Chinook Flying School Calgary

[Skythings]

Can anybody here help me with any information, background, history, stories, photo's regarding the Chinook Flying School which I believe was in Calgary in the 1960's? There used to be a Chinook Flying Service Ltd. in Calgary which I believe operated some flight training. I believe Peter Bawden called his flying school in Springbank "Chinook" informally and Aviation School of Canada formally in the mid 1970's. Not sure if they were connected.

I'm looking for this information to document a pin which I recently acquired for my collection and to document it on my website. http://www.skythings.ca/my-aviation-col ... adgespins/

[oldtimer]

Not sure about the Chinook Flight Training but Chinook Flying Service became Business Flights which was eventually aquired in around 1980 by Don Hollier of North American Airlines which was eventually aquired by Western Express Airlines from Vancouver which eventually went into bankrupsy. Peter Bawden also built Executive Flight Center to service and store airplanes. The Center is still operating as the Esso Avitat.
Business Flight's long time chief pilot was Robert (Bob) Edwards who became North American Airlines chief pilot after the aquisition until he retired due to illness and passed away a few years ago. When NAA aquired Business Flights, the only airplane left was Lear 35, C-FVCA which was leased in the USA until sold in the USA.

[Roar]

Hi Skythings,
My grandfather co-owned Chinook flying services back in the late 40's early 50's along with Frans McTavish.
PM me some specific questions and I can ask my uncle, he knows far more about Chinook than I do.
Cheers,

[Skythings]

Not sure about the Chinook Flight Training but Chinook Flying Service became Business Flights which was eventually aquired in around 1980 by Don Hollier of North American Airlines which was eventually aquired by Western Express Airlines from Vancouver which eventually went into bankrupsy. Peter Bawden also built Executive Flight Center to service and store airplanes. The Center is still operating as the Esso Avitat.
Business Flight's long time chief pilot was Robert (Bob) Edwards who became North American Airlines chief pilot after the aquisition until he retired due to illness and passed away a few years ago. When NAA aquired Business Flights, the only airplane left was Lear 35, C-FVCA which was leased in the USA until sold in the USA.

Thanks oldtimer - I actually worked at Executive Flight Centre in 1981 and Business Flights was still owned by Peter Bawden and operating then. Peter Bawden was an interesting fellow. Reminded me of a Howard Hughes - reclusive- insecure and filthy rich.

I could tell you a funny story about Bob Edwards lying flat on his back, looking straight up at me with his face as red as a cherry after a wipe out on the steps of a Lear 35. He had a tough exterior but was always pretty fair to me back then. The attached picture is of VCA on Executive's ramp in 1980.

I think Hollier took over Business Flights a little later around 1990 with NAA. I know he had it in 1995 as I had dealings with him then.

It had always been my belief Bawden purchased Chinook Flying Service for the OC to operate from YYC, but I could be wrong. I learned to fly at his school at YBW which we always called "Chinook". Even YBW ATC always referred to the school as "Taxi to Chinook". I found some documents from the school which reads Aviation School of Canada, but no reference to Chinook. So that part is straight from my aged & failing memory.

My feeling is this pin is from the Calgary flight school division of Chinook Flying Service prior to the Business Flights era. I'm sure someone here would know more.

[oldtimer]

I seem to recall that the oil companies were very busy at that time flitting around in their jets and turboprops whereas the charter companies were still in the Aztec era. There was a problem that surfaced where oil companies were "trading" or "borrowing" other companies airplanes when theirs were down for maintanance and other loosly defined reasons so Peter Bawden bought Chinook for it's operating certificate and it became Business Flights which was not only an air taxi but also an aircraft management service. Now the borrowing became legal.
It was always an interesting scene with Bob Edwards. At the time, many TC Air Carrier inspectors were ex military and many were active in the RCAF Association. In this association, previous rank and protocal still remained. Most TC types were Captains or Majors in the military but Bob Edwards was a Brigadier General when he was in active service so here were the regulators having to deal with someone who outranked them in a previous life. fortunatly, Bob developed a very good working relationship with TC, something Don Hollier failed to do. Don Hollier was anti-authority and he had the habit of letting TC know that he was the man in charge of the comany. This went on for years because the company had personell that were very comptent and they ran a safe airline. The company had good pilots and mechanics who were treated well once the employees realized Don was in charge. NAA had quite a few pilots and mechanics who stayed for years.

