WORDS & WINGS: February 2012

1944 Grumman G-21A Goose, c/n B-101, CF-VFU, FIFT. Dockside somewhere up Knight Inlet, B.C., Canada in spring 1969.

[1959 Kodak Retina IIIS (Type 027) rangefinder 35-mm roll film camera, s/n 86125, with Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Xenon 50-mm f/1.9 Synchro Compur lens, s/n 6841319; Kodak Plus-X Pan (ISO 125/22°) 36-exposure black & white negative film]

“The whole history of the Canadian North can be divided into two periods—before and after the aeroplane.”

Hugh L. Keenleyside, Deputy Canadian Minister of Mines and Resources, October 1949

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

1958 de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter, c/n 288, C-GXYR, York Realty Ltd.

Update: I am now able to confirm without a doubt, my photograph of the previously unidentified Otter (click on the posting title above) is in fact C-GXYR (some sources identified c/n 288 as C-GXRY). Please see the link http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1021204/ for definitive proof.

1958 de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter, c/n 288, C-GXYR, York Realty Ltd., Duncan, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada; powered by one 600-hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340-S1H1-G Wasp supercharged nine-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine with constant-speed three-blade Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propeller; pilot, 10 passengers, STOL (short take-off and landing) utility transport; built by de Havilland Canada, Toronto, Ontario at Downsview, Ontario; delivered as U-1A-DH Otter, BuNo 58-1683, US Army on September 30, 1958; N3382; rebuilt at Abbotsford International Airport (YXX), Abbotsford, B.C. in August 1997(?); N68086, Temsco Airlines, Ketchikan, Alaska, USA; N68086, Taquan Air Service Inc., Ketchikan, Alaska on May 12, 1998, cancelled on November 17, 1999; deregistered, exported to Fiji; Vazar turbine conversion; converted to DHC-3T Turbine Otter, powered by one 750-shp Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34 turboprop engine with constant-speed, full-feathering reversible-pitch, three-blade Hartzell propeller, Edo amphibious floats; DQ-GLL, Pacific Island Air (Pacific Island Amphibious Seaplanes), Nadi, Viti Levu, Fiji in December 1999; accident when DQ-GLL tipped over near Vomo Island, Fiji, extent of damage unknown, 1 crew, 5 passengers, no injuries, no fatalities, on December 29, 2009 at about 6:00 pm; fuselage without engine, wings, tail, or floats, stored on field at Nadi International Airport (NAN), Nadi, Viti Levu, Fiji; rebuilt; imported in 2011; C-GHAQ, Harbour Air Seaplanes (Harbour Air Ltd.), Sea Island, Richmond, B.C. on November 30, 2011, reconfigured for 14 passengers.

The Annual Duncan Flying Club Fly-In, Duncan Airport (DUQ), Duncan, Vancouver Island, B.C. in June 1980.

[Agfa Agfamatic 100 sensor viewfinder 126 cartridge film camera, 42.1-mm f/11 lens; Agfa Agfacolor Special CNS 126 20 DIN/80 ASA 20-exposure colour negative cartridge film]