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On a regular basis people sent me photos, to share their enthusiasm for vintage airliners or to illustrate a question. These photos have been lingering in a scrapbook or a discarded box somewhere and/or probably wouldn't find their way to Online-use or publication. To prevent them from getting lost, with permission of the sender, I would like to share them on this page. Photos already online (personal websites, airliners.net, jetphotos.net, etc) are not meant to be included here. |
Timo de Vries sent me this photo of Barkley Grow CF-BQM in Sep.2007. It is on display at the Aero Space Museum in Calgary, Alberta. Recently the museum added additional covered display space, a sort of big hangar of tent material. The Barkley Grow is one of the aircraft on display.See my report on my 2006 visit to the Aero Space Museum for aircraft on display in this fine museum. |
 For more details follow the link to the 2006 report. |
Timo also sent these two images, dated 21Sep07, of a Lockheed Ventura in restoration at the Alberta Aviation Museum in Edmonton.
I would welcome details about this aircraft. |
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 Timo de Vries sent me this photo of B-25J Mitchell bomber, USAF 44-30791, RCAF 5273, taken by him at the museum on 21Sep07. See also my report of my 2006 visit to the Alberta Museum in Edmonton Boyd Butler of Kennewick,WA wrote me the following recollection concerning the B-25: "When I was working for Airwest Beachcraft in Seattle, back in the late 1960's, we modified a B-25 for North Star Aviation (from Alaska), the owner (?) Bob Shot (Sholton?) died in a Baron accident some years later, I think. Bob had a Chase YC-122 (at least I think that was what it was, the predecessor to the C-123) and I saw it once when he came down to pick up the spares for the B-25. The B-25 left after we put a 1.000 gallon tank into the bombbay for fire fighting, he went to Wenatchee with a U-Haul truck, picked up all of the fresh fruit that he could find, loaded all of the airplane up, even the nose and aft of the bomb bay... He had to use the escape hatch in the top of the cockpit to enter and away he went to Alaska. He ,had to ship his bike up as it wouldn't fit anywhere!!" Boyd |
Ron Mak sent me this photo, he wrote: "this Viking at Basle I came across during my flight with the Swiss Connie ... (08Oct07).
This Vickers Viking is G-AIVG c/n 220 and is (or was?) to be restored... More details on Save-a-Viking.org More photos of Ron's extensive collection can be found on Photos by Ron Mak. |
| Time ran out for this Douglas C-118A Liftmaster. It had been for sale for a long time, even donated to a museum but not taken up... So Everts Air Cargo from Alaska had it scrapped for spares. Scrapping actually started on the 9th and ended on the 19Nov07. They made fast work of it.. Details about this propliner's history can be read here.  Bob Reid wrote me the following on 09Nov07: "In 3 hours XA-TDR, now N48AW, will be towed the last mile around to the north side of Falcon Field to meet her death. She has been parked on the Ramp at CAF for six months receiving visitors from all over the world.. At this time I am waiting for first light to do this dastardly assignment. As you may recall I first gave this airplane to the CAF Arizona Wing several years ago. Sadly, the powers to be at the time rejected the plane after it was in their name and registered to them. A search for the last 3 years to find someone with the means to sponsor the aircraft and get it flying, yielded no results. The City of Mesa is trying to improve the looks of Falcon Field and the sight of this C-118 (and others) are not pleasing to the non-flyers eye. The City wants all of these old planes gone.. Additionally, the high fuel prices are beginning to have a very negative effect on all of general aviation and especially the gas guzzlers we love to hear and watch. We are going to ask Everts to give us the nose section so that we can make a display of the cockpit for visitors to the museum." |
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| Grounded, forever!  |
Klaas Reinder Sluijs sent me these photos: he was one of the lucky bunch onboard Douglas DC-2 'PH-AJU' (NC39165), flying in formation with DC-3 G-AMPY and DC-6 G-APSA. They were all on their way to the Air Show at Hamburg, Germany on 14Sep07. |
G-APSA from Coventry's Classic Flight has been temporarily painted in vintage KLM colours due to the shooing of a movie ('Brides Flight'). G-APSA formated with these vintage transports en route and did not start from Lelystad, which the others did. I have a selection of photos dedicated to this event on Aviodrome 2007, but could not join the flight and stayed behind. |
