Convair CV580 T55 spent more than 20 years as an air tanker fighting fires in British Columbia and abroad. The aircraft was built in 1956 as a Convair 440 ‘Metropolitan’- a twin piston-engine, 34 passenger, all-metal airliner with pressurized cabin. In 1956 it entered service with Sabena Air of Belgium, where it operated for 12 years before being sold in 1968 to Frontier Airlines of Denver, Colorado, and modernized to a turboprop airliner designated the Convair 580. Frontier operated the airliner for 17 years until sold to Sierra Pacific Airlines of Tucson, Arizona, with whom it remained for a further 15 years. Exported to Canada, it was then converted to an air tanker configuration and in the year 2000 entered operations with Conair of Abbotsford, British Columbia. At the end of the 2022 fire season and following 22 years as an air tanker, the Convair 580 T55 was donated to the BC Aviation Museum by Conair Group Inc.
