Superior Airways

[beech 18]

May 07, 2015

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

When ski season ended, the aircraft that had operated away from their home base
for the winter flew back to have floats installed for the summer.

Quite a number of the aircraft operated north of their home base during the winter
and because the ice went out earlier in the south it was necessary to remove the skis
and install a set of main wheels on the axels for the flight south. The skis were then
loaded into the aircraft so everything would return to the base together.

The one ski that was not removed was the tail ski. That was used as a brake during
taxi and landing.

Attached is a photo of Beaver CF-ODD that was taken in late April 1974. The aircraft
has had a set of main wheels installed for the flight back to its home base in Thunder Bay.
The tail ski can be seen in the photo still on the aircraft.

ODD had its skis removed on the ice in the bay in Sioux Lookout and was flown over to
the Sioux airstrip. The weather was not the best to go straight to Thunder Bay but the
ice conditions were getting bad so the Beaver was taken off the ice.

In the photo ODD was making a low pass down the Sioux Lookout airstrip where it landed.
It departed for Thunder Bay the next day.

Pine trees can be seen in the coloured runway cones that marked the taxiway and the
runway in the winter. Ski season is over.

[beech 18]

June 07, 2015

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

Attached is a photo that was taken at Sioux Lookout in August 1971.
The early morning fog is starting to burn off. A new day of flying will start shortly.

As can be seen in the photo, it was a summer of low water level in the lake.
The aircraft tied to the seawall would normally be sitting 2 to 3 feet higher.

There are a five aircraft in the photo.

Cessna 180 CF-JQM was easy to identify from a distance. The vertical stab on JQM
had probably twice as much white area on the tail than did the other red, white, and black
Cessna 180's in Mr. Wieben's fleet. They on the other hand had a lot more red paint on
the tail. JQM was a Sioux Lookout based aircraft.

The wing on the left side of the photo belongs to Cessna 180 CF-LBR which has been pulled
up on the ramp and is undergoing a float repair.

In front of JQM is Cessna 172 CF-VBW. I believe this may have been the last summer that
VBW was on floats in Sioux. It may have returned for the 1972 float season but that would
have been the last for sure. VBW was used mainly to service the company fishing and hunting camps.

Tied on the inside of the main dock is Cessna 180 CF-VGA.

Tied on the outside of the main dock is Beech 18 CF-YQB.

[beech 18]

July 07, 2015

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

For a short few months in the summer of 1972 Beech 18 CF-YQB flew with yellow
wing tips and yellow vertical stabs. The red paint on those areas was peeling badly
and the maintenance department was preparing to repaint the effected surfaces.

The pilot that was flying YQB that summer asked if they would repaint the wing tips
and tail surfaces in a bright yellow colour. The Chief Engineer agreed and yellow paint
was picked up for the job.

The paint was applied and YQB flew the remainder of float season with the yellow surfaces.
At the end of float season the Beech 18 was flown to Thunder Bay and the entire aircraft
was repainted in the Superior Airways / Severn Enterprise paint scheme with the wide gold
strip down the fuselage. The wing tips and tail were repainted in the standard red colour.

The painting of the Road . was removed from the nose when the aircraft was in
Thunder Bay.

This may have been the only time that one of Mr. Wiebens Beech 18's flew with yellow
coloured surfaces. Even if it was only for a few months.

The attached photo was taken in September 1972 at the water base in Sioux Lookout.
The three aircraft at the dock are Cessna 180 CF-LBR, Beech 18 CF-ZQR and Beech 18 CF-YQB.

In the photo the left engine lower cowling has been removed from YQB for engine maintenance.

[beech 18]

August 07, 2015

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

Attached photo is from Neil Aird's website.
Photo was taken May 18, 1972 in Thunder Bay at the Superior Airways base.

