Lamb Air Bristol

[Antique Pilot]

Lamb Air Bristol at Big Trout Lake, ON early winter 1971. I don't recall why they are off the runway.

[GA MX Trainer Dude]

Antique Pilot


That should be CF-WAC

Lambair had just bought the aircraft from Max Ward - had only put about 35 hours on it!!

According to "My Life In The North" by Jack Lamb - Bob Shinnie was the driver and the aircraft wandered off the runway center line - hit a pile of frozen mud and collapsed the gear!!

They replaced it with CF-QWJ - the only long nosed Bristol to operate under Canadian Registration.

QWJ would be lost on May 31, 1974 at Rankin Inlet with the loss of both crew members - Don Boone and Robert Hildreth. RIP

Hard to believe that was 40 years ago this May!!! I had been crewing on QWJ 3 days before the accident.

Stay safe,

Mx

[Antique Pilot]

Thanks for that. I knew some of the details but wanted someone like yourself to post more accurate info.

AP

[Ricktye]

Yup, that was a pretty sad day around the hangar in Thompson. Don Boone had been around "forever" it seemed while Bob Hildreth was new to the company. Roy Boyce cancelled going along on the trip at the last minute. Bud Macfarland was talking to Don from the F-27 just seconds before the accident....

It is hard to believe it's been 40 years, but some things you just don't forget I guess....

R...

Antique Pilot


That should be CF-WAC

Lambair had just bought the aircraft from Max Ward - had only put about 35 hours on it!!

According to "My Life In The North" by Jack Lamb - Bob Shinnie was the driver and the aircraft wandered off the runway center line - hit a pile of frozen mud and collapsed the gear!!

They replaced it with CF-QWJ - the only long nosed Bristol to operate under Canadian Registration.

QWJ would be lost on May 31, 1974 at Rankin Inlet with the loss of both crew members - Don Boone and Robert Hildreth. RIP

Hard to believe that was 40 years ago this May!!! I had been crewing on QWJ 3 days before the accident.

Stay safe,

Mx

[NWONT]

In the winter of 73 or 74 I was sent to Big trout to change a cracked cylinder on a DC-3 flown by Liquid Charley. Weather went out so was stuck there for a few days. Stayed in a log shack owned by Bearskin Lake Air Service close to the lakeshore. Went to pour some heating oil in the tank and noticed it was an aircraft fuel tank. They said it came from a crashed Bristol.

[Moose47]

G'day

Lambair also owned and operated Bristol Freighters CF-YDO and CF-YDP from 1969 until 1981.

CF-WAC was operated by Wardair from December, 1967 until sold to Lambair in November, 1970.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/rec ... 19740531-0

Cheers...Chris

[Repay1949]

My name is Fred Repay. I am the last person alive to fly with capt Don Boone, as his copilot on May 30, 1974 on Lamb Air's "Bristol Freighter", before it crashed in Rankin Inlet May 31,1974. Robert Hildreth was my friend and he lived next door to me in Thompson, Manitoba.
I remember finishing my flight in Churchill, Manitoba the night before. I spoke to Robert Hildreth regarding the aircraft that night.
Don Boone was a great pilot and friend.
Thank you
Fred Repay

[Repay1949]

*Correction on the date of my flight in the Bristol.

Regarding the dates of my flights with Capt Don Boone on the Bristol Freighter:
The dates were May 28/29, 1974 instead of
May 30, 1974. My flight ended up in the evening at Churchill, Manitoba on May 29, 1974. At that time I spoke with Robert Hildreth about the Bristol.

I wrote in the log about the strange vibration that affected the engine and wing during the long flight we just had.
The accident was on May 31, 1974 (Rankin Inlet).

On May 30, 1974:
I was flying Lambair's Aztec (PA-23-250) - Churchill to Coral Harbor and on the way back I stayed in Rankin Inlet overnight.

On May 31, 1974 -- I left Rankin Inlet (in the Aztec) early to Eskimo Point (in 1974) and then on to Churchill.

( The Bristol accident happened around the time that I returned to Churchill in the Aztec on May 31, 1974.)

I remember there was the traditional fog all along the west side of Hudson Bay that morning.

The fog was only 50 - 200 feet thick (clear on-top) all the way down to Churchill. (Typical fog on Hudson Bay in the morning).

Fred Repay

[NWONT]

The Duncan family that lived in Big Trout sent me some excellent photos of the Bristol. I have posted them on my FB page called "Habitual Lawbreaker." in the "Bearskin Air album. Too many to move here.

[valleyboy]

And it is now just part of the invisible landscape after an eventual unsuccessful arrival at trout. Nobody hurt but barrels scattered everywhere.