Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Steve's "Otter Of The Week"! .....by Karl E. Hayes
The Otter touched every continent on earth. Here is one that made her way back home from Africa, again, flying the Atlantic.
All information is from Karl Hayes' "masterful" CD entitled:
De Havilland Canada
DHC-3 OTTER
A HISTORY
CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
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Otter 453
Otter 453 was delivered to the Tanzanian Air Force on 8th March 1966 with serial 9103. It was crated and shipped to Tanzania where it was re-assembled and entered service, based at Dar Es Salaam. The history of the Tanzanian Otters has been explained in relation to Otter 451. Of the eight Otters acquired, three were retained in Canada for training purposes, and the other five, including 9103, went to Tanzania where they continued in service until April 1972, when they were purchased by Bannock Aerospace Ltd of Toronto.
The five Otters were flown from Dar Es Salaam to Nairobi-Wilson airfield, Kenya in April 1972 and during May were prepared for the long ferry flight back to Canada. They were registered to Bannock Aerospace Ltd, 9102 (452) becoming CF-DIO; 9103 (453) CF-DIV; 9104 (454) CF-DIY; 9106 (459) CF-DJA and 9107 (460) CF-DIZ. Four of these Otters passed through Shannon in Ireland on the delivery flight home, the fifth passing through Prestwick in Scotland. CF-DIV (453) passed through Malta on 14th May '72 and routed Paris (Orly)-Shannon-Reykjavik on 17th May. It had arrived at Toronto's Malton Airport by 29th May '72.
The Otter was sold on to Bradley Air Services Ltd of Carp, Ontario on 14th June 1972 and after overhaul and repaint into Bradley colours, entered service as part of their Otter fleet. It was damaged in a crash at Coburg Island, Northwest Territories on 4th September '72, summarised as “selected unsuitable terrain; hard landing”. It was repaired, re-registered C-FDIV and operated by Bradley on behalf of Bell Canada Ltd, based at Kenora, Ontario. This was a long-term contract, for which the Otter was painted orange overall, with black cheat-line and Bell Canada's logo. It was used to fly Bell technicians to native reservations throughout north-western Ontario in connection with the installation of the phone network.
This was a summer only operation, at least towards the end of the contract, and the Otter was in storage at Reddit, Ontario over the winter of 1980/81. It suffered a minor incident at Reddit on 24th April '81. After touching down on the runway, the rear check cable broke, causing the tail wheel to collapse. The damage was repaired and in June '81 DIV was sold to Tobin Lake Air Services Ltd, Nipawin, Saskatchewan. The following year, on 1st July 1982, it crashed at Black Lake, Saskatchewan. While on final approach to land on the isolated lake, the engine stopped. Attempts by the pilot to restart the engine were unsuccessful and he landed the aircraft in dense bush near the shoreline. The engine was not recovered from the crash site and so the reason for the failure could not be determined.
That accident marked the end of DIV's flying career for a long time. The fuselage was retrieved from the crash site and by 1987 it had arrived at Salinas, California where it was used for engineering test work in connection with the Vazar turbo Otter project. By October 1991 it had arrived at the Aeroflite Industries facility at the Vancouver International Airport where it was in store for an eventual rebuild and was also used for training purposes in connection with the Vazar conversions undertaken at Aeroflite. The Otter was sold to Air Tindi Ltd of Yellowknife, operators of turbine Otter C-FXUY (142) but remained in store at the Aeroflite hangar in Vancouver awaiting rebuild. It was still there in 2004, twenty two years after its crash.
- by Karl E. Hayes
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C-FDIV of Bradley Air Services but painted in the colours of the Bell Telephone Company, at Reddit, Ontario December 1980 (Robert S.Grant)
"Hey", time to rebuild this Otter and get her back flying!
CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
All information is from Karl Hayes' "masterful" CD entitled:
De Havilland Canada
DHC-3 OTTER
A HISTORY
CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Otter 453
Otter 453 was delivered to the Tanzanian Air Force on 8th March 1966 with serial 9103. It was crated and shipped to Tanzania where it was re-assembled and entered service, based at Dar Es Salaam. The history of the Tanzanian Otters has been explained in relation to Otter 451. Of the eight Otters acquired, three were retained in Canada for training purposes, and the other five, including 9103, went to Tanzania where they continued in service until April 1972, when they were purchased by Bannock Aerospace Ltd of Toronto.