| Rich Hulina sent me this great photo on Nov 13th, 2007; he added: "Thought you might enjoy a shot of my Otter C-FNWX, on the move for Cat Lake, five minutes ago! Last year we pulled her out of the water this day, but ice is just around the corner though!!" Rich Hulina www.richhulina.com www.slatefallsair.com |
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| From Karl E.Hayes' monograph on the DHC-3 Otter I quote: Otter c/n 412 was delivered on 28Mar62, but was retained by DHC as a demonstrator, registered CF-NWX. It flew for DHC for many years. When it was no longer required as a demonstrator, it remained in use as a test aircraft. There was a proposed sale to the United States in Apr70 and marks N6225 were reserved, but the sale did not proceed and 'NWX continued in use as a test aircraft, and also as a company transport. It was often flown by DHC test pilot George Neal. The last trip he recalls flying in 'NWX was to a lake in Quebec with a load of newly hatched fish, to re-stock the lake which senior people in DHC used to entertain customers. The Otter was eventually sold, being acquired by Austin Airways Ltd of Timmins, Ontario to whom it was registered in Nov78. It was then sold on to Ignace Airways Ltd of Ignace, Ontario and registered to that company in Dec80. It continued to fly for Ignace Airways until a crash at McKenzie Lake, Ontario on 10Oct87. The purpose of the flight on that day was for the captain to check out the co-pilot on the floatequipped Otter. The aircraft, with the two pilots, one passenger and a cargo of sawdust on board, was near the maximum take-off weight. It took off for a VFR flight to nearby South Smoothrock Lake. The take-off run and lift off appeared normal. The pilot selected climb flap, reduced engine power and turned to fly along a valley leading away from the lake. The aircraft was at an altitude of 75 to 100 feet and approaching trees near the edge of the lake when it began to lose altitude... The captain applied power but this did not arrest the descent and the aircraft struck the trees and crashed one quarter of a mile from the shoreline! An accumulation of hoar frost on the wing surfaces and downdrafts, common in the area, led to the aircraft's descent into the trees. The Otter was taken to Kuby's Aircraft at Kenora for a slow rebuild and in May 1992 was registered to , based at Sioux Lookout, Ontario. In Aug99 the company was reconstituted as Slate Falls Airways (1999) Ltd and it continued to serve the Ontario bush country from its base at Sioux Lookout. On 18Oct04 'NWX arrived at Fort Frances, Ontario where it underwent conversion over the winter of 2004/05 to a Vazar turbine Otter, the conversion work being performed by Lakeland Aviation. It was again registered to Slate Falls Airways on 17Mar05. |
Karl E. Hayes (writer of the DHC-3 monograph) sent me this photo of a turbine DHC-3 Otter and he wrote:"Here is some more exciting Otter news and a nice photo in the Bahamas..." N443CB has been restored recently and looks great! On the resort's website www.FlamingoCay.com one can see a photo of their previous Otter N335AK, which they crashed." Karl's profile of N443CB opens in Acrobat Reader. Enjoy! [Permission for publication granted by Karl Hayes, Stuart Smith, and Charles Bethell, provided all rights and ownership to the article are retained by said gentlemen.] |
| Karl also forwarded me this message:  Biff Johnson wrote to Karl: "Some of our members might be interested in the status of Otter, Serial No. 144672. "This Otter belongs to the Navy Museum at Pensacola NAS. It was damaged during hurricane Ivan and the exterior has been restored. The interior needs a lot of work... It was on static display at the PNS during the Blue Angel's homecoming air show this weekend, 9-10 Nov 07. It would have been nice if she could have flown!" |
| Roger Soupart came across this Douglas C-47A c/n 11982 in an aviation shop in Barcelona,Spain (2007): For more of this aircraft and other Off-airport airframes in Europe, go here. |
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Chris Schneider is the proud owner of 3 Grumman S-2 Trackers! Tanker 95, N406DF, is one of them and was recently (Oct.2007) flown out from Sacramento,CA to Jackson,CA to continue to work on it. N406DF was flown by the US Navy with BuNo 133322. During its firefighting career it also carried the T74 identification. In March 2008 Chris wrote: Chris Schneider
Sutter Creek, CA - Tel. 209-296-8766
(PS "...right now Tanker 95 is the most flight ready, but T77 is listed for sale.") UPDATE Oct.2020: Grumman S-2F-1s N406DF and N420DF on auction 'Surplus Auctions for County of Amador', US$1000,- each. |
Douglas DC-6A N7780B a victim of vandalism...
