Bush flying refers to aircraft operations carried out in the bush. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormally large tires, skis, skids or any other equipment necessary for unpaved runway operation. It is the only viable way of delivering people and supplies into more difficult to reach, remote locations.
This term bush has been used since the 19th century to describe remote wilderness area beyond clearings and settlements hence bush flying denotes flight operations carried out in such remote regions. [1] In Australia, in particular, bush refers to areas that might be called forest or wilderness in other countries.
Bush flying is the primary and sometimes the only method of access across Northern Canada, [2] Western Canada, Alaska, [3] the Australian Outback [2] and many other parts of the world.
In Canada, the first real use of bush flying was for exploration and development, [4] while in Alaska, transportation was the main purpose. [4] Later, bush flying became important during rescue operations. Bush pilots are needed in rescue operations and are important for many different reasons.
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] In early 1919, after 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 flew 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[ citation needed ] 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.[ citation needed ]
In Western Canada, after Wilfrid 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]
Alaska's first bush pilot was Carl Ben Eielson, a North Dakota farm boy of Scandinavian descent who flew during World War I. [4] After the war, he moved to Alaska as a mathematics and science teacher in Fairbanks. [4] However, he soon persuaded several citizens to help him acquire a Curtiss JN-4, flying passengers to nearby settlements. [4] He then asked the postal operator for an airmail contract. The post office accepted the proposal and in 1924, Eielson received a de Havilland 4 that would be used to make eight mail runs to McGrath, 280 miles (450 km) away, [4] before his contract was terminated after the third accident. [11]
Noel Wien made the first successful bush flight to Livengood, Alaska on 19 Aug. 1924. This flight demonstrated that the trip in support of mining operations could be made in under an hour, when the dog sled trail would take several days in winter. Wien made 34 flights that first summer in support of the approximately 250 men located at the camp, providing supplies and services. [11] : 104–107 [12]
A woman by the name of Celia M. Hunter became one of the first to serve as a flight attendant for flights to both Nome, and Kotzebue in the year 1947. These were the first tourist trips to be accomplished by flying in the Alaskan bush. [13]
Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain, necessitating bush planes to be equipped with tundra tires, floats, or skis. [2] A bush plane should have good short take-off and landing capabilities. A typical bush plane will usually have high mounted wings on top of its fuselage to ensure adequate ground clearance from obstacles. [14] They will normally have conventional "tail-dragger" landing gear as they offer lower drag and weight than tricycle landing gear, and is more suited to rough surfaces. [14] The greater upward angle of the taildragger configuration gives the propeller more ground clearance allowing it to avoid striking the ground, which would cause damage. Most types can be equipped with wheels, skis or floats, to operate from dry ground, snow, ice and protected waterways. Some commonly seen bushplanes include:
A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh conditions. STOL aircraft, including those used in scheduled passenger airline operations, have also been operated from STOLport airfields which feature short runways.
Canadian Pacific Air Lines was a Canadian airline that operated from 1942 to 1987. It operated under the name CP Air from 1968 to 1986. Headquartered at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia, it served domestic Canadian as well as international routes until it was purchased by Pacific Western Airlines and absorbed into Canadian Airlines International.
The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada in the mid-1960s and still in production today. Built by De Havilland Canada from 1965 to 1988, Viking Air purchased the type certificate and restarted production in 2008, before re-adopting the DHC name in 2022. In 2023 DHC restarted production of the 300 series, in addition to the Series 400 produced by Viking.
The de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven, short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada. It was conceived to be capable of performing the same roles as the earlier and highly successful Beaver, including as a bush plane, but is overall a larger aircraft.
Wilfrid Reid "Wop" May, was a Canadian flying ace in the First World War and a leading post-war aviator. He was the final Allied pilot to be pursued by Manfred von Richthofen before the German ace was shot down on the Western Front in 1918. After the war, May returned to Canada, pioneering the role of a bush pilot while working for Canadian Airways in Northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories.
The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver is a single-engined high-wing propeller-driven short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft developed and manufactured by de Havilland Canada. It has been primarily operated as a bush plane and has been used for a wide variety of utility roles, such as cargo and passenger hauling, aerial application, and civil aviation duties.
A bush airplane is a general aviation aircraft used to provide both scheduled and unscheduled passenger and flight services to remote, undeveloped areas, such as the Canadian north or bush, Alaskan tundra, the African bush, or savanna, Amazon rainforest and the Australian Outback. They are used where ground transportation infrastructure is inadequate or does not exist.
Flying Tiger Line, also known as Flying Tigers, was the first scheduled cargo airline in the United States and a major military charter operator during the Cold War era for both cargo and personnel. The airline was bought by Federal Express in 1989.
The Eleventh Air Force (11 AF) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska.
A tundra tire is a large low-pressure tire used on light aircraft to allow operations on rough terrain.
Noel Wien was an American pioneer aviator. He was the founder of Wien Alaska Airways.
Allan Haines Lockheed was an American aviation engineer and businessman. He formed the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company along with his brother, Malcolm Loughead, which became Lockheed Corporation.
Clennell Haggerston "Punch" Dickins was a pioneering Canadian aviator and bush pilot. Northern Indigenous Canadians called him "Snow Eagle", northern Europeans called him "White Eagle", while the press dubbed him the "Flying Knight of the Northland".
Maxwell William Ward was a Canadian aviator and founder of Wardair Airlines, at one time the third-largest air carrier in Canada.
McGee Airways was an American airline, founded in Anchorage, Alaska, in 1932 by Linious "Mac" McGee. Starting with a single three seat Stinson airplane, the company grew and the fleet of aircraft expanded to seven Stinsons.
The de Havilland DH.61 Giant Moth was a 1920s British large single-engined biplane transport built by de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome, Edgware. Intended primarily for use in Australia, a number were also shipped to Canada.
Found Aircraft Canada was an aircraft manufacturer based in Parry Sound, Ontario. Found originally formed in 1946 to produce a new bush plane design, the FBA-1, but entered production in 1964 with the Found FBA-2. The original company ceased production of the FBA-2 in 1967. In 1994 the company re-formed and starting in 1997 placed the FBA-2 back in production as the FBA-2C1 Bush Hawk and FBA-2C2 Bush Hawk-XP.
The Fairchild FC-1 and its derivatives are a family of light, single-engine, high-wing utility monoplanes produced in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. The aircraft was originally designed to provide a camera platform for Sherman Fairchild's aerial photography and survey business, Fairchild Aerial Surveys.
Frank Archibald MacDougall was a Canadian pioneering forest ranger in Ontario, Canada. Known as the "flying Superintendent of Algonquin Park", he was important in the development of the park system in the province and for the use of airplanes in forestry.
The history of aviation in Canada began with the first manned flight in a balloon at Saint John, New Brunswick in 1840. The development of the aviation industry in Canada was shaped by the interplay of Canadian national ambitions, national and international politics, economics, and technology. Experimental aviation started in Canada with the test flights of Bell's Silver Dart in 1909, following the epochal flight of the Wright Brothers in 1903. The experimental phase gave way to use of aircraft in warfare. Many Canadians served in the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force during the First World War.