DeHavilland Beaver CF-IVA was operated by Superior Airways / Severn Enterprise
in the early 1970's. It was a leased Beaver and I believe it mainly flew out of the
Armstrong and Nakina bases. I only saw IVA a couple of times when it made a
few flights into Sioux Lookout.

I never saw IVA operating on skis. It may have been on skis but that can't be
confirmed.

In the photo it appears that the Beaver is about to have its floats installed. This may
have been IVA's first summer of operations with Mr. Wieben.
The float in the photograph is not a Beaver float. It's either for a Beech 18 or an Otter.
There's no water rudder on the float and no patches are visible. This float may have
just had new bottom skins installed.

[bobo]

I left Superior in March 1972 and had been in Nakina since 1969. CF-IVA never operated there during that time period, as the
Beaver assigned there was CF-FHO.
I do note that the photo was taken by the fire wall that separated the two halves of the hangar in Fort William Where IVA is sitting is in the part of the hangar that burned down in 1969. There used to be a two legged hoist set up by the wall that was used to lift aircraft up so that floats could be attached or removed.
Kurt, thanks for your efforts of telling the history of these aviation pioneers in NWO.
Bobo

[Johnny#5]

I miss flying up north when I see all these cool shots...

[beech 18]

September 07, 2015

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

Attached is a photo that was taken in September 1969 in Sioux Lookout at the
water base.
The photo was taken from the top of Beech 18 CF-PRZ that was spending the day
in Sioux after flying in from Pickle Lake.

The distance between the two floats on WYR can been seen in the photo as well as
the standard hatch above the cockpit on PRZ. There are some Beech 18's around
with a side opening door in the cockpit but all of Mr. Wieben's float equipped
Beech 18's had the top hatch.

The Cessna 180 aircraft in front of CF-WYR are tied to the original Slate Falls Airways dock.
The red and black Cessna 180 on the left side of the photo is CF-KJD.
KJD flew for many years with Slate Falls Airways.

The other two Cessna's with the white wings I can't recall.
Slate Falls may have leased them for the summer or maybe they had just stopped in for fuel.

The direction of the photo is east looking into the bay.

[beech 18]

October 07, 2015

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

Depending on how far north you were flown, hunting season got underway in
late September or very early October. The first full day of hunting was always
a very busy time. On a number of occasions the weather set the operation
back a bit or slowed it down.

All the guests wanted to be the first ones to leave Sioux Lookout to get to their
camp. There never seemed to be enough aircraft that first week. I may be incorrect
about this, but I recall in I think October 1970 Severn Enterprise was so busy that a
Norseman operated by Rusty Meyers did a few trips for us. I think the Norseman
was CF-GTN. It was only in Sioux for the one day.

Besides the remote camps that Severn Enterprise operated, the local tourist operators
also had a large number of hunters that needed to be transported into their hunting
camps. There were quite a number of sun up to sun down days of flying to move everyone
and their gear.

As the week went on aircraft would pick up quarters of moose from the camp sites and fly
them back to Sioux. There it was hung in refrigerator railway cars until the hunting party
returned at the end of the week.

Attached is a photo of Cessna 180 CF-LBR picking up moose quarters at one of the
Severn Enterprise hunting camps. This photo was taken in October 1972.

[beech 18]

November 07, 2015

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

The end of float season. The attached photo was taken on November 6, 1971.
Cessna 180 CF-LSN had spent the summer flying out of Big Trout Lake.
The aircraft had flown into Sioux Lookout a day or so earlier for change over from
floats to skis.

As can be seen in the photo, the floats have been removed and are out in front of
the aircraft. The Cessna has been lowered and the float stub fittings are being
removed so the main gear legs can be installed. A set of wheels will be installed
on the axels so the aircraft can be moved around the base.

Once the maintenance items and inspections have been completed the aircraft will
be parked on the west side of the base on the shore of the lake. The wheels will
be removed and a set of Federal straight skis will be installed for winter operations.
An engine tent and blow pot will be placed in the cabin.

