Otter
43 was one of a batch of six Otters ordered by the United States Army, an
“off-the-shelf” purchase as these aircraft were urgently required to assist
in a topographical survey of Alaska. It had originally been intended to
designate the Otter in Army service as the C-137, and these six Otters
actually carried the C-137 designation on their Technical Data Blocks when
delivered, the only Army Otters to do so. They were in fact designated
YU-1-DH and allocated serials 55-2973/78 (painted on the aircraft as tail
numbers 52973/52978). All six were painted in an all-white colour scheme
with arctic red tails and wing-tips. Otter 43 was allocated tail number
52973.
The last of the batch of six, 52978, was handed over to the Army first, at a
ceremony at Downsview on 25th January 1955 and training of Army personnel on
the new type commenced at Downsview. Four more were handed over on 28th
February '55 (52973, '974, '976 and '977) and the last one (52975) on 14th
March 1955. On that day, there was an official ceremony of acceptance of the
six aircraft at Downsview, after which all six set off together on their
delivery flight to their unit, the 521st Engineer Company, part of the 30th
Engineer Group. The six Otters flew across the country to their new base at
Crissy Army Airfield, San Francisco which was located at the water's edge
near the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge.
After a further period of training and familiarisation at Crissy AAF, the
six Otters were flown to Alaska in two flights of three, in April 1955,
routing first to Idaho Falls, then Great Falls, Montana-Edmonton,
Alberta-Whitehorse, Yukon Territory to Ladd Field, Fairbanks, Alaska.
Throughout the summer and autumn of 1955, these six Otters operated on
floats north of the Brooks Mountain Range in northern Alaska, supporting the
survey work. Main base was at Umiat with a secondary base at Kotzebue. As
well as mapping and photographic work, the Otters were used to re-supply the
field parties who were working with their helicopters out in the bush. At
the end of September 1955, the Otters made the long return flight back to
Crissy AAF, San Francisco. The following month, the 521st Engineer Company
and its aircraft relocated to the Sharpe General Depot at Stockton,
California.
That winter, the six Otters took part in various evaluation exercises, and
during 1956 were used for survey work in the deserts of Arizona, California
and Nevada. The operations of the 521st Engineer Company were scaled down
during 1957, as its tasks were completed, and the unit was formally
inactivated on 24th June 1958. Most of its Otters were transferred to other
topographic units. It is not known to which unit 52973 was assigned
immediately after the 521st Engineer Company, butby July 1961 it had joined
the 12th Aviation Company when that unit arrived in Alaska, based at Fort
Wainright, Fairbanks, Alaska.
Being one of the first six YU-1-DHs, 52973 had some minor differences from
the standard Army U-1A Otter, which were noticeable when it sat on the ramp
at Fort Wainright alongside the rest of the Company's aircraft, which were
all U-1As. It had a Hartzell counterweight propeller, to be contrasted with
the Hamilton Standard Hydramatic propeller of the U-1A. It had an angular
pitot tube on the left wing, compared with the flowing curves of the pitot
tube on the U-1A. 52973 continued to serve the 12th Aviation Company until
August 1972, when it was transferred to the 568th Transportation Company,
also based at Fort Wainright, with whom it was named “Ramblin' Rose”. The
Otter flew for the 568th until September 1973, when it was passed on to the
Fort Wainright Flying Club and registered N94472. As such, it continued to
be available to aviators at Fort Wainright for the next three years, until
it was transferred to the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in November 1976. It was at
Boeing Field, Seattle during April 1977, still painted in the Army's
white/red colour scheme, being prepared for service with the CAP. It
retained the registration N94472 and was assigned to the Rocky Mountain
Region of the CAP in August 1977, based at Denver, Colorado. It served at
Denver for more than a year, before being put up for sale.
The purchaser of the Otter was Sioux Narrows Airways of Winnipeg, to whom a
provisional Certificate of Registration as C-GQDU and Flight Permit were
issued on 28th February 1979. The ferry flight was from Denver, where the
Otter had been based, to Calgary where the aircraft was refurbished. It was
sold to Buffalo Airways Ltd and was rolled out of the hangar at Calgary
after painting in Buffalo's green and white colours on 25th May 1979. It was
formally registered to Buffalo Airways on 1st June and delivered out of
Calgary two days later to the Buffalo Airways base at Fort Smith, Northwest
Territories. That well-known bush aviator Buffalo Joe' McBryan and the other
pilots of Buffalo Airways flew QDU until an incident on 16th February 1981,
when the Otter force landed on an un-named lake in the Northwest
Territories, after an engine fire and smoke in the cockpit.
After the damage was repaired, C-GQDU went to Sabourin Lake Airways (Sab-Air)
of Cochenour, Ontario on lease who flew the Otter during the summer of 1981.
It was then sold to Parsons Airways Northern Ltd of Flin Flon, Manitoba who
operated QDU until the end of 1985. It then went to Aero-North Aviation
Services (Athabasca Industries Ltd DBA) of Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan until
June 1988 when it was registered to its new owners, Air Saguenay (1980) Inc
of Chicoutimi-Lac St.Sebastien, Quebec. It was painted in their attractive
red and white colour scheme and converted with the Polish PZL 1000 hp
engine. C-GQDU is one of two Air Saguenay Otters converted with the PZL
engine, the other being C-GLFL (329). The company found that although
take-off distance and climb rate performance were dramatically increased,
the maximum payload remained the same. Accordingly, the company's re-engining
programme was limited to these two Otters. With Air Saguenay, QDU serves the
Quebec bush country as part of its large Otter fleet.
History courtesy of Karl E Hayes from DHC-3
Otter: A History (2005) |