The five Otters were flown from Dar Es Salaam to Nairobi-Wilson airfield, Kenya in April 1972 and during May were prepared for the long ferry flight back to Canada. They were registered to Bannock Aerospace Ltd, 9102 (452) becoming CF-DIO; 9103 (453) CF-DIV; 9104 (454) CF-DIY; 9106 (459) CF-DJA and 9107 (460) CF-DIZ. Four of these Otters passed through Shannon in Ireland on the delivery flight home, the fifth passing through Prestwick in Scotland. CF-DIV (453) passed through Malta on 14th May '72 and routed Paris (Orly)-Shannon-Reykjavik on 17th May. It had arrived at Toronto's Malton Airport by 29th May '72.
The Otter was sold on to Bradley Air Services Ltd of Carp, Ontario on 14th June 1972 and after overhaul and repaint into Bradley colours, entered service as part of their Otter fleet. It was damaged in a crash at Coburg Island, Northwest Territories on 4th September '72, summarised as “selected unsuitable terrain; hard landing”. It was repaired, re-registered C-FDIV and operated by Bradley on behalf of Bell Canada Ltd, based at Kenora, Ontario. This was a long-term contract, for which the Otter was painted orange overall, with black cheat-line and Bell Canada's logo. It was used to fly Bell technicians to native reservations throughout north-western Ontario in connection with the installation of the phone network.
This was a summer only operation, at least towards the end of the contract, and the Otter was in storage at Reddit, Ontario over the winter of 1980/81. It suffered a minor incident at Reddit on 24th April '81. After touching down on the runway, the rear check cable broke, causing the tail wheel to collapse. The damage was repaired and in June '81 DIV was sold to Tobin Lake Air Services Ltd, Nipawin, Saskatchewan. The following year, on 1st July 1982, it crashed at Black Lake, Saskatchewan. While on final approach to land on the isolated lake, the engine stopped. Attempts by the pilot to restart the engine were unsuccessful and he landed the aircraft in dense bush near the shoreline. The engine was not recovered from the crash site and so the reason for the failure could not be determined.
That accident marked the end of DIV's flying career for a long time. The fuselage was retrieved from the crash site and by 1987 it had arrived at Salinas, California where it was used for engineering test work in connection with the Vazar turbo Otter project. By October 1991 it had arrived at the Aeroflite Industries facility at the Vancouver International Airport where it was in store for an eventual rebuild and was also used for training purposes in connection with the Vazar conversions undertaken at Aeroflite. The Otter was sold to Air Tindi Ltd of Yellowknife, operators of turbine Otter C-FXUY (142) but remained in store at the Aeroflite hangar in Vancouver awaiting rebuild. It was still there in 2004, twenty two years after its crash.
- by Karl E. Hayes
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C-FDIV of Bradley Air Services but painted in the colours of the Bell Telephone Company, at Reddit, Ontario December 1980 (Robert S.Grant)
"Hey", time to rebuild this Otter and get her back flying!
CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
It's Time To Play..... Otterflogger's "Name That Cockpit"!
OK, "Ladies and Gentlemen", time for "installment #114" in our "cockpit series", which will be a continuing "brain-strainer".
This is the "cockpit" of "the" ......................
***MYSTERY SOLVED!***
This is the cockpit of the Boeing "247"! Mike wins the "sailboat fuel"!
CLUE - The Boeing 247 was hailed as the "1st" modern airliner!
This is the "cockpit" of "the" ......................
***MYSTERY SOLVED!***
This is the cockpit of the Boeing "247"! Mike wins the "sailboat fuel"!
CLUE - The Boeing 247 was hailed as the "1st" modern airliner!
Steve's "Otter Of The Week"! .....by Karl E. Hayes
US Army "vet", Atlantic "crossser", back to Canada for numerous encounters in the "bush". She is an experienced Otter, and now has a "pointy nose" and needs a home!
All information is from Karl Hayes' "masterful" CD entitled:
De Havilland Canada
DHC-3 OTTER
A HISTORY
CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
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Otter 385
Otter 385 was delivered to the United States Army on 22nd August 1960 with serial 59-2230 (tail number 92230). Its initial unit allocation is unknown but by January 1962 it was serving with the Army's 572nd Engineer Platoon, flown as a survey aircraft on mapping duties in Libya and later in Iran. It was painted in the white/red colour scheme used by topographical aircraft. It continued to fly for this unit until April 1969 when it arrived at Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, Germany for overhaul. It was re-painted into the olive drab colour scheme and in August '69 was assigned to the 56th Aviation Detachment at Coleman Barracks, and flew for this unit until August 1971, when it was placed into storage at Coleman Barracks and put up for disposal.