In the photo there is a Beech 18 float upside down on a trailor. I can't be 100%
positive about this, but I believe that was a float that was removed from Beech 18 CF-WYR.
During the summer WYR had damaged a float at Round Lake. The chief engineer on the
base flew into Round and repaired the float so it could continued flying the rest of the season.
Once it was removed at the end of the summer the float was sent to Thunder Bay for a new
bottom skin.

[howey]

This is an amazing thread....its like watching the history channel. Great to see all the photos! Thanks Beech 18 and everyone else for posting!

[beech 18]

December 07, 2015

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

Attached is a photo of Beech 18 CF-ZQH. The photo was taken at the
Severn Enterprise base in Sioux Lookout in February 1972. In an earlier posting I
had mentioned that ZQH was purchased in late 1972. Rechecking some records,
the aircraft purchase date looks more like it was 1971.

The Beech 18 is being prepared for an afternoon flight. The snow is being cleared
off the wings and a Herman Nelson Heater will be used to heat the engines.
ZQH did not have a set of engine tents in the winter. The aircraft would always return
to Sioux Lookout when it finished flying for the day. For that reason instead of
installing engine tents it was fitted with plywood nose boards when parked.

ZQH did not have a cargo door and the interior was very close to what it looked like
when it was operated by the Canadian Air Force. It had green leather walls and a
green leather headliner in the cabin. The aircraft was in very good condition.

In the photo ZQH is parked between the office and the marine shop. The aircraft will
swing hard right and taxi onto the ice for take off. This Beech 18 was only operated
on wheels.

ZQH operated out of Sioux Lookout until the summer of 1974. After that it was based
in Thunder Bay.

[beech 18]

January 07, 2016

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

Attached is a photo of DeHavilland Beaver CF-GQU landing on the ice at
Sioux lookout in February 1971. The aircraft is landing into the bay with
Sioux Mountain in the background. The Beaver was returning to Sioux from a
flight late in the afternoon.

In the photo the aircraft has bare metal upper and lower cowlings installed.
This was due to the upper cowling being damaged the previous summer at Pickle Lake.
A yellow and black upper cowl had been installed as a replacement. When GQU was
changed over from floats to skis in the fall, the cowlings were stripped of paint and
remained that way until the entire aircraft was repainted in the summer of 1971.

GQU had one feature that was different from the other red, white and black aircraft in
Mr. Wieben's fleet. This aircraft did not have the white wing tips. The wing tips on this
Beaver were painted red.

GQU was a Sioux Lookout based aircraft. It was operated on straight skis as seen in
the photo each winter.

[beech 18]

February 07, 2016

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

Beech 18 CF-WYR parked on the ice at Sioux Lookout in February 1972.
The aircraft is sitting just to the right of the ramp used in the summer for floats repairs.

Light snow had fallen the night before and the wings have not been cleaned off yet.
The electrical cord for the engine heaters is visible running out to the aircraft.
The tents are still on the engines so it doesn't look like it is going flying any time soon.

WYR was fitted with shortened DeHavilland Otter main skis. It had a fiberglass tail ski
with the standard Beech 18 tail wheel installed. As can be seen in the photo the pilot
who was flying the Beech this winter parked the aircraft right on the poles laying on the
ice when he taxied in on the last flight. That's exactly where it should be. Right on the poles.

There are three other aircraft in the photo. Just forward of the nose and right wing of WYR
the wings of Cessna 180 CF-LBR can be seen. Forward of the right wing of WYR is the tail of
Beaver CF-MXR.

The DC-3 in the photo belongs to Norcanair. It had flown into Sioux Lookout a few days earlier.
It departed Sioux a few hours after the photo was taken. As can be seen in the photo there
are no skis on the DC-3. I can't make out the registration of the aircraft.

[Confliction]

Cool pic! Did all Beech 18's have 2-bladed props?

