Superior Airways

[beech 18]

Oct 31, 2012

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

In the early 1970's Mr. Wieben leased two Beech 18 aircraft on floats.
The two aircraft were CF-RSW and CF-TBH.

CF-RSW arrive in early summer in 1970 or maybe 1971. It was leased from an
operator I believe in the Ottawa area. The Beech was about 4 to 6 weeks
late arriving because the aircraft was dropped on its belly when it was being lifted
to have the floats installed. Repairs were carried out in the Ottawa area I believe.

CF-RSW was painted with a white top on the fuselage and rest of the aircraft
including the tail and wing tips were bare metal. The engine cells were black.
The cowlings were polished bare metal.
RSW was unique in that the cargo door on this Beech was on the right hand side
of the aircraft. It was the only one in the Superior Airways / Severn Enterprise
fleet that had the cargo door fitted on the right. RSW also had a boat rack
installed when I saw her.
I am not sure if this Beech was around for a second season on floats or not.
It was never operated on skis. The aircraft flew out of Pickle Lake, Armstrong,
and Nakina as far as I know. It came into Sioux Lookout only a couple of times.
I am not sure where this Beech went to after leaving the Superior / Severn fleet.
I was informed this summer that the aircraft was taken out of service in the
Minaki area some years ago and is parked there,


CF-TBH was another leased Beech in the early 1970's.
I am not sure who it was leased from.
It was an all bare metal aircraft and operated mainly out of Pickle Lake.
This arcraft was operated on floats for I believe only one summer.
This Beech 18 may have been the only one that Mr. Wieben operated that had
only one ladder on it. There was no ladder on the right side of the aircraft.
As far as I can recall it was never on skis.
It was fitted with a cargo door and spent most of its time hauling freight.
After leaving the fleet this aircraft was operated by Hooker Air Service and
also Central Air Transport. I am not sure where this aircraft end up.

[NWONT]

I started working for Ontario Central airways in 1972 as an apprentice engineer. About that time Barney Lamm was buying Hooker Air. I think CF-TBH came with the deal but not sure, memory is a little foggy from back then. Its now owned by Kayair in Ear Falls.

[Driving Rain]

I flew WYR for a couple of seasons out of Fort Frances for Vic Davis , Benny Lavine and Ron Sutton AKA the outfitters also known as Lavine,Sutton& Davis aviation ...LSD. THEIR MOTTO WAS... We fly higher.
They purchased the aircraft from OJ in 78 I believe. LSD later sold the aircraft to Pipestone Air just west of the Fort.
They painted it and here it is after being parted out.
http://www.abpic.co.uk/popup.php?q=1098111

[NWONT]

WYR now sits by Kuby's hanger in Kenora. It was flown into the high tension wires by the causeway in Ft Frances on the last flight of the season in poor weather conditions. As I understand it was the last flight for the pilot also.

[Driving Rain]

As I understand it was the last flight for the pilot also.

Here's the frontal view of WYR.

[beech 18]

Nov 22, 2012

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

Attached is a photo of CF-WYR that was taken in the summer of 1973.
This was an hour or so after the Beech hit a submerged log while taking off
on Abram Lake just south of Sioux Lookout. The right float is sitting on the
sand bottom. The step compartment and one comparment forward of the
step on the right side were damaged by the log.

The first plan was to place inner tubes in the damaged compartments and
taxi the aircraft back to the water base in Sioux for repair. The aircraft
would have been taxied under Frog Rapids Bridge which is seen in the
back ground and then three miles down Pelican Lake to the base.

The Chief Engineer from the Department Lands and Forest offered the use
to their lifting hoist that they had for their aircraft at their base on Abram Lake.
That was decided the best route to go since we were on the same lake and
approx one mile away.

At the same time Thunder Bay was sending a right float on a trailor to Sioux
Lookout for WYR. The float was from Beech 18 CF-PLU that had been written
off in an accident while on skis.

Inner tubes were inflated in the two damaged compartments and the Beech
was pushed off the shoreline and taxied over for the float replacement.
Once at the Lands and Forest base, the Beech was lifted out of the water.
The float change was completed in a few hours and WYR was back in the air.

[beech 18]

Nov 22, 2012

NWONT and Driving Rain

Interesting information and some excellent photos
of what happened to CF-WYR after it left Mr. Wieben's fleet.
She really was a nice Beech in her prime.

