Bush Pilots of the Canadian North
Вставка
- Опубліковано 14 лис 2017
- After the 1918 Armistice with Germany, Ellwood Wilson, a Canadian forester employed by the Laurentide Company in Quebec, realized that airplanes could be used to spot forest fires and to map forested areas.[5] Early next year, when Wilson discovered that the U.S. Navy was giving Canada several war-surplus Curtiss HS-2L flying boats, he asked to borrow two.[5] He then hired Captain Stuart Graham to fly the planes.[5] Graham and his engineer, Walter Kahre, then started to fly the first HS-2L to Lac-à-la-Tortue on 4 June 1919, arriving on 8 June 1919.[6] The flight had covered 645 miles, the longest cross-country flight executed in Canada at the time.[6] He then delivered the other HS-2L to Lac-à-la-Tortue.[6]
Equipped with the aircraft, the first bush flights occurred when fire patrol and aerial photography began in the summer of 1919 in the St. Maurice River valley.[6] Graham and Kahre continued this service for two more seasons,[6] but it became so expensive that the Laurentide Company underwrote the operation.[6] In response, it was split into a separate company called Laurentide Air Services Ltd. with Wilson as president and former Royal Naval Air Service instructor and barnstormer William Roy Maxwell as vice president.[6] These were the first bush flights in Eastern Canada.
In Western Canada, after Wilfred May was discharged from the Royal Naval Air Service and moved to Edmonton, a Montreal businessman offered the city of Edmonton a Curtiss JN-4 after he found success in the city's real estate.[7] Mayor Joe Clarke and city council accepted the gift, prompting May to ask to rent the plane.[7] City council and May agreed to a price of CA$25.[7] May and his brother Court May completed the necessary paperwork and raised the required capital to form May Airplanes Ltd. George Gorman, a pilot, and Peter Derbyshire, a mechanic, joined the first commercial bush operations in Canada.[7]
May then asked the publisher of the Edmonton Journal to fly copies of the paper to Wetaskiwin,[8] 70 kilometres (43 mi) south of Edmonton. He accepted and the next day, Gorman and Derbyshire flew the newspapers along with 2 sacks of advertising circulars, following the rail line to the city, announcing the service to communities along the way.[8]
Bush flying in Canada is commemorated by the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario as well as two National Film Board of Canada documentary films, Bush Pilot: Reflections on a Canadian Myth (1980)[9] and Bush Pilot - Into the Wild Blue Yonder (2000).[10] An eclectic video library of music, arts, education, TV, history, transportation, documentaries and special rare videos for enjoyment and perusal. www.sherwayacdemy.ca
Glenn Tanguay and I flew together out of Resolute Bay in 1988. The ten years I spent flying the bush in Northern Canada represent the greatest privilege of my life. Just for the record, anything less than absolute professionalism in that environment will kill you.
Thank you for your service. Takes a certain breed. You can find that breed in the North. You and your puddle jumper are tried tested and true. And you'll be remembered.
@@brandonsayer7631 WTF is a "puddle jumper"?
@@paddy1952short trips from one lake to another to another vs. a trip from base to destination and back.
@@James-md2yo Oh, you mean light aircraft. It's hard to get a 737 on floats. Kind of like the difference between a Jeep and a Kenworth. Having had several friends get killed doing that job, such a disparaging and disrespectful description is a bit hard to understand. Sounds like a kid's toy.
@@paddy1952 not sure what you mean by your comment but I was answering your question as to what a puddle jumpers is. No disrespect intended.
This a brilliant documentary with some great true stories and really deserves to be seen by a wider audience.
A great piece of aviation history. 10 out of 10.
Agreed!!!
Captivating stories amazing photos
Agreed, I’ve watched it 3 times lol
Five years flying for La Ronge, Buffalo and Ptarmigan Airways I am thankful I made it through with no major incidents, but what a great experience, loved it.
My first flight was in an old Norseman. On the return trip I got to sit in the right seat and actually flew the plane about 15 miles. I was 14 years old. I admire the pilots that fly in the bush. My good friend flew a Cessna 206 on floats and skis until about three years ago when he finally sold the plane. He carried us on numerous fall trips to fish for walleyes.
