Superior Airways

[Notta Simfalt]

The Dak skis were about 1100 lbs. as I recall. We operated on the ice with wheels as long as we could. The trick was to fly with the 1100 lb. payload bonus until we were too scared to continue, due to the mains digging into the snow, threatening to put you on your nose. If you did go on your nose, the cost of a couple props pretty much cancelled the payload bonus.

[beech 18]

May 11, 2012

Superior Airways / Severn Enterprise DC-3 operation in the 1970's.

A bit more information about the accident involving CF-XXT at
Wunnummin Lake in April of 1977 was given to me by a friend who went
into Wunnummin a day or so after the crash.

The DC-3 had picked up its load and was departing when it hit bad ice.
The two main gear legs failed due to the side stress placed on them.
The aircraft came down on the ice on it's belly. Both propellers
along with the nose gear cases from the engines where torn off when the
blades contacted the ice. The left propeller tore a section of the left side
of the fuselage behind the cockpit area. XXT made a sliding turn to the right
before coming to a complete stop. That was the last day that CF-XXT was in
operation.

[Meatservo]

As of 1996 or so there were still some pretty big chunks of XXT at the Wunnumin lake dump. There's also the wing centre section from a Beech 18 on a rock near the village. I don't know how that got there though.

[Liquid Charlie]

Weibenville - certainly some history there some good - some bad and even tragic - I spoke to a captain based in Weibenville while unloading in YTL one day -- a couple hours later he was gone -- crushed to death in Weibenville -- Orville always seemed to just keep the junk sitting around -- Hookerville was in operation as well but Dave saw the light and moved everything back to Pickle - it was all about getting the freight closer to the settlements -- according to a past employee the last rule of the weibenville camp was to crank the oil stoves to max and hope the place burned down by the time you got back --

It was an era in aviation history and airlines like Superior/Severn Enterprises with owners like Orville Weiben covered Canada from Quebec to Saskatchewan all rascals and entrepeneurs - tough and some more fair than others.

[Siddley Hawker]

Beech 18 you were wondering what happened to CF-IKT. It did indeed go to a museum in Norway via an exchange. Here's what Karl Hayes had to say about it in his history of the Otter:

On completion of the repairs, IKT was sold to Superior Airways Ltd of Fort William, Ontario to
whom it was registered on 17th December '57. It served with this bush carrier, based at Fort William,
for more than six years, serving the Ontario outback. It was sold to Saskatchewan Government
Airways (Saskair) of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan to whom it was registered on 13th May 1964. As
explained in relation to Saskair's Otter CF-SME (64), in 1964 the free-enterprise Liberal party took
over government in the Province of Saskatchewan. It had no use for government “interfering” in
business and sold Saskair to a private company, North Canada Air Ltd (Norcanair). This company
acquired the Saskair fleet, including its three Otters, IKT, JFJ and SME. On 3rd September 1965 CFIKT
was registered to Norcanair of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
The Otter however went on lease to Austin Airways Ltd of Timmins, Ontario for a time. It still
carried the basic Superior Airways colour scheme of red lower fuselage and lower tail, black cheat
line and white upper fuselage and tail but with Austin Airways fuselage titles. On completion of the
lease, it reverted to operation by Norcanair until it was sold in December 1973 through Bannock
Aerospace to a leasing company, who leased it to Moose Nose Airways of Ilford, Manitoba to whom
it was registered on 20th December '73. After more than three years with them, it was acquired by
Labrador Airways Ltd, to whom it was registered on 3rd May 1977 and moved north to its new base
at Goose Bay. It was later re-registered C-FIKT.

Lab Air sold the aircraft in 1987, at which time it had just under 20,000 hours on the airframe.

The purchaser of the Otter was a 'warbird' company, Significant Military Aircraft Sales. They
arranged to trade the Otter in exchange for a surplus Northrop RF-5A Freedom Fighter of the Royal
Norwegian Air Force, the aircraft in question being serial 68-9108 which had flown with 717
Squadron. The RF-5A left Sola Air Base on 17th December 1987 on board a C-130 Hercules of the
Royal Norwegian Air Force and was delivered to Flight International of Florida, where it was
registered N75FT. The Hercules then collected the Otter and flew it back to Norway, to Gardermoen
Air Base, Oslo. On arrival, it was put into the storage facility of the Royal Norwegian Air Force
Museum at Gardermoen. It was partially restored and painted as one of the two Otters which took
part in the Norwegian South Pole Expedition of 1958/59.