[skyrocket]

Bellanca Skyrocket CF-DCE, bought from Superior Airways at Fort Williams, winter of 1965. This aircraft was purchase by Mr. Georges Hamel owner of Baie Comeau Air Services.
This was a great plane; I had the opportunity to spend the summer of 65 as a crewman, what a great experience. Flew this plane as pilot in 68.
You can see the only remaining Bellanca Skyrocket CF-DCH at the Reynolds Alberta Nuseum.
Worth a visit, to this great place.
(Picture B. Rooney)

[TeePeeCreeper]

Thanks for posting that Skyrocket.
I firmly believe that I missed the glory days by many, many decades... The Pacemaker and Skyrocket are airplanes that I will forever lust for yet unfortunately never have a chance to court.

All the best,
TPC

[Siddley Hawker]

Great shot skyrocket. You should also post that one at the base in Manic 2, that's another fine shot. I rode in a Skyrocket, think it was CF-DOF, when I was a kid YKE to YHR, it was flown by Henri-Paul Boudreau.

[Siddley Hawker]

Double post. WTF???

[skyrocket]

Had a chat with Adrien Blanchette last monday, they had one(CF-DOF) at Hollinger Ungava Transport for a while(1950) See the video on Google.

[skyrocket]

Bellanca Skyrocket CF-DCE on the Manicouagan River near Baie Comeau.This was, the perfect location for a seaplane base, with no hills surrounding the area and this great river stretching northward for over than 200 miles. So flying an overloaded float plane increases your confidence by a big margin.

In '65, I spent the summer on this aircraft as a crewman. The Bellanca could carry a good load, much better than a Norseman.

As you can see, the back end of the floats are flush with the water and the crew are not on board yet. Despite being always loaded to the maximum, it was non-negotiable for me: I would not stand on the dock to watch him take off, I had to be on board. Being so heavy, it was common to be at take-off power for more than 2-3 minutes. And me, on the right hand seat, having the CHT gauge in front of me, watching it rise to the red line (260) or more, that scared the sh** out of me!

With no flaps, the only way to help taking off, was by moving the whole stab, up & down with the trim wheel, then at 65 kts, Bill would lift a float and at 70 kts, jerk it off the water. This was our normal procedure all day long during this hot summer.

I will always remember those magic moments of the summer of '65, which only confirms that aviation will be my passion forever...

[beech 18]

Dec 14, 2012

skyrocket

Your photos of the Bellanca are really nice.
She looks like a hard working machine.
Great photos. Realy nice.

Just looked at the you tube video you mentioned of Hollinger Ungava Transport.
Great piece of history.
Besides the Bellanca Skyrocket you mentioned, the Beech 18 that Siddley Hawker
has mentioned in other postings CF-BQQ is in the video on both floats and skis.

The link to the video you mentioned.

http://youtu.be/7p0mM3fWevs

[roscoe]

That video is outstanding. I sat through lots of tales of the exploits of Hollinger-Ungava told by a consumate story teller that I crewed with, who flew for them; Herb Devenney sadley gne west. The tales were fun even after the third or fourth telling.
One of his favorites, usually told in the bar of the Winnipeg Flying Club, to a gaggle of would-be aviators was of the dense fog around Mont Joli airport. It was a tale of a harrowing range approach in thick fog and involved a long build up to the co-pilot opening the sliding window in the "3", and the fog filling the cockpit, blinding them. A pregnant pause in the tale would always get a "what happened"? A sip of the good stuff, and the reply " I knocked out all the instrument glass and finished the approach using braille". It always got a lot of groans...good times

[Siddley Hawker]

Great vid skyrocket, thanks for that. Wes MacIntosh sent me that video but I lost it a couple of hard discs ago. Good to hear Adrien is still around, he's the last of the brothers who were pretty big in aviation in Quebec.

Roscoe I met Herbert the Pervert - that was Bob Packer's nickname for Herb, by the way, they were buddies from way back - a few times. He was flying a Hawker I believe it was for a company out of Calgary back then. At the end of an evening after listening to them two reminisce your sides would be sore, not to mention your head the next morning.

[roscoe]

Yes, Herb was one of a kind! In fact, his "Herbert the Pervert" nickname was hung on him by Wally Katchur, summer of 1963. I crewed as towerman (flight engineer) on a three man Canso out of YYQ that summer. "Walter the Assaulter", and "Roscoe the Rascal" made up the rest of the merry band. Later that year I joined Herb at The HBC on the DC-3. He left a year or so later to join the corporate aviation world, and never looked back. A great guy to travel with, and one hell of a hand with a 3, non better.

