Sick and Questionable, F-11 Husky CF-SAQ

[oldtimer]

Back in the late 60's, I flew a Fairchild F-11 Husky CF-SAQ when it was owned by Parson's Airways LTD. of Flin Flon Man.
I heard that the airplane ended up in B.C where it was repowered with an Alvis Leonides engine. Has any oldtimers on the B.C. coast ever heard of or remember this fine old underpowered boat anchor arplane?

[Siddley Hawker]

That's the one they used to call Sad And Queer when it was at Austin.

Don't know what happened to it after it went to the West Coast. I seem to remember there was a total of four that were converted to -2 status with the Alvis Leonides engine, SAQ may have been one of them. It must have been a pretty good machine with that engine in it.



I can't remember where I got this picture, it was taken at Moosonee in the early/mid sixties some time.

[xsbank]

Jack Anderson and that guy who owned Harrison Airways converted them, I think. I think SAQ ended up in Rupert as a hangar queen (ca 1976), another was sunk at YBL and one ended up totally restored in Harrison's hangar but could never be certified due to a lacking data plate (or some other trivial reason!).

[The Barrel Man]

I might be wrong but is Sad and Queer in the Sault museum?

Crazy to sit in the front of the ST-27, 19 seat turboprop with a cockpit smaller than a Cessna 150

[CJ3PILOT]

I might be wrong but is Sad and Queer in the Sault museum?

Crazy to sit in the front of the ST-27, 19 seat turboprop with a cockpit smaller than a Cessna 150

Sorry but the Husky in the soo is CF-EIR

[oldtimer]

Thanks guys.
SH - that Husky on skiis carries the same paint scheme as the one I flew. It was a grey scheme with red wings, a red speed line and a red stripe on the tail. It said "The Husky" in script on the fuselage red stripe, just aft of the cockpit door. Hank Parsons bought it from somewhere in Ontario in 1965 or 66.

[Spinner]

***Current Information, directly from the Official Canadian Civil Aircraft Register database.***

Aircraft Information

Mark: CF-SAQ
Common Name: Fairchild Model Name: F11-2
Serial No: 8
Basis for Eligibility for Registration: Type Certificate - CAR Standard 507.02 (1), 507.03 (3) - A17
Category: Aeroplane Max take-off weight: 3084 kgs
Engine: 1, Piston
24-bit address: 110000000010111110011001
Regional Office: Vancouver
Base of Operations: CANADA , British Columbia, Campbell River

Manufacturer Information

Manufacturer: Fairchild Aircraft
Country of manufacture: CANADA Year of Manufacture: 1946

Registration Information

Type of Registration: Commercial
Owner Registered Since: 1974-04-18
Latest Certificate of Registration Issued: 1974-04-18
Certificate of Registration: Cancelled 2001-06-17

Last Registered Owner Information

Name: Island Airlines
Address: Box 1510
City: Campbell River Province/State: British Columbia
Postal Code: V9W 5C8 Country: CANADA
Region: Pacific
Mail Recipient: Yes Invalid Address: Mail has been returned from the Post Office as undeliverable.

[Go Guns]

I think my Dad did medevacs with these machine out of Rupert in the early eighties. If that's the case, I also worked with a mechanic that worked on SAQ. As I recall, he did say it was quite the hanger queen.

[lazyboy]

I know the late Gary Thompson had one in Buffala Narrows,I believe in the early 80's

[Siddley Hawker]

Oldtimer the red, white and grey were Austin Airways colours from about 1963 onward until the company was purchased by the Deluce brothers. I was at Austin in Moosonee 1966 for six weeks on contract during the goose hunt, and the only black airplane they had left was Rusty Blakey's Norseman in Sudbury.

[VRC9170]

The Husky that Northcoast Air had in Prince Rupert was sunk in the harbour in a low level down wind turn in the 80's. It was subsequently removed and placed in a museum in Richmond, B.C

Can anybody confirm this?

I also was told That Jack Anderson did the first Leonidis engine conversion

Is that correct?

RB

[xsbank]

Island Airlines sunk one - likely the one that's been de-registered. Island Air was bought by Coval which was bought by... somebody else. Island has been defunct for years.

Was the Gary Thompson, mentioned above, the same as the owner of Thompson's Camps and Nipawin Air? How did he die and when? I flew for him in the 70's.

[sammy]

There's a Husky sitting in St. Andrews in the big long red hanger .I think it may belong to the Winnipeg Museum The wings are off it and are crated but the fuselage stands there waiting to be restored, I assume. Good to see it's not gone to the wreckers.

[squawk]

Sid

The last time i saw SAQ was in the Winnipeg museum about 4or 5 years ago. I am pretty sure her original regs was F-EIR of Nickel Belt Airways in Sudbury. circa 1940's. could be wrong, have before!
Cheers

[oldtimer]

I have not been able to trace the ancestry of all the Husky's built but CF-SAQ and CF-EIR were two different airplanes. CF-SAQ was purchased new by Saskatchewan Government Airways. They had a bunch of CF-SA-- registrations.

[Siddley Hawker]

Sorry squawk, oldtimer is correct. According to Larry Milberry, there were 4 Huskies converted to -2's. A Vancouver company called Knight, Cadenhead and Rogers converted EIM and MAN, West Coast Airlines did SAQ and Island Airlines did EIR. There were plans to build a Super Husky with the 600 hp Leonides 531. The airframes were to have been built in Japan, with final asembly and sales in BC.

[xsbank]

Would that have been Slim Knight?

[1000 HP]

The Husky at St. Andrews is/was CF-MAN. I picked it up in Whitehorse in 1998 (with a truck as it had been crashed in the bush on floats) and delivered it to the WCAM's compound in St. Andrews along with a DeHavilland Dragon Rapide from Prince Rupert.

[rum-runner]

The Husky at St. Andrews is/was CF-MAN. I picked it up in Whitehorse in 1998 (with a truck as it had been crashed in the bush on floats) and delivered it to the WCAM's compound in St. Andrews along with a DeHavilland Dragon Rapide from Prince Rupert.

CF-MAN was operated by Air North, crashed north of Mayo, Yukon.

[185_guy]

All you Husky lovers, check this out! Hopefully this will become a become into being, and not just a dream!!!

If I had a million dollars............

http://www.vazar.com/fairchild-husky-ai ... oject.html

[Hedley]

If I had a million dollars

BNL needs to update their lyrics. Something like:

If I had a million dollars
I'd get a chippie in Syracuse

If I had a million dollars
I'd buy me some coke

If I had a million dollars
I'd buy me a floatplane
A real floatplane, that's cruel

If I had a million dollars
I'd crash me that floatplane
My pax would think that's cool

If I had a million dollars
Tom Cochrane could teach me to fly

If I had a million dollars
It would all go bye-bye

[Hornblower]

I'm sure others have heard the quote from I believe one of the OPAS test pilots that said something to the effect of: "it didn't so much take-off, but skim across the surface of the water until the earth fell away below it"

... choice

[imarai]

[1000 HP]

CF-MAN at Whitehorse prior to loading, late fall of 1998. Bob Cameron in charge..

[xsbank]

Imarai, love that photo of The Spit (YBL).