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Al Nelson

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2021 5:32 pm
by Antique Pilot
I was informed today that well known aviation enthusiast Al Nelson recently passed away.
Al flew and maintained aircraft in northern Ontario and Manitoba in the 1950’s and onward. He is the only pilot I know that has flown commercially a Bellanca Aircruiser CF-BTW, a Junkers W34 CF-AQW, and Fox Moth CF-BNP.

In recent years Al was the chief of restoration at the Western Canada Aviation Museum now renamed the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada. He was a mentor to a lot of people over the years.

About 20 years ago Al and I travelled to Tillamook Oregon. We were allowed access to the Bellanca Aircruiser formerly CF-BTW that was on display there. We spent a day crawling all over it taking pictures and measurements. The Tillamook group gave us a set of original wheels and tires from BTW which we are now using in the restoration of Bellanca Aircruiser CF-AWR.

Rest In Peace old friend.

AP

Re: Al Nelson

Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 11:58 am
by marlin
Sorry for the loss of your friend. Thanks to this thread, I stumbled onto a couple of videos of him from the museum:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8h0wmNol8I - restoration work on a Fairchild FC2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpTRbcZSjOA - story of his first job flying the Fox Moth