The Beavers and Otters get all the glory, but the Noorduyn Norseman deserves just as much acclaim.
This brings back so many memories. I've had the pleasure of flying with Carl Clouter. He was one of the hardest working people I've had the pleasure of knowing.
I had a couple of cousins who flew bush planes in Northwestern Ontario back in the 50s and 60s.
I was mesmerized by their stories.
Both survived crashes.
Wop May, the biplane pilot the Red Baron was chasing before the Baron shot down, survived the war, and later moved to the Yukon, the arctic region of Canada, and become a bush pilot. Here, May become part of one of the greatest RCMP manhunts in history, the famous hunt for the "Mad Trapper of Rat River", Albert Johnson.
Johnson, who was an arctic survivalist of almost supernatural skill, and a crack shot with the rifle, had shot one Mountie, and killed another in firefights with the RCMP. Making his escape in the middle of the arctic winter, Johnson, using only snowshoes, managed to elude a huge posse of Mounties and native trackers on dogsleds for weeks, even crossing a mountain range in the middle of an arctic blizzard, to the disbelief of those chasing him.
Desperate for more help, the RCMP hired Wop May to hunt for Johnson from the air. Eventually, May found him, and guided the RCMP to him, where in a major firefight on a frozen river, Johnson was killed.
So if the Red Baron had killed May in WWI, Johnson probably would have escaped the RCMP, and the legendary Mad Trapper manhunt would have failed.
Wow, rough stories and some hard living! Bravo and thank you to all who help others.
Thank you for posting this. It was excellent.
I flew my first bush plane out of Red Lake Ontario in June of 1967. Five years later I was in Pang on Baffin Island and loving it.
you flew my family lmao
The pilot of the single engine Otter at 4.35 to 9.15 is Jacques Harvey from Alma, Lake St-John, Quebec Province.
Thanks; love stories like these!
I started my Northern mining career in 88, at the Lupin Mine, 250 miles NNE of Yellowknife.
Now retired in Northern Manitoba.
Poor nurse. I admire all nurses.
Poor patient.
Poor Martin.
The best intentions.
No good deed goes unpunished.
Absolutely fantastic!
Interesting/informative/entertaining. Excellent photography job enabling viewers to better understand what the orator was describing. Special thanks to veteran ( " BUSH " ) pilots sharing personal information & flying adventures. Making this documentary more authentic and possible. " Keep EM flying ". 😉
lol "so i just threw the baby"
Ikr. What happened to the baby?🤪
A man accustomed to live-or-death situations with no mercy on dithering.
Enjoyed this.
Thank you.
I just love the song
Excellent production! Bravo
Great stuff. Thanks for posting.
Brave men take the adventurous to places few have seen and provides prosperity to villages that once had very difficult existences. All gave some, but some gave all. At 25:00 the difficulty in eating the dead passengers to stay alive obviously tormented him. He decided he wanted to live as others have as well. It did not explain how they were eventually found since the beacon failed. It is so critical to carry a personal rescue beacon and not rely upon the aircraft's beacon.
Came here for cool bush planes, got scarred by bush pilot stories XD
That cannibalism came out of nowhere !
Wow great documentary...you people are tuff humans! Greetings from NJ
God Bless U brother TY for the documentary kk E
Wonderful documentary.
very good job thank you
All that is narrated in this video , I read similar stories in this book ''Pilot with a brief case '' , it was an adventurous pionner flying heroes that risked their life everyday, with a smile , living for their love of flying.
my new favorite song
great stories!
I’m 20 and starting soon and this documentary was very reassuring. It seems like all of those guys are out there for the same reasons as me.
That story around 25:00 is heavy. That was a lot to process. That poor man. You can see he’s still shook by it all.
he took the passengers, missed destination fling at night with no IFR rating, crashed the plane, killed 3 people and ate one.... he is really poor man.
@@markeezbaroon2033 He risked his life in bad weather to try to save others when there were no instrument airports. He went after the doctor told him how critical patients were and convinced him to go. Many other medical evacuations have saved countless lives, but this one did not, as also happens to this day with medical evacuations with up to date equipment.
@@wylieecoyote it is nice that he was brave to do that, but pilots should know better...
