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Otter 48 was
one of the batch of the first six Otters delivered to the US Army, as
explained in relation to number 43. Its delivery date was the 14th March
1955 and it was allocated serial 55-2975 (tail number 52975). All six
aircraft set off together from Downsview on 14th March 1955 on delivery to
the 521st Engineer Company at Crissy AAF, San Francisco. The six Otters then
took part in a survey of Alaska during the summer of 1955, returning to
Crissy AAF in September '55. The following month the unit relocated to the
Sharpe General Depot at Stockton, California. The subsequent Army career of
52975 has unfortunately not been recorded, but it was deleted from the Army
inventory in October 1961 as “crashed”.
Sold on the civilian market, the Otter was rebuilt and on 4th April 1968 a
Provisional Certificate of Registration as CF-XFO and Flight Permit for an
Importation Flight from Miami, Florida was issued to Gateway Aviation Ltd of
Edmonton, Alberta. It was formally registered to Gateway Aviation on 4th
June 1968. This company, although having its head office and maintenance
base at Edmonton, operated mostly in the Northwest Territories and High
Arctic in support of government projects, mining, exploration and oil
industry projects, and flew six Otters over the years.
CF-XFO flew with Gateway Aviation for nearly four years, until sold to
Nipawin Air Services Ltd of Nipawin, Saskatchewan in May 1972, registered C-FXFO.
It serviced the bush areas of Saskatchewan with this operator until sold to
Watson Lake Flying Services Ltd of Watson Lake in the Yukon in November
1977. For a remarkable twenty years XFO flew with this bush carrier out of
Watson Lake, alongside a Beaver and some single Cessnas. Sadly, the carrier
ceased operations in 1997 and the Otter and other aircraft were sold. The
purchaser of the Otter was Blok Air Ltd of Thompson, Manitoba to whom C-FXFO
was registered in April 1997. It joined Otter C-FIOF (24) which Blok Air had
on lease, but which was returned to the lessor at the end of the summer '97
season. XFO continued flying for Blok Air, which was restructured during
1999. In July of that year, XFO was registered to P&D Aircraft Leasing Ltd,
trading as Venture Air, which took over the Blok Air operation. The Otter
continued flying from Thompson, Manitoba until its luck ran out on 15th
September 1999.
On that day, the pilot was flying five caribou hunters from Thompson to
Nicholson Lake, Manitoba. The number three cylinder cracked, the engine lost
power and a fire broke out. The pilot managed to land the float-equipped
Otter on a small un-named lake some 160 miles north of Thompson, in the
vicinity of Kozak Lake, and evacuated the aircraft with his passengers. At
this remote location there was unfortunately nothing they could do to put
the fire out, and they stood helplessly at the side of the lake as the fire
consumed and completely destroyed the Otter.
History courtesy of Karl E Hayes from DHC-3
Otter: A History (2005)
Registration cancelled 11/5/1999
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