92230 was one of eight Army Otters, all in storage at Coleman Barracks, which were put up for sale by Sealed Bid Tender with a closing date of 29th December 1971. The successful bidder for all eight Otters was Ferrer Aviation Inc of Miami. The total price for all eight aircraft was $303,640 of which $39,680 was the price for 92230, which had 3,177 hours on the airframe at the time of sale. 92230 was allocated marks N80945 for Ferrer Aviation, who contracted ferry company Air Convoy to fly the eight Otters to Canada. All followed the same route, two at a time. In company with N80939(141), N80945 was ferried from Coleman Barracks via Saarbrucken, Germany to Ashford in Kent and on to Shannon, Ireland, arriving Shannon on 7th March 1972. At Shannon, ferry tanks were installed by SRS Aviation, after which the two Otters set off for the long Atlantic crossing, first stop Reykjavik, Iceland.
The Otters were flown to St.Jean Airport, Montreal where they were converted to civilian aircraft by St.Louis Aviation Inc. 385 was then sold to White River Air Services Ltd of White River, Ontario registered CF-DNK, later re-registered C-FDNK. In June 1975 it was sold to Kipawa Air Service Inc of Kipawa, Quebec which was later re-named Air Kipawa Inc. The Otter was used on charter work throughout the Province of Quebec. Apart from fishing and hunting charters, it was also much used in the north by Quebec Hydro and Societe d'Energie de la Baie James. By June 1980 it had flown 8,122 hours. One incident was recorded, on 25th September 1988 when the Otter was flying on behalf of Cargair, twenty four miles north-west of Schefferville. DNK made a forced landing due to engine trouble. The pilot found that he could not maintain a sufficient rate of climb in a turn and had to put the aircraft down. Between August 1989 and August 1990 the Otter was operated by and registered to Air North Bay Inc of North Bay, Ontario before reverting to Air Kipawa Inc.
The Otter continued in operation with Air Kipawa until the end of the summer 2004 season, and was then sold. As the Air Kipawa website sadly explained: “Otter DNK leaves the Kipawa base dock for the last time. The aircraft has been sold to Viking Air where it will be completely torn-down and retrofitted with a turbine engine and many other amenities. DNK has been with the company for nearly thirty years and has flown thousands of hours and carried countless numbers of people to their favourite fishing and hunting spots”. The Otter departed Kipawa on 13th October 2004, making
its first stop at Sioux Lookout, Ontario on the long trek to the West Coast. It was re-registered to Viking Air Ltd of Victoria, BC on 26th November 2004. During December 2004 it commenced conversion to Viking Turbo Otter configuration with a PT6A-35 engine.
*** LATEST UPDATE!***
Otter 385
January 1st, 2008. C-FDNK. In March 2007 the Otter was advertised for sale by Viking Air, located at Victoria, BC. It was advertised as a Viking Turbo Otter with new PT6A-35 engine, Hartzell three-blade prop, Panaview windows, 15 seats, Seaflight 8100 floats, new paint and interior, with an asking price of $1,350,000. Total time was 18,151 hours. By August 2007 it had been withdrawn from sale and was then on offer for lease, at an hourly rate of $275 per flight hour plus engine reserve of $55 per flight hour, with a minimum lease of 700 hours.
- by Karl E. Hayes
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N80945 of Ferrer Aviation at a damp Shannon Airport 18 March 1972 on its way home (John Cunniffe)
C-FDNK of Air Kipawa May 1987
Yes, folks, she has gone under the "surgeon's knife" and has 18,000 more hours left in her. Check her out......
FOR SALE - C-FDNK!
CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
All information is from Karl Hayes' "masterful" CD entitled:
De Havilland Canada
DHC-3 OTTER
A HISTORY
CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Otter 385
Otter 385 was delivered to the United States Army on 22nd August 1960 with serial 59-2230 (tail number 92230). Its initial unit allocation is unknown but by January 1962 it was serving with the Army's 572nd Engineer Platoon, flown as a survey aircraft on mapping duties in Libya and later in Iran. It was painted in the white/red colour scheme used by topographical aircraft. It continued to fly for this unit until April 1969 when it arrived at Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, Germany for overhaul. It was re-painted into the olive drab colour scheme and in August '69 was assigned to the 56th Aviation Detachment at Coleman Barracks, and flew for this unit until August 1971, when it was placed into storage at Coleman Barracks and put up for disposal.