?For more on this see the page dedicated to photos made by Martin Prince Jr. |
Erik Johannesson wrote me the following (likely) candidate:
Publishing it on the AvCanada Forum provided another candidate: |
Ken Lubinski sent me these also this photos; he recalled those -cold- days as follows:
"The Bristol was probably photographed late 1970's. The one pic shows the old mine cabin. Fellow on the left was the cook (Henry) and on the right my helper (Rick). I cannot recall their last names.We spent the month of Feb at that camp. It was very cold... At night water would freeze in the cabin. All the packing between the logs had fallen out, so the wind would blow right between the logs. Every morning we would have little snow drifts on our sleeping bags! I was doing exploration drilling at the old uranium mine for a company out of BC. I believe the company name was Noranda. Could be wrong on that one. Of all the years of working the Arctic, Baffin Island included, I have never witnessed Northern Lights as intense as they were there! For two nights the sky was literally alive from one horizon to the other. The colors were so vibrant, and the movement of the lights was scarry! They seemed like they were just above the tree tops." Ken. More on this Bristol Mk.31 Freighter CF-TFZ on Abandoned Plane Wrecks of the North. |
 Janna Swales hiked to the crash site of the C-47 near Haines Junction, in the summer of 2007. More here. |
Dick van den Heuvel sent me some images he made during an excellent trip through Alaska and Western parts of Canada, in 2005.  This photo shows N51802, a Douglas C-54G, sitting in the owner/operator's yard: Brooks Fuel at Fairbanks. For more on N51802 go to Airliners.net and JetPhotos.net. |
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Sadly, C-FPCK crashed into a hillside on 16Nov08 at Thormanby Island, about 50 kms north of
Vancouver whilst on a flight from Vancouver to Powell River; 7 killed, 1
survivor and the aircraft written off. |
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| What better view from the air than that of beautiful British Columbia, and even better if Beech D18S C-FCSN (CA-16) of Vancouver Island Air flies into the frame! The photos were taken from another Vancouver island "Beech-on-floats", possibly C-FGNR. |
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John Olafson sent me these images in Oct.2007 and he added the following about that day's events:"I was in Vancouver in September and one day decided to wander out to the airport, driving around to the South Terminal area to see what I could find. To my surprise, signs pointing to the Flagship Detroit display were attached to the fence... I followed the arrows and ended up at the Shell centre where the display was set up. Half an hour later this beautiful DC-3 landed! Joining the masses, I toured the interior, but due to the press of the crowd within, I decided against photographs. It is is beautifully restored to its original American Airlines standard, complete with functioning toilet! The Flagship Detroit Foundation was taking NC17334 on a West Coast Tour and Vancouver was its only stop on this particular tour. Literature they handed out stated this is the oldest DC-3 still flying! Manufactured by Douglas at its Santa Monica facility in 1937, NC17334 was assigned serial number 1920 and factory number 45. As most DC-3's, this one has had a varied career, including time with American Airlines followed by service with a number of corporate owners followed by use as a freighter and agricultural sprayer. The Foundation acquired the aircraft in 2004 and restoration has taken place at the AA maintenance facilities in Kansas City and Fort Worth. It gave me a strange feeling to see an American Airlines Boeing 737-800 jet on its takeoff roll and I waited for the right moment and got a nice picture of it in the background with 70 year old NC17334 quietly sitting in the sun in the foreground. It is very likely that long after the 737 has gone to the smelter, NC17334 will still be flying, but is that really surprising..?" |
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Brian McDonough sent me these photos of NC17334, a Douglas DC-3-178 c/n 1920: a true classic !It is operated by the 'Flagship Detroit Foundation' and proudly tours the air show circuit. What a splendid ol'timer! Shot at Washington-IAD on Sept.08th, 2007 at the annual Plane Pull/Open House. |
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N47FK became HK-4700X, ferried thru Opa Locka (KOPF) 02may10 - http://spotters.net.ua/file/?id=29162 A 1946 photo was supplied to me, operating as NC49538 for Mt.McKinley Airfreight in Alaska: see my Photos by Friends & Guests page 35. |
A photo was sent to me, by Rolf Larsson, showing c/n 44635 tailnumber N64695 Opa Locka on 10 March 1986, see Photos by Friends & Guests (34) |
Maarten Stoltenberg visited Guayaquil,Ecuador earlier this month, Oct.2007, and he sent me this shot made while taxiing past...
