Otter 37 was
delivered to the RCAF on 8th April 1954 with serial 3679. Its initial posting
was to 408 Squadron at Rockcliffe. During the summer of 1954 it was one of six
of the Squadron's Otters operating out of Goose Bay, supporting the Squadron's
Lancasters on their mapping missions. On 14th January 1956 the Otter departed
from Rockcliffe in company with Otters 3678 and 3687 en route to Knob Lake,
Quebec on “Operation Rock Top 2”, supporting the helicopters of 108
Communications Flight on the construction of the Mid Canada Line of radar sites.
On 16th February, 3679 returned in company with 3678 to Rockcliffe for
modifications, before flying back to Knob Lake to resume work with the
helicopters. Light transport, communications flights and ice surveys were the
tasks performed.
On 18th March 1956 3679 damaged its starboard aileron at Site 212, but was
repaired. Early 1957 saw 3679 back at Knob Lake on the same tasks, and it was
slightly damaged on 2nd March '57 on landing at one of the sites when it
overshot the landing area and ran into a tree. On the day in question, the pilot
was being checked-out on the ski- equipped Otter in the course of an operational
flight. The Otter did not have dual controls and the captain was in the right
seat. On a higher than recommended approach, the pilot landed too far down the
frozen lake, whose surface was covered in slush. The Otter could not be stopped
before it ran into a tree at the end of the lake, resulting in the starboard ski
being bent and the wheel twisted. The damage was repaired and the Otter flown
back to Rockcliffe.
The following month, April 1957, 3679 was re-assigned to 111 Communications &
Rescue Flight at Winnipeg, where it carried Rescue Marks and the unit's PW code.
The Flight's history records its many missions. In July '57 it participated in
the rescue of the occupants of Norseman CF-CRD of Central Northern Airways which
crashed near Island Lake, Manitoba. The ground search party were flown in by the
unit's Otter 3696. After they had rescued the two occupants of the Norseman,
3679 picked them and the ground party up at Biche Lake and flew them first to
Savage Island and then on to Riverton. It was involved in a search for a downed
T-33 on 28th December 1957 and a downed Stinson on 9th January '58. In May 1960
it participated with the Unit's other Otters in 'SAR Harrison', searching for
PA-20 CF-HJH missing en route from Flin Flon to Tartan Lake. On 5th September
1960 3679 departed on a tour of northern stations, routing to Norway House-Lynn
Lake-Ennadai-Eskimo Point, returning via Ilford to the Flight's summer base at
Lac du Bonnet. During the summer months,
the Flight's Otters operated from Lac du Bonnet on floats. During the winter,
they flew from Winnipeg Air Base on wheel-skis.
3679 continued in service with 111 Communications & Rescue Flight until 1st
October 1962 when the Flight withdrew its Otters from service and they were
flown to No.6 Repair Depot at Trenton and put into storage as reserve aircraft.
3679 left Winnipeg for Trenton on 10th October '62. It remained in storage until
March 1963, when it was one of five Otters removed from storage and sent to DHC
at Downsview for crating, to be shipped to India, having been donated by the
Canadian Government to India as part of an aid package. The Otter was taken on
charge by the Indian Air Force on 24th April 1963 and allocated serial BM-1001.
The Otter faithfully served the Indian Air Force for the next 27 years, and
survived its Air Force career in the remote and inhospitable Indian bush
country. Nothing is known of its service with the Indian Air Force, apart from
the fact that it served with 41 Squadron based at Palam Air Base, New Delhi
between 1976 and 1980. It was at that stage configured and used as a dual
trainer.
The aircraft was one of “8 Otters on the ground since 1990 and 5 Otter airframes
without engines” advertised for sale in April 1993 by the Indian Ministry of
Defence. The successful purchasers were La Ronge Aviation/Mike Hackman Aircraft
Sales. The Otters were located at various bases, BM-1001 being one of five at
Barrackpore. At the time of sale it had 5,476 hours on the airframe. These five,
and a further three at Kanpur, were paint stripped, dismantled and shipped from
Calcutta, arriving at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan by 30th April 1994. They were then
advertised for sale. The purchaser of Otter number 37 was Kenmore Air Harbor Inc
of Seattle.
The Otter was trucked to Kenmore, on the northern end of Lake Washington, and
was registered to its new owners in February 1995 as N8260L. It was one of three
former Indian Air Force Otters acquired by Kenmore Air Harbor, the others being
numbers 11 and 221. These three Otters were rebuilt by Kenmore Air Harbor and
during the re-building were converted to turbine power with the installation of
PT-6 engines. Otter 37 was the last of the three to be completed, and was only
ready to make its first flight as a turbine in September 1999, having been
re-registered N606KA the previous March. Interestingly, the parts taken off
these three piston Otters when they were converted to turbine, were then sold by
Kenmore to J.W.Duff Aircraft Corp of Denver, Colorado, who advertised them for
sale as “three Otter firewall forwards”, very valuable to those who were
rebuilding damaged Otters, which more often than not need new “firewall
forwards”.
N606KA, repainted in Kenmore's smart yellow and white trim, joined the company's
active Otter fleet in October 1999, flying on its scheduled commuter services.
In 2003 Kenmore Air introduced a Cessna 208 Caravan amphibian into the fleet,
joining the Beavers and turbine Otters. It was used on a landplane service to
Bayview and Port Angeles. In March 2004 two of the turbine Otters were
advertised for sale, one of which was N606KA, with a total airframe time at that
stage of 8,947 hours. The Otter however continued in service with Kenmore Air
pending sale.
History courtesy of Karl E Hayes from DHC-3
Otter: A History (2005) |