type, the twin-engined 215, first flew in 1967 and was produced between 1969 and 1990. It has two 1,400 litres water tanks which can be discharged simultaneously or individually or in sequence, and be filled rapidly by means of rotatable scoops that direct the water into the tanks while the plane moves across a large body of water like a lake or a reservoir.

Introduced in 1993 and produced until 2015,  the CL415, has an improved water tank capacity, of up to 6,140 litres and more powerful engines, but it too has been superseded by the new DHC 515 (DeHaviland Canada now holding the manufacturing and development rights) of which the first units are now being built, with again an improved water tank capacity of up to 7,000 litres.

The Canadair, as the mighty workhorse will be forever known irrespective of manufacturer or type, has more than proved its worth with the Civil Protection bodies of several countries and I’m am very pleased to know that Portugal will finally have its own Canadair fleet (2 aircraft) by 2029, after years and years of contracting services and relying on the help of the European Mechanism for Civil Protection.

The contract for the acquisition of the two DHC-515 to be delivered in 2029 and 2030 was signed on the last 18^th June, both aircraft being paid for by Portuguese and EU funds, under the RescEU Programme. The two aircraft will be operated and maintained under the responsibility of the Portuguese Air Force, and they will be stationed at the Ovar Air Base, in the north of the country.

France has been an operator of the Canadair since 1967, first with a fleet of CL215 and nowadays with 12 CL415 which are based at the Sécurité Civile base of de Nîmes-Garons.

Their importance within the European Civil Protection Mechanism is quite relevant and I, for one, am thankful to France and the EU to have had more than once French Canadairs (or Pélicans, as they are also known in France) helping to dramatically quench forest fires here in my country. Merci, la France, Merci l’Union Européenne.

And Merci Eric, for this beautiful cover featuring the 1,29€ stamp issued by La Poste on 05JUL2024, dedicated to the Canadair of la Securité Civile, illustrated with a painting of a CL415 doing what it does best.

 

I love the care Eric had in composing this cover with the beautiful mosaic of Marianne Stamps (6 x0,10; 2 x 0,01 and 1 x 0,05 €) from the  23JUL2018 issue, so as to complete postage.

Postmark from the Bureau Philatélique of Lyon Bellecour.