I remember IKT from 1966 at Austin Airways in Moosonee. At that time it was still in Superior Airways colours, red, white and black even though it was now owned by Norcanair. I saw it again in 1970, when I took the following picture. The airplane, in Norcanair titles by now, had been leased to A Fecteau Transport Aerien. The picture was taken at Fort George, Quebec and shows how the airplane looked after a violent windstorm broke her moorings at the dock.

[beech 18]

May 14, 2012

Superior Airways / Severn Enterprise operation in the late 1960's to 1974.

Siddley Hawker I really enjoyed reading your posting on the history of CF-IKT.
I am amazed how it remain in the Superior Airways colours after it had
departed their operation.
Lots of good information about that Otter and its life before its retirement.
Your photo of IKT damaged by the wind storm tells the story of what happens
to Otters when the wind gets against that big tail and starts pushing.

A few postings back Notta Simfalt wrote about the heavy skis on the DC-3.
We did not do it all the time by any means but if the DC-3 was operating from
Wiebenville to a strip for a number of days we would at times remove the skis.
With the skis off as Notta Simfalt posted there was a considereable weight
saving. Again this was not done a lot but it was done at times.
During my time with Mr. Wieben I don't recall Superior / Severn putting a DC-3
on its nose because of landing on the ice without skis. A couple of other
carriers in the area did but we did manage to dodge that one.

[beech 18]

May 24, 2012

Superior Airways / Severn Enterprise operation in the late 1960's to 1974.

A friend sent me an e-mail saying he thought he had seen a Cessna 180
CF-JQM in the Edmonton area a few years ago.
Since that aircraft was operated by Mr. Wieben here is a bit of history about
Cessna 180 CF-JQM.

CF-JQM had the name Severn Enterprise, Sioux lookout, Ontario on the fuselage
and was red, white, and black in colour. JQM it seemed was always getting
knocked around.

One of the earliest times I saw JQM was on skis on the ice in Sioux Lookout.
I remember it because the left wing that was installed on the aircraft had the
registration CF-DMB on the bottom surface. The aircraft had damaged its left
wing in a landing accident and the left wing from CF-DMB was flown in strapped
under the Beech on skis to get JQM home. The damaged wing from JQM was
then strapped under the Beech and flown out.
This would have been in the mid 1960's a short time before my employment began.

In 1970 JQM sunk at Big Trout Lake in late October. The right side of the aircraft
sank due to high winds overnight while tied to the dock. It had been loaded for
a flight the next morning and some of the floats plugs ( rubber balls ) went missing
so water washing over the floats filled the compartments, and the right side away
from the dock sunk. The Cessna was refloated and checked for any damage and
was back in service in a day. We learned quickly to cut the rubber balls in half
so they would not go missing. Half a rubber ball is not much good to anyone.

In March 1973, JQM was involved in another incident. She was sent over to Bearskin
Lake to pick up the pilot from another Cessna 180, CF-LBR. During takoff on the
ice at Bearskin Lake LBR hit an ice ridge covered by snow from a water hole and
knocked the left leg and ski off. After making the pickup JQM headed back to
Big Trout Lake. On the way back the guys spotted a tractor train crossing Big Trout
and made a pass over the lead vehicle. According to the men onboard there was
a loud bang and strong wind in the cabin. Vibrations were felt as well. The right
hand gear leg and ski were gone. As it left the aircraft the back of the ski hit the
right wing flap damaging it and then broke the back window before hitting the leading
edge of the horizontal stab causing a lot of damage to it. The pilot chopped the
power and dead sticked JQM onto the ice where it settled onto its right side and
right wing. The landing was so smooth the propeller never touched the ice. The
maintenance crew from Sioux Lookout went in and repaired JQM and attached the
Wieben Band Aid to the belly so JQM could be flown back for repair. After flying
out of Big Trout Lake, JQM went to Thunder Bay to have the leg gear box replaced
and final repairs to the rest of the aircraft. It was repaired quickly and was back on
floats in June.

In the winter of 1974 JQM had another landing accident at I believe Sachigo Lake.
It was landing in high winds and its right wing hit the ice. The damage to the wing
was bad enough that it could not be repaired. A few months earlier another Cessna 180,
CF-VSD was written off at Wunnummin Lake. Because the right wing on VSD was
undamaged the wing was removed and put in one of the DC-3's and flown to Sachigo Lake.
The wing was installed on JQM and the aircraft was flown to Sioux Lookout and then onto
Thunder Bay for another wing installation. Once again JQM made it back for float season.