92230 was one of eight Army Otters, all in storage at Coleman Barracks, which were put up for sale by Sealed Bid Tender with a closing date of 29th December 1971. The successful bidder for all eight Otters was Ferrer Aviation Inc of Miami. The total price for all eight aircraft was $303,640 of which $39,680 was the price for 92230, which had 3,177 hours on the airframe at the time of sale. 92230 was allocated marks N80945 for Ferrer Aviation, who contracted ferry company Air Convoy to fly the eight Otters to Canada. All followed the same route, two at a time. In company with N80939(141), N80945 was ferried from Coleman Barracks via Saarbrucken, Germany to Ashford in Kent and on to Shannon, Ireland, arriving Shannon on 7th March 1972. At Shannon, ferry tanks were installed by SRS Aviation, after which the two Otters set off for the long Atlantic crossing, first stop Reykjavik, Iceland.
The Otters were flown to St.Jean Airport, Montreal where they were converted to civilian aircraft by St.Louis Aviation Inc. 385 was then sold to White River Air Services Ltd of White River, Ontario registered CF-DNK, later re-registered C-FDNK. In June 1975 it was sold to Kipawa Air Service Inc of Kipawa, Quebec which was later re-named Air Kipawa Inc. The Otter was used on charter work throughout the Province of Quebec. Apart from fishing and hunting charters, it was also much used in the north by Quebec Hydro and Societe d'Energie de la Baie James. By June 1980 it had flown 8,122 hours. One incident was recorded, on 25th September 1988 when the Otter was flying on behalf of Cargair, twenty four miles north-west of Schefferville. DNK made a forced landing due to engine trouble. The pilot found that he could not maintain a sufficient rate of climb in a turn and had to put the aircraft down. Between August 1989 and August 1990 the Otter was operated by and registered to Air North Bay Inc of North Bay, Ontario before reverting to Air Kipawa Inc.
The Otter continued in operation with Air Kipawa until the end of the summer 2004 season, and was then sold. As the Air Kipawa website sadly explained: “Otter DNK leaves the Kipawa base dock for the last time. The aircraft has been sold to Viking Air where it will be completely torn-down and retrofitted with a turbine engine and many other amenities. DNK has been with the company for nearly thirty years and has flown thousands of hours and carried countless numbers of people to their favourite fishing and hunting spots”. The Otter departed Kipawa on 13th October 2004, making
its first stop at Sioux Lookout, Ontario on the long trek to the West Coast. It was re-registered to Viking Air Ltd of Victoria, BC on 26th November 2004. During December 2004 it commenced conversion to Viking Turbo Otter configuration with a PT6A-35 engine.
*** LATEST UPDATE!***
Otter 385
January 1st, 2008. C-FDNK. In March 2007 the Otter was advertised for sale by Viking Air, located at Victoria, BC. It was advertised as a Viking Turbo Otter with new PT6A-35 engine, Hartzell three-blade prop, Panaview windows, 15 seats, Seaflight 8100 floats, new paint and interior, with an asking price of $1,350,000. Total time was 18,151 hours. By August 2007 it had been withdrawn from sale and was then on offer for lease, at an hourly rate of $275 per flight hour plus engine reserve of $55 per flight hour, with a minimum lease of 700 hours.
- by Karl E. Hayes
---------------------------------------------------------------------
N80945 of Ferrer Aviation at a damp Shannon Airport 18 March 1972 on its way home (John Cunniffe)
C-FDNK of Air Kipawa May 1987
Yes, folks, she has gone under the "surgeon's knife" and has 18,000 more hours left in her. Check her out......
FOR SALE - C-FDNK!
CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
It's Time To Play..... Otterflogger's "Name That Cockpit"!
OK, "Ladies and Gentlemen", time for "installment #113" in our "cockpit series", which will be a continuing "brain-strainer".
This is the "cockpit" of "the" ......................
***MYSTERY UNSOLVED!***
This is the cockpit of the Howard "DGA-15"! "Sailboat fuel" doubles next week!
CLUE - Catherine "Howard" was the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England.
This is the "cockpit" of "the" ......................
***MYSTERY UNSOLVED!***
This is the cockpit of the Howard "DGA-15"! "Sailboat fuel" doubles next week!
CLUE - Catherine "Howard" was the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Steve's "Otter Of The Week"! .....by Karl E. Hayes
This Otter made a "30 foot stall", made a "go-around", landed safely, got a ride by "Chinook", and her military career was over! She returned to Canada, and still "flogs the bush".............