[Trevor]

Chinook Flying Service Ltd. was formed in September 1945 by my grandfather, Franz McTavish. After serving five years in the RCAF, he used his discharge cheque to buy a Tiger Moth and rent an office in Calgary's passenger terminal. His partner at this time was fellow instructor Bill McRitchie, who bought a second Tiger Moth but he left shortly afterwards because his wife didn't like Calgary. I believe she got debilitating migraine headaches caused by, ironically, our famous chinooks.

The flying school became Canada's first post-war Class 'A' school and that allowed them to instruct IFR, commercial and foreign students. In 1946 it started chartering airplanes and Franz aggressively promoted the airplane as a business tool to southern Alberta companies. In addition to general charters for the emerging oil industry, they were soon offering an air ambulance service, sightseeing flights, pipeline and power line patrols, hail suppression, agricultural spraying, DEW Line subcontracting, aerial photography, survey, banner towing, aircraft maintenance and engine overhauls.

Over the years, Chinook was:
- Canada's first Class 'A' flying school
- Introduced the first Navion and Aero Commander aircraft into Canada
- Had the first multi-engine civilian airplane in Alberta - a Cessna Crane
- Had one of the first Avro Anson Mk.Vs on the civil registry
- Had the dealerships for Aeroncas, Navions and the Brantley helicopter
- Had been chartered by MGM movie studio to fly Marilyn Monroe, Robert Mitchum and Shelly Winters to Banff for the filming of River of No Return

My grandfather was killed in 1963 while using his helicopter on its first power line patrol through the Crowsnest Pass. Carbon monoxide from the exhaust was blown back into the cabin which affected his vision and he hit a wire. At the time, he was working on establishing a helicopter flight training school. His death led to an AD for all Hughes 269/300 model helicopters (after the statue of limitations expired), and wires crossing pipelines and power lines have to be marked with red and white cones.

After Franz' death, Chinook continued on for another two years under the leadership of my grandmother, Marjorie. The flying school remained in Calgary until about 1969, then it moved to Springbank where it remained until the late 1970s. Its license was then bought by Calgary Flight Training - a company that remains active today. Chinook's charter license became Business Flights and is now in possession of Sunwest/Home Aviation. Sunwest's call sign is actually "Chinook".

So, after all that... Your pin dates from sometime between 1945 and 1949. Franz designed that logo himself (heavily influenced by the logo from Laurentian Air Service in Ottawa, where he learned to fly before the war). Sometime around 1949 that logo disappeared from use. I suspect simply because so many airplanes were being bought and sold that it became impractical to hand paint the logo on each plane (twice) and then remove it a couple months later.

If you're interested, you can read all about Chinook Flying Service in a book I wrote. It's available in both soft cover and e-book versions:
http://www.blurb.com/search/site_search ... r+mctavish

Cheers,
Trevor McTavish

[Skythings]

Trevor - Wow!!! this is golden- Thank you ever so much for this information.

Your information backs up a tall tale I heard several years ago when I worked out the old original terminal, now called Hangar 5. The story was Marilyn Monroe and Shelly Winters got into a very heated argument resulting in a very loud hair pulling cat fight in the ladies room of the old terminal building. I though it was just another tall aviation tale. Perhaps it was true.

Cheers

[Trevor]

There was certainly no love lost between those two ladies. And Marilyn had a big boxer dog that liked to lick the styling gel off the pilot's (my grandfather's) hair.

I checked with my father, and I was mistaken. The pins were sold to anyone who wanted one, right up until the end in 1965. In my original post I said they were out of circulation around 1950.

Cheers,
Trevor McTavish

[Skythings]

Thank you to everyone who provided information for me regarding this pin. I have been amazed how many dots I have connected in my understanding of some of the aviation history around Calgary because of what I have learned as the result of acquiring this little pin.

http://www.skythings.ca/my-aviation-col ... ool-first/