@@markeezbaroon2033 You have obviously not worked medivac missions. There are times when risks need to be taken. There were people whose lives were in danger and he tried. Just like when cops charge into gunfire to rescue civilians as I have had to do several times. If I don't, no one will. I have friends who died doing medivac missions with modern helicopters and equipment in bad weather. I see them as heroes who died trying selflessly serving for others. Most days we succeed, but occasionally we fail. In that part of the world he was all they had and he tried. I give him all of the respect in the world and it is a shame others dont appreciate that there are people are willing to risk their lives for strangers.
@@wylieecoyote mate, the rescue team could not find him because he went 150 miles into the wrong direction !!!!!???? how is he going to help someone if he does not know where is he going at night, no IFR rated, no anti acing, ending up eating one of its crew. If he died with other people that would be fair, but he tried to survive eating his crew after he killed them ...I understand he had a good intention and tried to help, but what you need to understand is that instead of finding and helping those people, he was flying blind in the middle of the dark cold night, not knowing where he goes, and because of that he killed his crew and ate one of them to survive. So excuse here is that they were dead anyway so you better eat one to survive. But the one that eats them killed them. Not on purpose, bat that is what happened.
The best part “ rocky didn’t want to tell us the story, and because he is named after the boxer we back off” at 43:02
Bro flew Alaska from 70s till in 80s
Flew old army choppers from Korea era, single engines, some 2+engines.
Takes someone special to love it as much as he.
Grumpy, hard to get along with, sometimes mean, gone now.
Always saying going back. Even when he would just work on them, going back. No one loved it more.
What type of choppers did you know guy named Sparky ? Or a,JP
What a change from twin otter to Trans Atlantic jet .. I crossed paths with Glen T a few days ago in Dubai 🌞
Brave, and fortunately, crazy people.
Wow as a Canadian, this doc makes me proud to have traveled the north and see how big vast and unhospitable it really is, hats off to these wild men and women who charted the north, with a fucking compase , and working with visual land marks in flat light and minus 30 Celsius with flurries of snow. I am humbled by these people.
Wow! 😮
Does anyone here knows the name of the song? Great documentary.
That R-985 is a distinctive sounding engine
Was never so happy to see Jacques Harvey(pilot in the Otter) so much than the day he dropped off much needed rations, jet fuel and Scotch out in the bowels of Nahanni National Park in a Twin Otter after a week of crap weather. The dude is a legend in the North.
Where in Nahanni did you go? What a beautiful place but unfortunately I’ve only heard about it because of the headless valley stories on UA-cam! Lol
@@daveg-Vancouver_Island all over. had a 2 week contract flying geologists around. the last day we managed to get up to Virginia falls
Where and how can i get a copy of the Theme song by John Gray? search again and again for it! are there more verses? anyone, can you help?
“Your spirit soarrsss”
Ive always thought of the Beech 18 as a good machine, Id like to know why they called it the widow maker
Mr Doucette...
Are you related to the journalist lady?
Man threw the baby, like he hated babies!
Anybody know the song in the intro?
Martin will never recover from that.
People will judge him.
I'm just sorry for him.
I guess that it's up to God.
Remember the Andes crash.
His first mistake was flying below his minimums over ground at night and literally flew the aircraft into the ground as his height above ground diminished. (unknown to him) His second mistake was that he didn't turn on his emergency locator beacon after 24 hours because he didn't want to starve his batteries. He said at his hearing that the temps were -40. S & R have annual info workshops with all northern commercial airline companies on procedures to follow when an aircraft is down. There are procedures for the downed pilot and procedures for ALL en route aircraft to listen out on emergency frequencies (121.5 & 243.0) for two minutes, at 18 and 48 minutes past each hour until the plane is found or the search is called off. (Standard operating procedures in our zone.) When he was finally located 32 days later all of us involved in the search estimated we could have found him within 2-3 days if he had followed procedures. It was an off course USAF Hercules flying from Houston to Anchorage that picked up his emergency beacon because Hartwell heard their engines. By that time all his passengers had perished. I believe the nurse died on impact.
Poderia muito ter uma versão legendada para o português? ;-;
Jeez!
Steamboat appears from nowhere!