All information is from Karl Hayes' "masterful" CD entitled:
De Havilland Canada
DHC-3 OTTER
A HISTORY
CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Otter 150
Otter 150 was delivered to the United States Army on 7th September 1956 with serial 55-3297 (tail number 53297). Like Otter 149, its first posting was to VX-6 Squadron of the United States Navy, to whom it was lent for crew training purposes. It was collected at Downsview by a Navy pilot on 24th September '56 and flown to the VX-6 base at NAS Quonsett Point, Rhode Island where it was used for pilot training. When this task was complete, the Otter was flown to Fort Riley, Kansas and joined the 2nd Aviation Company with whom it deployed to Illesheim, Germany.
By January 1962, 53297 was serving with SETAF in Italy and it continued in service with that organisation until October 1967. It was one of two Army Otters serving in Italy in the mid 1960s, the other being 53280, and both went to the depot at Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, Germany during October/November 1967 from where they were shipped to the United States and then onwards to Vietnam. 53297 joined the 54th Aviation Company in Vietnam in March 1968. An incident is recorded in the unit history of the 54th Aviation Company for 11th November '68 when 53297 was being flown by a US Army pilot in the left seat, with a Royal Australian Army officer as co-pilot: “The crew dropped '297 in from about thirty feet at Rach Gia, then made a successful go-around and landing. The landing gear, engine, propeller and fuselage were all damaged badly. Four inches were taken off each prop blade on the first contact with the ground. Fortunately neither passengers nor crew were injured. Because the aircraft stalled and hit 800 feet short of the runway, it was suspected that the flaps may have been bled up on final approach. The Otter was carried back to Vung Tau by a Chinook helicopter”.
That incident ended the Otter's military career. At Vung Tau it was entrusted to the 388th Transportation Company who arranged for 53297 to be shipped home. It arrived at the Sharpe Army Depot, Stockton, California in March 1969, where it was held for a time, and it was then sent to the Forest Park Army Depot, Atlanta, Georgia where it arrived in September 1969 and where it was put into storage alongside several other Otters which had been returned from Vietnam. It remained in storage at the Depot until May 1972 when it was deleted from the inventory and put up for disposal as military surplus. 53297 was one of six Army Otters purchased by Air Craftsmen Ltd of St.John, New Brunswick, a company which traded in Otters, buying military surplus aircraft, restoring them as civilian aircraft and selling them on. All six were located at the Atlanta Depot and following temporary repairs there, were flown to St.John during October/November 1972. The six were reserved as CF-BEO/BEP/BEQ/BER/BEU and BEW. Otter 150 was reserved as CF-BEQ in October 1972, which were the ferry marks it used for the flight to St.John.
A ferry permit was issued for a flight from the Forest Park Army Depot, Atlanta, Georgia to St.John Airport on 11th October '72 for both CF-BEQ and CF-BEW. After arrival at St.John, it was a time before BEQ was worked on and it would not fly again for three years. By February 1975 it had been taken to St.Louis Aviation at St.Jean Airport, Montreal where it was converted to civilian configuration. The allocation CF-BEQ was cancelled on 23rd May '75 when the Otter was registered C-GLJI to its new owners, Labrador Air Safari Inc of Baie Comeau, Quebec. It went on to serve that company for many years, being registered to Labrador Air Safari (1984) Inc in January 1987. It is one of a fleet of Otters of Labrador Air Safari, which fly hunters, tourists and fishermen to wilderness areas of Quebec during the summer months.
*** LATEST UPDATE!***
Otter 150
January 1st, 2008. C-GLJI. Labrador Air Safari (1984) Inc, Baie Comeau, Quebec. R-1340.
- by Karl E. Hayes
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- C-GLJI of Labrador Air Safari at its Baie Comeau, Quebec base November 1992 (Ken Swartz)
What a "Stoneboat"!
CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
All information is from Karl Hayes' "masterful" CD entitled:
De Havilland Canada
DHC-3 OTTER
A HISTORY
CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Otter 150
Otter 150 was delivered to the United States Army on 7th September 1956 with serial 55-3297 (tail number 53297). Like Otter 149, its first posting was to VX-6 Squadron of the United States Navy, to whom it was lent for crew training purposes. It was collected at Downsview by a Navy pilot on 24th September '56 and flown to the VX-6 base at NAS Quonsett Point, Rhode Island where it was used for pilot training. When this task was complete, the Otter was flown to Fort Riley, Kansas and joined the 2nd Aviation Company with whom it deployed to Illesheim, Germany.