The last time I saw JQM was in late 1974 on floats in Sioux Lookout.

[Oxi]

Great history being told,love it!. I'm also wondering about the current situation of the company, hiring etc

oxi

[bobo]

Oxi,
The Superior Airways beech 18 is talking about no longer exists. The new Superior Airways is just that, new. Hopefully the new company is better to work for than the old.
I survived the old and learned a lot.

[beech 18]

June 09, 2012

Superior Airways / Severn Enterprise operation in the late 1960's to 1974.

Attached is a photo of Cessna 180 CF-JQM shortly after arriving in Sioux Lookout
with the right wing from Cessna 180 CF-VSD. I mentioned in the last posting that
JQM had damaged its right wing in a landing accident at I believe Sachigo Lake in
1974. This photo was taken at the water base in early April 1974. JQM departed
after this was taken for Thunder Bay for a few more repairs and another right wing
change.

Also in the photo is Beech 18 CF-VCE that has already been taken off the ice and
is sitting behind the office on skis. This was the last winter that CF-VCE flew because
it did not have a spar mod installed.

[beech 18]

June 19, 2012

Superior Airways / Severn Enterprise Beech 18 fleet in the late 1960's to 1974

CF-HVF was the only Beech C-18 that I know of that was operated by Superior
Airways / Severn Enterprise. It operated out of Sioux Lookout, Ontario.
The aircraft was bare metal in colour with a white top. The nose had a large deer
painted on each side. CF-HVF operated on floats in the summer and skis in the
winter off the ice. HVF was fitted with a cargo door and it was operated year round.

All the other Beech 18 aircraft in the fleet were the D-18 model (or variant of the D-18).

CF-PLU flew with the name Superior Airways painted on it. It operated mainly out of
Nakina, Armstrong, and Pickle Lake. It was bare metal with a white top. PLU was
operated year round on floats in the summer and skis in the winter. PLU was fitted with
a cargo door.

CF-PRZ flew out of Pickle Lake a lot of the time. It also spent time in Wiebenville on skis.
PRZ was fitted with extended wing tips and a cargo door. PRZ was bare metal with a
white top and operated on floats in the summer and skis in the winter. PRZ flew year
round.

CF-RSW was a leased Beech 18 from Ottawa. I only saw RSW a few times in the early
1970's on floats. I do not believe RSW was ever operated on skis by Mr. Wieben. RSW
had a cargo door installed on the right side of the aircraft which to us was on the wrong
side.

CF-TBH was leased for I believe only one summer in 1970 or 1971. It flew on floats out
of Pickle Lake most of that summer. It did not return for a second season on floats.

CF-VCE was based out of Thunder Bay on wheels in the summer and then went onto skis
in the winter and operated out of Sioux Lookout. Because VCE was never on floats it
did not have the upper hatch and it also did not have a cargo door. Besides operating
on skis in Sioux Lookout, VCE made the rounds at the other bases in the winter months
on skis.

CF-WYR was based early in its life in Sioux Lookut and later on in Pickle Lake. It also spent
time in the winter operting out of Wiebenville on skis. WYR had extended wing tips and
was fitted with a cargo door. This aircraft operated year round on floats and skis.

CF-YDV was based out of Pickle Lake. It flew year round on floats and skis. In the winter
months YDV operated out of Wiebenville as well. YDV was fitted with a cargo door.

CF-YQB was based out of Sioux Lookout until September 1974. YQB was only operated on
floats and was stored behind the office at the water base in Sioux Lookout each winter.
YQB did not have a cargo door which was strange for a Beech operated on floats by
Mr. Wieben. After Sept. 1974 I believe YQB was based in Pickle Lake but I am not positive
about that.

CF-ZMR was operated on wheels out of Thunder Bay. This Beech was never on floats or
skis. I only saw it once when it was in Sioux Lookout on the ice one winter.

CF-ZQF and CF-ZQG were purchased from the Canadian Forces in Saskatchewan in 1972.
Engines were taken out to them in a CNR boxcar and installed on them for the flight back
to Sioux Lookout. From there they were flown to Armstrong about a week later. I do not
know what became of these two Beechcraft. They were only on wheels.

CF-ZQH was another Beech that came from Saskatchewan in late 1972. This aircraft was
purchased by a group of Severn Enterprise pilots in Sioux Lookout and was only operated on
wheels. In the winter it flew off the ice runway in the bay. This aircraft ended up in the
Severn Enterprise / Superior Airways fleet.