[DareDevil]

These are great photos! In this day n age I feel so unbelievably sorry for the guys who never get the chance to experience something like flying a float plane in Northern Canada or anywhere else for that matter. And I don't mean 50hrs like most pilots claim they have....Live the life that you enjoy!

[beech 18]

Dec 19, 2012

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

Beech 18 CF-VCE was painted in the Royal Canadian Air Force paint scheme
with the lightning bolt down the sides of the fuselage for most of its life. It
had the name Severn Enterprise Ltd. - Sioux Lookout, Ontario painted on each
side of the aircraft. The last year or two that VCE was in operation the entire
aircraft had been stripped of paint and was bare metal. I suspect it was to be
painted in the Superior Airways / Severn Enterprise paint scheme but it never
did happen. An enlarged photo in a frame of this aircraft on skis hung on the
wall in the office at the water base in Sioux Lookout.

VCE was a Beech 18 that was unique in Mr. Wieben's fleet. In the summer months
it was based in Thunder Bay and operated on wheels. Most winters it went onto
skis and headed north and flew as a freighter. VCE was different than all the
other Beechs that flew on skis in the fact that it had no roof hatch in the cockpit.
The reason for no hatch was this aircraft was never on floats. It was one feature
of this aircraft that most of the pilots did not like about her. The aircraft also
had no cargo door so it was limited in some loads it could haul. Even with the
small door this Beech worked as hard as any of the other aircraft in the fleet.
VCE in the early years was fitted with DeHavilland Otter skis and in the later years
from approx 1970 onward was fitted with Wieben Skis.

This Beech operated on skis out of Sioux Lookout, Pickle Lake, Wiebenville, and I
believe out of Armstrong as well.

During the winter of 1973 the aircraft was damaged on the ice in Sioux Lookout
while taxing. The pilot was turning the aircraft to the right with engine power
when it hit a section of dock that was covered with snow. The left vertical stab
and rudder were damaged badly. Sioux Lookout maintenance removed the left
vertical stab and rudder from CF-ZQR that was parked for the winter behind the
office and installed them on VCE. The aircraft was back in the air the next day.

I don't know of any other serious accidents or incidents that involved VCE.

The last time I saw VCE in commerical operation was in Sioux Lookout in the winter
of 1973/74. In the spring the aircrat was taken off the ice and parked behind the
office at the water base. The engines were removed for installation on CF-YQB.
This was the last winter operating this aircraft because it never had a spar mode
installed.

VCE did fly one more time. In the winter of 1975 or 1976, maintenance people
arrived in Sioux Lookout and installed two engines and prepared VCE for flight.
I believe Mr. Wieben himself flew the aircraft away. The final flight was like so
many it had performed in its life. It departed Sioux Lookout off the ice on skis.


Attached is a photo of CF-VCE taken in 1971 on the ice at the water base in
Sioux Lookout. The Cessna 180 in the photo is CF-VSD.

[beech 18]

Jan 09, 2013

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

In Sioux Lookout at the start of ski season the Cessna 180's were the first aircraft
on the ice. They were followed by the Beaver's and the Beech 18's. I believe the
Beech's went on the ice when there was approx. ten inches of blue ice or more.
We normally had that amount of ice by about the 15th to 20th of December. The
Beech's were always operating on the ice by Christmas at the latest.

Attached is a photo of CF-VCE taken in Sioux Lookout during the winter of 1973/1974.
The aircraft arrived from Thunder Bay stripped of all paint except for the red wing tips.

In this photo VCE is fitted with Wieben Skis. These were a very well built ski and
worked in all conditions. They were shorter and wider than the DeHavilland Otter skis
that they replaced.
The check cables were positioned in a manner that only the cables were exposed to
the airstream. The bungees were all inside the wheel wells.
The tail ski assembly had a canvas bag wrapped around it and attached to the fuselage
to keep the snow out of the tail end of the aircraft.

It is hard to see in the photo, but the scissors or some may call them torque links on
each main gear leg have the doublers installed. This prevented a lot of broken
scissors when one ski broke loose before the other.

This was taken while the aircraft was having both engines replaced in early January.
There is no spar mode on the aircraft.