This DC-3 seems devoid of any markings..."Survivors" by Roy Blewitt (Gatwick Aviation Society, 2006) has 2 DC-3s at Guayaquil: FAE49785 / HC-AUP (current Mar03) and FAE76448 / HC-AUQ (current Jan00). My records show them both as last sighted 23Oct04 and being used as instructional airframe, while the latter was noted parked on the Navy apron. This photo shows military aircraft surrounding it, a sign on the hangar "Aviacion de Ejercito - Escuela de Pilotos" and the aircraft parked inside the hangar seems to be AEE-615; the chopper has '354' on the fin. A request for help on Yahoo forums DC-3 and Classic-Propliners provided the requested identification: it was none of the above! Instead HC-BOT was give as identity, of which one can also find an image on MyAviation. C-47A HC-BOT (c/n 9831) was reported operational by Nov.1997. Then by Oct.2000 noted parked at Guayaquil and stored during Apr.03 and again during Nov.04. C/n 9831 was with Basler in 1980 as N8064A, it did not become HC-BOT until in 1988. Gateway, a Canadian firm to which it was registered as CF-QJZ in 1971, was another previous owner. |
 Photo taken in June 2005 by © Mark Petry.This is Douglas C-47 N8042X (cn 19041, ex/ USAF 42-100578) which ditched in Wrangell Narrows (Alaska) 26Jun89 shortly after departure from Petersburg. The aircraft was recovered for possible repair, but during the salvage the damage was actually increased. It was acquired by Southeast Alaska Regional Airshow at an auction in 22mar2000 and was going to be preserved on a pedestal. Anno 2007 it seems to have been relocated to a scrapheap and the future for this vintage propliners does not look good  Here is the NTSB report: IMMEDIATELY AFTER TKOF AT 200-300 FT AGL, A PORTION OF FABRIC SEPD FROM THE R AILERON. WHILE MANEUVERING THE ACFT THE PLT'S CONTROL WHEEL BECAME FREE, AND HE ELECTED TO DITCH USING FULL RUDDER & DIFFERENTIAL POWER. EXAM OF THE PLT'S CONTROL WHEEL AILERON CONTROL CHAIN REVEALED THAT THE CHAIN FAILED DUE TO OVERLOAD. THE RIGHT SEAT WAS OCCUPIED BY A MECHANIC EMPLOYED BY THE OPERATOR AND HELD A PRIVATE PLT CERT WITH SINGLE & MULTIENGINE RATING. HE STATED THAT HE SUGGESTED TO THE PLT THAT HIS CONTROLS WERE FUNCTIONING NORMALLY, BUT THE PLT DISAGREED & PROCEEDED TO DITCH THE ACFT. EXAM OF THE RIGHT CONTROL YOKE REVEALED AILERON MOVEMENT IN THE CORRECT DIRECTION. The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows: THE PILOT'S IMPROPER DECISION TO DITCH THE AIRCRAFT WHEN IT COULD HAVE BEEN FLOWN BACK TO THE AIRPORT USING THE RIGHT SEAT CONTROLS. CONTRIBUTING FACTOR(S) WAS: THE FAILURE & SEPARATION OF A PORTION OF THE RIGHT AILERON FABRIC, AND THE PILOT'S EXCESSIVE FORCE APPLIED TO THE CONTROL WHEEL WHICH RESULTED IN OVERSTRESSING THE AILERON CONTROL CHAIN. More can also be read on Trevor Morson's excellent DC-3 website: |
 For my gallery "Mystery Planes" I was permitted to use photos taken by Mark Knaus.See my page Nassau DC-3's ... submerged. |
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