Is that what? Providence?
so how is your home country doing?
Then the jerk smacks the dog. Real “nice” guy.
interesting
Does anybody know the name of the song at 53:30 ??! Its amazing
It's written by John Gray who is best known for his authorship and songwriting on the play "Billy Bishop Goes To War". Not sure what it is called or if it was ever recorded otherwise.
@@thegreatdominion949 thank you so much for this insight, not all heros wear capes
This has been bugging me for days, I hope this isn't a case of lost media. I've gone down a few rabbit holes and nothing has come up yet, though apparently he worked on an unpublished play in 1983 titled: "Snowbird". It is very seldom mentioned, I don't even know what its about. For all I know it could be unrelated but the title fits, maybe its from that?
Max Ward of Wardair started out as a bush pilot I was told.
Yes. He is one of the first people I was thinking of as I started watching this. His tiny tiny original bush plane was parked inside the huge Wardair hangar at Toronto International Airport. It was one of the variants of the deHavilland Moth. I got a tour in the late 1980s or early 1990s. One memory of it possibly insensitive to some people but true for those times, flying for profit, was the order in which this aged host happened to list what they typically would load into that thing. Something like, "Two passengers, two or more barrels of fuel, three sled dogs and an Indian."
My first professional employment was with Sherritt-Gordon Mines. Some of the old timers had stories of co-founder and former trapper and prospector Carl Sherritt. He died before or because of falling out of his airplane which crashed inverted a distance further with a dead passenger.
A whack of my friends and neighbours worked at deHavilland in Downsview for decades. I've been over Timmins bush in an early DASH flown by a friend and over the Grand Canyon in a deHavilland (high wing design doesn't block the view below). Transported in an old Otter in my time in the Canadian reserves.
Ya he was a gentleman and a great pilot m mom said she was tight with him in 80s as the company really tried to grow the stay in biz. Last of a rare breed of Cannuck business men and proud to be Canadian.@@charlieross-BRM
With regard to eating human flesh.
It's not for me, but then, I don't find my life that precious.
Martin may have had family.
I don't.
I'd rather my cat ate me than the other way around.
That is real brass monkey weather my man.
Cold enough to freeze the nuts off a brass monkey !
I make a couple of cameos in this movie and I cringe now! lol
I was a bush pilot once ,my brother would cut the wood and I'd pile it 👍😎🇨🇦
how old is this documentary? 30? 40? years old by the looks of hairstyles; snowmobile shapes etc.
It's in the end of the credits @54:27 ©1989
The statement of a beach 18 beeing called a widow maker is ridiculous and could not be further from the truth and I have known plenty of pilots who know and some say they owe there life's to the beach 18
These companies got them cheap from Crown Assets. $1500 each. The "widow maker" label came when the companies put them on floats. It drastically changed the aerodynamics and weight maximums of the aircraft. Several pilots across northern Canada were injured or killed due to operating with floats.
I flew the Beech-18, and thought of it as a short-coupled little bastard, but never heard anyone call it a widowmaker.
I used to fly into a logging camp in northern BC in the 70's in a Beech 18. It was called 'The Exploder' in WW2 when they dropped resistance supplies behind the lines in occupied France, not sure why.
@@johnkidd1226 That wasn't NT Air's Beech-18 was it. I rode with Les Bower from Prince George up to some dirt strip north of Ft St.James. He was really good with that old Beech.
@@paddy1952 Yes, it was. I rode right seat with Les several times up to Factor Ross camp, west side of Williston Lake. Interesting guy in a great old plane.
💪
Maggot Moly"s Dream
@26:00 @37:35 @44:25
Yeah the guy who hit the dog was not the best bush pilot and probably the worst.
When pushed to the brink humans will take desperate measures. Case and point The Donner Party
Thats the place too build a new mall😂😂😂
I used to fly with maps that were just blanks! Last I flew, I had good GPS that gave me the exact distance, direction and height but it was was so foggy that I could not see my own wing or nose! So I could land totally blind but at the right place. Imagine, you slowed down and suddenly, you landed, then go forward very slowly until I see a beach, then turn the plane around to back up to that beach! I had two GPS, one was my portable one, in case the other one shut down!