[strikestwo]

Severn's office in Sioux Lookout the summer of 1972. Later that summer the painters showed up and painted it blue. One of the apprentice engineers lived in the small suite in the upstairs.

[strikestwo]

Severn's Sioux Lookout base the summer of 1972. The new docks were built in May that year by Henry Ogamah, if I am not mistaken, and his helper.

The Cessna 180's are CF-VSD and CF-VGA. The Beech 18 is CF-YQB. CF-VSD had large floats that were nice in rough water. CF-YQB was operated out of Shell Lake in Inuvik one summer in the late 1980's.

[beech 18]

March 07, 2016

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

Attached is photo of a Piper Twin Comanche that had a landing accident at the
Sioux Lookout air strip in February or March 1971.

The aircraft had landed on the upper strip that was not used in the winter months.
The strip had a few feet of snow covering it when the aircraft touched down.
The landing gear collapsed on contact with the snow and the aircraft nose area
was heavily damaged back to the front windshield. Both propellers and engine
cowlings were damaged. The tracks in the snow were maybe 100 to 150 feet
long before the aircraft came to a complete stop.

Severn Enterprise took the job to remove the aircraft from the runway.
As can be seen in the photo the main gear was secured down by placing a 2x4
between the two gear legs. A set of Federal Wheel Skis were borrowed from
Cessna 185 CF-YNS that was operated by a mining company that flew out of the
Severn Enterprise Base in the bay.

The aircraft main wheels just sat on the skis. They were secured into place with
cables at each end.

The nose section was lowered onto a Cessna 180 straight ski and secured into place.

The aircraft was then pulled though the snow with a tractor to the parking area that
was off the right wing in the photo behind the pine trees. Back then a building called
the radio shack, the fuel pumps, and a building owned by Hooker Air were on the
other side of the trees. There were no hangars at the Sioux airport when this accident
took place.

I don't know what became of this aircraft after it was pulled out of the snow.

[strikestwo]

June 1972

Mid morning on June 24th, 1972 a call came in on the HF from John Naylor. He was flying a Cessna 180 CF-LBR from Round Lake to Sioux Lookout for an engine change. Unfortunately he cut it a bit too close and the engine quit over Bingo Lake some 30 miles north of Sioux Lookout.

CF-VSD, an XL based C-180, was dispatched to pick up John and bring him into XL with his paper bag full of flight receipts and cash from a month or more of flying out of Round Lake. CF-LBR was nosed into shore on a narrow sandbar protruding into the lake. John was standing on the sand bar waving when CF-VSD flew over.

The XL maintenance crew were flown in and went to work building a pole A-frame to remove the failed engine. Beech 18 CF-WYR piloted by John Anderson flew a new engine into Bingo Lake. A much younger ‘Beech 18’ was part of the maintenance crew that changed the engine. CF-LBR was then flown out to Sioux Lookout on June 27 and it remained there for the rest of the summer. John Naylor took CF-VSD back to Round Lake for the rest of the float season.

A much younger ‘Beech 18’ at Bingo Lake.

[strikestwo]

CF-WYR departing Bingo Lake, Ont for Sioux Lookout.

[onceacop]

Great historical pictures thanks

[beech 18]

April 07, 2016

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

Attached is a photo of Cessna 180 CF-VSD taken at Sioux Lookout on the ice in
the bay in March 1970.

VSD was flying out of Round Lake and was in Sioux for the weekend. A maintenance
inspection was carried out while it was in town. The aircraft would return to Round
Lake later in the day.

In the photo a few items can be seen. The right elevator had been damaged and was
replaced. I'm not sure where the elevator came from, but there were older Cessna 180
aircraft in Mr. Wieben's fleet with that colour.

At the top of the vertical stab can be seen what looks like a small white plastic fuel funnel.
(which it is). That's the end of the trailing antenna. A spool of antenna wire was mounted
inside the aircraft on the ceiling. The pilot would unwind it in flight and the funnel would
pull the antenna wire out behind the aircraft.

