Otter number 27 was delivered
to the RCAF on 13th January 1954 with serial 3672, and allocated to the Fort
Churchill, Manitoba Station Flight, as a replacement for Otter 3661. The
Station Diary records the arrival of 3672 at Churchill on 29th March '54.
Its period of service was unfortunately brief, and only one mission is
recorded in the Diary, to South Knife on 13th April.
On 26th April '54 the Otter was taking off from Churchill en route to
Chesterfield with seven souls on board. Just after it became airborne, the
tail began to drop and the pilot pushed forward on the control column and
applied power. The nose continued to rise and the Otter stalled in from
fifty feet. Fortunately no one was injured, apart from the Otter, which was
a complete write-off. It was formally deleted from the inventory on 19th
August 1954. Investigation into the crash revealed that the Otter was
overloaded by 1,673 pounds and had a Centre of Gravity six inches aft of the
rear limit.
History courtesy of Karl E Hayes from DHC-3
Otter: A History (2005)
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