CF-ZQR was I believe the newest Beech 18 in the fleet that operated on floats. It did not
operate in the winter and it was stored behind the water base office in Sioux Lookout. CF-ZQR
was fitted with a cargo door.

This is a bit of information about the Beech 18 fleet. I will give more information about each
aircraft later. They all had hard working and interesting lives.

Attached is a photo of CF-YQB departing out of the bay in Sioux Lookout in late fall 1973.

[beech 18]

June 21, 2012

floatpilot
Thanks for the message.
I sent a reply. Hope you received it.
beech 18

[beech 18]

July 2, 2012

Superior Airways / Severn Enterprise Beech 18 operation in the late 1960's to 1974.

The Beech 18 fleet operated out of all the bases in the company.

The Beechs were changed over from floats to skis each fall and back off of skis and
onto floats each spring. The changeovers took place in Sioux Lookout, Armstrong and
Thunder Bay. In Sioux Lookout the aircraft were lifted under a large pole A-frame at
the water base with a block and tackle. I'm not sure how the aircraft were lifted in
Armstrong or Thunder Bay.

Superior Airways / Severn Enterprise Beechs in the winter were all on straight skis.
There were no Beech 18's on wheel skis in the fleet. All landing gear were locked down.

The Beech 18's used two different types of main skis. The early ski was actually a
Single Otter main ski with the front shortened by a fair bit. The shortening of the
Otter ski was necessary because in flight with the forward section of the ski pulled up
by the bungees, if a propeller was feathered it would have contacted the ski.
Around 1969 / 1970 Mr. Wieben started manufacturing his own Beech skis. They
were a bit shorter and a wider ski with a large leaf spring attached to channels on it.
The forward section of the ski had a very small up curve but they worked very well
in all conditions.

The torque links or some may call them scissors on each main gear leg were reinforced
with doublers to prevent the links from breaking when one ski broke loose from the snow
before the other. The doublers worked very well and very few scissors were broken
with this mod installed. It was a mess if the link did break. All the aircraft were
parked on poles (cut down trees) when possible to prevent the skis from freezing to
the ice surface.

On each engine located behind the propeller and attached to the nose case were large
dishpan discs. They may have been 30 inches in diameter. They worked very well in
the winter to maintain a better engine temperture. Cabin heat was provided by the engine
exhaust heater tubes only so the Beech's were quite cold.

One mod that was never installed was the ram air scoops outside and under the lower
cowlings. Mr. Wieben thought when taking off in deep snow it might be possible for
the engines to ingest a lot of snow which could result in an engine failure. For that
reason the intakes on his Beech's remained inside the cowlings.

Attached is a photo of Beech 18 CF-WYR under the A-frame in Sioux Lookout.
Photo was taken at the end of float season. Skis will be installed for the winter.
This was taken in November 1973.

[Siddley Hawker]

This is great stuff beech. You really must put all this on a cd, I'd sure as heck would buy one. Yeesterday I was checking Larry Milberry's blog and came across this bit of information. It seems OW used a Lockheed 12 and a Vultee BT-13 to haul fish.

http://canavbooks.wordpress.com/

[beech 18]

July 03, 2012

Siddley Hawker

I checked out the link you provided in your post. I never knew that
Superior Airways / Severn Enterprise operated those or attempted to
operate those aircraft in the years before I was employed by the company.

I wonder if the Lockheed L-12A was on skis. That would look great roaring
down the ice. So would the Vultee.

[Bushav8er]

Otter FDDX is over in Hearst with a turbine and new paint -

[Antique Pilot]

The Lockheed 12A owned by Mr. Wieben is CF-EPF, serial # 1269. It was the 68th 12A built out of a total of 130 model 12's. Previous owners were Central Northern Airways and Transair out of Winnipeg.

A party in Pickering ON has owned the aircraft since 1965.

[Siddley Hawker]

AP is the airplane still airworthy? It was a little mini-airliner, real solid in flight. I liked it better than the 10.

[Antique Pilot]

HS,

I don't know anything about the status of the aircraft. I am a bit surprised that it hasn't shown up somewhere. Even if it is hidden away you would think someone would know something about it. The TC aircraft registry site says that mail to the owner has been returned as "Undeliverable".

Cheers,
AP

[Antique Pilot]

The Vultee and a Superior Airways Seabee CF-DKD are in a storage compound at the St. Andrews MB Airport with the Western Canada Aviation Museum.

AP