CF-AZE Norseman History and Painting

[Adam Oke]

I have a print of CF-AZE that is hanging on my wall. "Bob Cockeram's Noorduyn Norseman MKII "Ruth IV". I decided to do a quick google search for some history to see if it's still flying. I found it's last flight, which was an interesting read. Anyways, here is a fun read and a nice picture of my wall hanger.

http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcs ... ad/596/639

I can't imagine 15 mins after departure having a fabric plane light up in flames.

I believe it was No 3 off the line for Mark II's. It appears it was delivered to Prospector Airways, Clarkson, Ontario where it was primarily used for mining exploration. "CF-AZE was the subject of this painting by Bob Bradford. Bradford was an Aviation Historian as well as an artist and later became curator of the National Aviation Museum in Ottawa. The scene is typical of the early mining exploration days in Canada’s north."

"Powered by a Wright R-975-E3 Whirlwind. Registered to R. Cockeram (Prospector Airways), Clarkson, Ontario on May 28, 1936 as CF-AZE. Named “Ruth IV”. Registered to United Air Transport, Edmonton, Alberta on February 28, 1938 and then to BC Air Transport, Vancouver, BC, on March 8, 1939. Registered to Ginger Coote Airways Ltd., Vancouver, BC on October 30, 1939 and worked in the Zeballos area of Vancouver Island in 1939 and 1940. On October 29, 1940, while en route from Vancouver to Zeballos, BC. with the pilot and three passengers, a fire started in the engine compartment. The pilot landed the aircraft near Nanaimo, BC. and ran it ashore where it was destroyed by the fire. The three passengers suffered serious burns, but all survived."

[Blakey]

Interesting. I've never heard of any propensity of the Norseman to catch fire in flight but that IS how Buzz Buerling died. Wonder what the main suspect was?

[Adam Oke]

"Fifteen minutes after takeoff a defective heating unit caused the fabric of the plane to catch fire and to spread rapidly. "

I'm assuming this was a portable heating unit of some sorts?

[black hole]

Back in those days, aircraft were painted with "nitrate dope"; so any fire and she's a gone.

BH

[Antique Pilot]

"Fifteen minutes after takeoff a defective heating unit caused the fabric of the plane to catch fire and to spread rapidly. "

I'm assuming this was a portable heating unit of some sorts?

Highly unlikely that there was a portable heating unit on board. An old timer that I met several times was George Dalziel. He put a Waco down on the side of a mountain in 1951 after the engine caught fire. Also a flame from the exhaust has been known to ignite nitrate fabric.
AP

[Blakey]

Yes, that's more along the lines of my theory. I believe the Norseman had an "exhaust" heater which is just a "carb-heat" type of muff around the exhaust pipe to heat the air which is routed into the cabin. You used to see a lot of Beavers and Otters with these when they flew more in the winter.

I was wondering what the main culprit was thought to be i.e. a cracked exhaust pipe, a loose fitting or a broken heat shield etc. I haven't heard of any in-flight fires due to these types of heaters for quite a few years and I wondered if the problem had been found and addressed. I'm not sure Buzz would have had a heater installed on a Norseman that was headed for Israel but it IS possible.

Great story in any case. Thank you for posting.