The ski axels are the heavy duty eight bolt axels that wrap around the lower leg.
The aircraft is on Federal Skis.
The engine tent is standard winter equipment.

The groves on the snow surface are from the roller that is used to pack the snow on the
runway and the area that the aircraft park.

In the distance a Beech 18 on skis can be seen parked at the Hooker Air Base.
The Beech is CF-VCC and it was operated on straight skis in the winter. It can just be made
out in the photo below the inboard end of the right aileron on VSD.

[beech 18]

May 07, 2016

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

Attached is a photo taken in approx. mid May 1974. The photo was taken in
Sioux Lookout. Beech 18 CF-WYR is making low pass through the bay after
flying in from Armstrong.

WYR was always changed over from skis to floats in Sioux Lookout. This spring
was an exception because when ski season had ended this aircraft had gone from
Pickle Lake straight to Armstrong to have a spar mode installed. This flight into
Sioux was its first flight after having the spar mode installed.

As can be seen in the photo there is still ice in the bay. WYR flew over to Abram Lake
which was clear enough to land and tied up at the Department of Lands and Forests dock.
It was a few days later before the ice cleared out of the bay so the Beech could land
at the Severn Enterprise base.

[Tuk U]

YQB You Quebec Bas... what ever became of this aircraft?

[beech 18]

Tuk U

Information on Beech 18 CF-YQB from the Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: History Search

C-FYQB Beech 3NM serial #CA 153 Delete Aircraft 1994-07-19 Arctic Wings & Rotors Ltd.
C-FYQB Beech 3NM serial #CA 153 Cancel C of R 1993-07-14 Arctic Wings & Rotors Ltd.
C-FYQB Beech 3NM serial #CA 153 Cancel C of R 1991-06-27 Aklak Air Limited
C-FYQB Beech 3NM serial #CA 153 Cancel C of R 1990-07-23 Western Arctic Air Ltd
CF-YQB Beech 3NM serial #CA 153 Delete Aircraft 1987-06-04 Lakehead Flying School Ltd
CF-YQB Beech 3NM serial #CA 153 Cancel C of R 1985-12-04 Lakehead Flying School Ltd
CF-YQB Beech 3NM serial #CA 153 Cancel C of R 1983-03-09 502020 Ont Ltd
CF-YQB Beech 3NM serial #CA 153 Cancel C of R 1983-02-24 Apache Rentals Inc
CF-YQB Beech 3NM serial #CA 153 Cancel C of R 1982-05-27 Sale Reported
_______________________________________________________________________________


This information added:

CF-YQB was purchased from the RCAF by Severn Enterprise of Sioux Lookout in 1970. It may have
been purchased a year or so earlier but I'm not sure about that. It was operating on floats out of
Sioux Lookout in the summer of 1970.

Also read that C-FYQB (CF-YQB) was destroyed by a fire in 1994, but cannot confirm that.

[beech 18]

June 07, 2016

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

This photo was taken August 1970 at Sioux Lookout. It was taken from the top
floor of the Severn Enterprise office building overlooking the main dock.

Beech 18 CF-YQB is taking off out of the bay in a west direction. The water looks
calm, not much of a breeze.

The two Cessna 180 aircraft at the dock are CF-VGA and CF-VSD. These two Cessna's
were the newest ones in Mr. Wieben's fleet. Both were built in 1967.

Beech 18 CF-PRZ is tied to the dock. PRZ flew in from Pickle lake and was in Sioux for
only a few hours. It returned to Pickle Lake later in the day.

This is a typical afternoon in the bay at Sioux Lookout back in the 1960's and early 1970's.
Aircraft were landing and departing all day long. There were two other companies
operating in the bay at the same time. To the right of the photo and a bit further down
the shoreline was Hooker Air Service. To the left of the photo and right next to
Severn Enterprise was the original Slate Falls Airways.