The Firedove (or “The Bomber of Peace”) is a conceptual art project about the water bomber of the future. The project takes as its focus the theme of SURVIVAL, and investigates this through the imagining of a hypothetical aircraft — the C-88 Firedove — by Conceptual Aircraft, Ltd.

Utilizing sculpture, painting, Land art, drawing, and — most importantly — new myth creation, the Firedove project seeks to explore how motivated, affirmative action can be highjacked as antidote to pessimism, malaise, and the fear of imminent doom.

The Myth of the Firedove

In a time not far from now, in a place once called Canada, the Firedove was born. It was a time of simmering revolutions, of many floods, and many fires...

The smoke was getting so bad that a great council of all the Placental mammals — those descended from the rodent ancestor who survived the dinosaur apocalypse * — was summoned.

Whale was there, Otter, Beaver, Bear, Wolf, Fox, Moose, Deer. And, as representatives of some of the other great animal clans: Turtle, Frog, Hawk, Gull, and Raven.

A representative of Homo Sapiens was also invited to attend, as they were the ones who got everyone into this mess in the first place, and perhaps could get us all out too.

“The aircraft should have my belly and tail,” Whale said.

“And my wings,” added Gull.

Hawk and Raven would design the power cells as they knew about speed best.

It would not run on fossil fuel.

“We must look to the earth’s core geologic architecture for inspiration,” Turtle said.

After brief discussion and analysis, they had a collective revelation: the aircraft’s motion must be generated by the same force that enlivens the heart of the planet — the magnetism of solid iron.

It was sketched out and decided: She’d have two twin sister engines that would be hyper-magnet turbines.

Frog, cold blooded, suggested the Firedove’s electrical systems be powered entirely by the power of the sun.

“She must circle endlessly the sky, like those great Albatross in the Pacific, providing help and safety to those who needed it most first, and slowly bring fire back into a healthy balance.”

Otter suggested the solar panels be made of the shiny inside of Abalone shells.

Finally, Turtle wrote the code for the artificial intelligence that would govern the Firedove’s thought systems: It would be a homeostat working on a long, slow geologic timescale.

Everyone agreed and it was decided they would have Homo Sapiens build the Bomber of Peace.

The Firedove is what they decided to call it.

A small outfit was contracted on the shores of the Great Lakes who could procure only the most sacred earth materials for sustainable, long-lasting flight.

The Government of the country once known as Canada agreed to fund some prototypes, as they too were suffering acutely from smoke inhalation and fearful. But they soon lost interest because it was unclear how the Bomber of Peace could make them any money. All subsequent materials were ordered to be destroyed.

However, before the Firedove prototype was destroyed, a covert team of operatives authorized by the Placental Council picked the hanger lock for C-88 and set the Firedove free. It climbed into the clouds and disappeared.

A story is told by an old commercial airline mechanic from Ellsmere Island, who once nursed the Firedove back to health. The weather was howling, snow blowing sideways. The plane appeared out of nowhere, it just barely landed with a shot aileron, and one engine down. Although she could go for days, weeks, months even, every now and then routine maintenance would need to be performed. From time to time she would call upon a safe, quiet strip to lie down... far from prying eyes. To have the Firedove visit your airport was one of the most sacred of occurrences.

As such, she always got the royal treatment.

When your children are crying in fear and anxiety, remind them that the Firedove is circling above, watching over, doing the best it can. If you say a little prayer for it on its journey, it might visit you in your most desperate time of need.

The next feather you see, say a prayer for the Firedove.

Notes:

* Yong, E. Face-to-face with the earliest ancestor of all placental mammals. Nature (2013) https://rdcu.be/drqvM

Speech for a Leader…

Effective immediately—we are announcing the beginning of a government stimulus project never yet attempted.

It has now become necessary to seriously think about what we need to do, collectively, as a society… to survive.

The fires have now become so bad they have the potential to incinerate everything: you, me, the entire country, continent, and world.

That is why, effective immediately, all factories will be retooling in an Emergency preparedness measure, producing en masse THE FIREDOVE—a 21st Century state-of-the-art water artillary aircraft. Our aim is to produce 10,000 in 5 years and distribute them around the world so as to overt mass death everywhere.

It can deliver in the span of one working day, 500,000 litres. That’s an average of 50 loads per day, each load carrying 10,000 litres of water, requiring only 500 meters of skimming surface in 10 seconds of scooping contact.

10,000 Litres. 500 metres. 10 seconds.

That my friends is the most efficient, high performance water-scooping aviation on the planet.

Global human diversity is at risk of extinction.

The Bomber of Peace—

Ubiquitous water artillery.

It must inspire our children, thus the animalized form… As they are the ones who are going to have to fly it.

To pay for it, we will introduce an equally novel financial mechanism: “The Firedove Line of Credit” whereby the Government will extend credit to itself to pay for the development of the physical technology, and any and all future citizens and corporations not incinerated — that includes businesses and services of every stripe — will pay a very modest tax into the future, indefinitely. It will be less than a cup of coffee a day. But there will be peace of mind everywhere. Remember: we are building the Bomber of Peace. Together.

10,000 Litres | 500 metres | 10 seconds

A further renaissance may stem from Bomber of Peace stimulus, where creative innovation proliferates out of the primary collective effort to overcome the inescapable spectre of fire death. Bombers of Peace will become retrofitted as needed with new technologies not yet dreamt of, and maintained in perpetuity, waves of creativity and new industry developing successively, and unleashing a new great era of thought, technological advancement, and investment.

IMAGINE A SCENARIO THAT CAPTIVATES YOUR SPIRIT’S DESIRE TO REMAIN.

“There is no time.” — Lou Reed

Through the exercise of self-preservation, we will naturally rediscover what it is we truly value.

And just think about all the jobs...