Bush plane

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An American Champion Scout. Note the oversized tundra tires, for use on rough surfaces. Bush plane.jpg
An American Champion Scout. Note the oversized tundra tires, for use on rough surfaces.

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. [1]

Contents

Common traits

A bush plane is defined by how it is used, and many different aircraft with different configurations have been so used over the years. However, experience has shown certain traits to be desirable (though not mandatory), especially on aircraft specifically designed as bush planes.

Current and historical bush planes

Years in brackets are of first flight.

Aviation museums with large collections of bush planes

See also

Related Research Articles

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1932:

Queen Charlotte Airlines was a Canadian airline founded by Jim Spilsbury that operated on the West Coast of Canada from 1946 to 1955, when it was sold to Pacific Western Airlines. Though the airline grew out of a bush flying operation, it became the third largest airline in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry</span> Ontario provincial government department

The Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry is a government ministry of the Canadian province of Ontario that is responsible for Ontario's provincial parks, forests, fisheries, wildlife, mineral aggregates and the Crown lands and waters that make up 87 per cent of the province. Its offices are divided into Northwestern, Northeastern and Southern Ontario regions with the main headquarters in Peterborough, Ontario. The current minister is Greg Rickford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norcanair</span> Defunct Canadian airline

Norcanair was the name of a Canadian airline that existed from 1947 to 1987, and again briefly in the early 1990s and from 2001 to 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Aviation Museum</span> Aviation Museum in Sandston, Virginia

The Virginia Aviation Museum was an aviation museum in unincorporated Henrico County, Virginia, adjacent to Richmond International Airport. Erected in 1986, the museum housed a collection of some thirty-four airframes, both owned and on-loan, ranging from reproductions of Wright Brothers kite gliders to the still state-of-the-art SR-71 Blackbird. It was a subsidiary of the Science Museum of Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lamb Air</span> Defunct Canadian airline, 1934–1981

Lamb Air Ltd. was a Canadian airline that began operations in 1934 in The Pas, Manitoba, and went out of business in 1981.

The Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada is a museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The museum opened to the public in its new location on 21 May 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre</span> Aviation museum in Ontario, Canada

Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre (CBHC), located on the north bank of the St. Marys River in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, is dedicated to preserving the history of bush flying and forest protection in Canada. It was founded in 1987 by a group of local volunteers to preserve the province's history in bush planes and aerial firefighting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum</span> Aviation museum in Maryland Heights, Missouri

The Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum, located at Creve Coeur Airport in Maryland Heights, Missouri, United States, is dedicated to restoring and preserving historical aircraft. The airplanes in the collection are all fabric-covered, and most are biplanes from the inter-war years. The museum's volunteers maintain most of these aircraft in full working order. This is one of the largest collections of flying classic aircraft in America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alaska Aviation Museum</span> Aviation museum

The Alaska Aviation Museum, previously the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum, is located on Lake Hood Seaplane Base in Anchorage, Alaska. Its mission since 1988, is to preserve, display, and honor Alaska's aviation heritage, by preserving and displaying historic aircraft, artifacts, and memorabilia, and to foster public interest in aviation and its history. The museum has over thirty aircraft on display, a restoration hangar, flight simulators, two theaters, and a Hall of Fame. It provides an emphasis on historic aircraft, aviation artifacts, and memorabilia that contributed to the development and progress of aviation in Alaska, including Bush flying, and the World War II Army base on Adak Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum</span> Aviation and automobile museum in Oregon, United States

The Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM) is located in Hood River, Oregon, United States, adjacent to the Ken Jernstedt Memorial Airport. WAAAM is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization committed to the preservation of, and education about aviation, automobile, and other historic transportation-related relics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vintage Wings of Canada</span> Aviation Museum in Quebec, Canada

Vintage Wings of Canada is a not for profit, charitable organization, with a collection of historically significant aircraft. The facility is located at the Gatineau-Ottawa Executive Airport, Quebec, Canada. It was founded by former Cognos CEO and philanthropist Michael U. Potter. Most aircraft in the collection are in flying condition, or being restored to flying condition.

Star Air Service, later Star Air Lines and Alaska Star Airlines was an American air service in Alaska from 1932 to 1944. With financial help from a wealthy Alaska miner, three pilots who had started a flying school and charter business in Seattle, shipped an open-cockpit biplane by steamship to Alaska in March 1932. Star Air Service was incorporated in April, 1932 in Anchorage with capitalization of $4,000. The company had some early success training student pilots, but their airplane was destroyed in a crash. Their financial backer helped them purchase a larger plane with an enclosed cabin which supported winter operations.

Port Townsend Aero Museum is an aviation museum located at Jefferson County International Airport in Port Townsend, Washington.

Air Fecteau was an airline that operated primarily in Quebec, Canada.

The Golden Wings Flying Museum was an aviation museum located in Blaine, Minnesota.

The Mid America Flight Museum is an aviation museum located at the Mount Pleasant Regional Airport in Mount Pleasant, Texas.

References

Citations

  1. "Bush planes used in areas where roads do not exist". Archived from the original on 2016-11-01. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
  2. Anderson, 2004, p.82
  3. Foster, 1990, p.74-79
  4. Foster, 1990, p.189-191
  5. Foster, 1990, p.174, 190
  6. Foster, 1990, p.191
  7. Anderson, 2004, p.31
  8. Foster, 1990, p.97, 102, 175
  9. Foster, 1990, p.156
  10. Foster, 1990, p.64-65, 156
  11. Foster, 1990, p.191, 197
  12. Foster, 1990, p.43-45
  13. Foster, 1990, p.48
  14. Cole, 1986, p.4
  15. Foster, 1990, p.74, 131, 188
  16. Foster, 1990, p.139
  17. Foster, 1990, p.105, 200
  18. Foster, 1990, p.173, 190
  19. Foster, 1990, p.199
  20. Foster, 1990, p.199, 201
  21. Foster, 1990, p.202, 207, 210
  22. Foster, 1990, p.177, 188
  23. Foster, 1990, p.204
  24. Cole, 1986, p.34-38
  25. Foster, 1990, p.135
  26. Foster, 1990, p.107, 115, 138
  27. Foster, 1990, p.136, 138
  28. Cole, 1986, p.49-55
  29. Foster, 1990, p.4
  30. Foster, 1990, p.53, 56-57
  31. Foster, 1990, p.52-53, 56-57, 70-71
  32. Cole, 1986, p.39-42
  33. Foster, 1990, p.152, 155
  34. Foster, 1990, p.207-208
  35. 1 2 Foster, 1990, p.197
  36. Foster, 1990, p.204, 208
  37. Foster, 1990, p.36-41
  38. Foster, 1990, p.180
  39. Foster, 1990, p.101-102, 158, 166, 188.
  40. Foster, 1990, p.180-181
  41. Foster, 1990, p.95-98
  42. Foster, 1990, p.142-143, 174, 188
  43. Foster, 1990, p.195, 198
  44. Cole, 1986, p.45-48
  45. Foster, 1990, p.47
  46. Foster, 1990, p.194

Bibliography