Papa Lima’s Calgary visit
I hope you don’t mind me joining in, paulc, but I too visited that museum (and the Naval museum too – pix later) recently . . .
Aero Space Museum of Calgary
1. North American P-86A-1-NAs Sabre 47-606, painted as Mk 5 RCAF serial 23175. This was the second production aircraft ordered by the USAF in 1947, and later served in the USAF with the 94th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. The Calgary Branch of the SPAADS (Sabre Pilots Association Air Division Squadron) purchased the aircraft from the Seattle Museum of Flight in 1997.
2. Silver Dart replica above (from left) Sopwith Triplane N6302, marked with the name “A W Carter” below the cockpit, de Havilland Vampire and de Havilland Tiger Moth CF-CJO.
The Sopwith Triplane shown here was brought forth for restoration by Mr. Stan Green (deceased) who was an instructor of Aeronautics at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) and who had worked in the Sopwith factory. Working from original blueprints, museum restoration staff and volunteers restored this aircraft to static display condition in June of 2000.
On July 3, 1917 at 10 am, Captain Alfred W ‘Nick’ Carter took command of RNAS, Flight Commander of “A” Flight No. 10 Naval Fighter Squadron flying Sopwith Triplanes. He went on after WW1 to become a very important person within Canadian aviation.
3. Sopwith Triplane N6302
4. Silver Dart replica
5. Avro Anson Mk II 7401 with 330 hp Jacobs L-6MB engines.
6. North American (Hawker Siddeley Canada Limited) Harvard Mk 4 RCAF 20273 C-FRUJ owned by Airdrie Aviation Ltd., Airdrie, Alberta.
7. de Havilland (Canada) DHC-6(-300?) Twin Otter c/n 2 CF-PAT of Kenn Borek Air Ltd., an air charter company. Behind it is a Northwest Airlines Douglas DC-3 c/n 13448 CF-BZI.
CF-PAT was the second Twin Otter aircraft produced at de Havilland’s Downsview plant as part of the original pre-production run. It was first registered on May 25, 1966 under the registration CF-SJB, shortly afterwards an “X” was added to signify participation in the pre-production flight test certification program
Following the success of the flight test program, c/n 2 was sold in late 1967 to Air Commuter Ltd., of the United States. Registered as N856AC, it provided intercity shuttle and air taxi services replacing such veteran types as the DC-3, Beech 18 and other piston engine aircraft.
Returning to Canada following a short career in the US, it was acquired in 1968 by Pan-Arctic Oil Ltd., of Calgary and registered as CF-PAT, the “PA” standing for Pan-Arctic. The aircraft was based primarily in the NWT and was instrumental in the success of Pan Arctic’s exploration and development work in the north.
In 1978, PAT was leased by Pan Arctic Oil to Ptarmigan Airways and then in October 1978 was acquired by Kenn Borek Air Ltd. It was frequently leased to other companies and earned its keep with a wide variety of northern and western operators.
CF-PAT has flown on wheels, tundra tires, floats and skis. It has landed at the North Pole and has flown over that Pole more times than any other aircraft in history. In nearly thirty years of bush flying, it has supported oil exploration, provided executive transport and responded to medical emergencies evacuating the sick from remote locations in the north. It has carried everything from people to oil exploration supplies to fuel to fish to sled dogs.
The Aero Space Museum is the designated repository of DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft c/n 2, CF-PAT, the highest time and arguably the most successful Twin Otter in the world. Mrs. Rosella Borek handed over CF-PAT to the museum on June 14, 2003 in a formal ceremony held in the Westjet Hangar.
8. McDonnell Voodoo CF-101B RCAF 101021.
9. Avro CF-100 Canuck RCAF 18126.
10. Unwanted resident – a gopher or prairie dog.
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