By January 1962, 53297 was serving with SETAF in Italy and it continued in service with that organisation until October 1967. It was one of two Army Otters serving in Italy in the mid 1960s, the other being 53280, and both went to the depot at Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, Germany during October/November 1967 from where they were shipped to the United States and then onwards to Vietnam. 53297 joined the 54th Aviation Company in Vietnam in March 1968. An incident is recorded in the unit history of the 54th Aviation Company for 11th November '68 when 53297 was being flown by a US Army pilot in the left seat, with a Royal Australian Army officer as co-pilot: “The crew dropped '297 in from about thirty feet at Rach Gia, then made a successful go-around and landing. The landing gear, engine, propeller and fuselage were all damaged badly. Four inches were taken off each prop blade on the first contact with the ground. Fortunately neither passengers nor crew were injured. Because the aircraft stalled and hit 800 feet short of the runway, it was suspected that the flaps may have been bled up on final approach. The Otter was carried back to Vung Tau by a Chinook helicopter”.
That incident ended the Otter's military career. At Vung Tau it was entrusted to the 388th Transportation Company who arranged for 53297 to be shipped home. It arrived at the Sharpe Army Depot, Stockton, California in March 1969, where it was held for a time, and it was then sent to the Forest Park Army Depot, Atlanta, Georgia where it arrived in September 1969 and where it was put into storage alongside several other Otters which had been returned from Vietnam. It remained in storage at the Depot until May 1972 when it was deleted from the inventory and put up for disposal as military surplus. 53297 was one of six Army Otters purchased by Air Craftsmen Ltd of St.John, New Brunswick, a company which traded in Otters, buying military surplus aircraft, restoring them as civilian aircraft and selling them on. All six were located at the Atlanta Depot and following temporary repairs there, were flown to St.John during October/November 1972. The six were reserved as CF-BEO/BEP/BEQ/BER/BEU and BEW. Otter 150 was reserved as CF-BEQ in October 1972, which were the ferry marks it used for the flight to St.John.
A ferry permit was issued for a flight from the Forest Park Army Depot, Atlanta, Georgia to St.John Airport on 11th October '72 for both CF-BEQ and CF-BEW. After arrival at St.John, it was a time before BEQ was worked on and it would not fly again for three years. By February 1975 it had been taken to St.Louis Aviation at St.Jean Airport, Montreal where it was converted to civilian configuration. The allocation CF-BEQ was cancelled on 23rd May '75 when the Otter was registered C-GLJI to its new owners, Labrador Air Safari Inc of Baie Comeau, Quebec. It went on to serve that company for many years, being registered to Labrador Air Safari (1984) Inc in January 1987. It is one of a fleet of Otters of Labrador Air Safari, which fly hunters, tourists and fishermen to wilderness areas of Quebec during the summer months.
*** LATEST UPDATE!***
Otter 150
January 1st, 2008. C-GLJI. Labrador Air Safari (1984) Inc, Baie Comeau, Quebec. R-1340.
- by Karl E. Hayes
---------------------------------------------------------------------
- C-GLJI of Labrador Air Safari at its Baie Comeau, Quebec base November 1992 (Ken Swartz)
What a "Stoneboat"!
CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
Thursday, July 02, 2009
It's Time To Play..... Otterflogger's "Name That Cockpit"!
OK, "Ladies and Gentlemen", time for "installment #112" in our "cockpit series", which will be a continuing "brain-strainer".
This is the "cockpit" of "the" ......................
***MYSTERY UNSOLVED!***
This is the cockpit of the Bristol "Bolingbroke"! "Honourable Mention" to "Anonymous" and "Softjug"! "Sailboat fuel" doubles next week!
CLUE - King Henry IV of England was known as "Henry of Bolingbroke".
*Hint* - (Right-click on the cockpit photo, and select "properties", the "clue" is in the photo name.)
This is the "cockpit" of "the" ......................
***MYSTERY UNSOLVED!***
This is the cockpit of the Bristol "Bolingbroke"! "Honourable Mention" to "Anonymous" and "Softjug"! "Sailboat fuel" doubles next week!
CLUE - King Henry IV of England was known as "Henry of Bolingbroke".
*Hint* - (Right-click on the cockpit photo, and select "properties", the "clue" is in the photo name.)
