Are There any B-18 float drivers left

Cannonballer · Post by **Cannonballer** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:23 pm

Who runs the 18's in the Campbell river area?

zero · Post by **zero** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 8:06 pm

Vancouver Island Air

Hoov · Post by **Hoov** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 1:00 am

So in your opinion how come it didnt take off like the Otter or Twotter?

snoopy · Post by **snoopy** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 5:21 am

The Otters were designed for different purposes and manufactured by a different company than the Beech 18. The Otters are lift airplanes (high-lift, STOL aircraft), the Beech has a speed wing.

Or, if you are alluding to its popularity, the Beech 18 was a far more popular aircraft than either deHavilland product. Over its 33 year production history (1937-1969) over 9000 aircraft were built and they have served numerous purposes in numerous countries and there are a large proportion of them still flying world-wide. The Beech set a record for the longest production run of piston powered, multi-engine aircraft and I am not sure this record has been broken. Beeches have been army, air force, navy, military trainers, reconnaissance, aerial survey, skydivers, airline, bush, tourism, corporate, foreign diplomatic service, private aircraft and much, much more.

If you want to know more about the fascinating history of this aircraft and its many variants and purposes in life, there is an excellent book by Bob Parmeter: "Beech 18, A Civil and Military History". By far the best book ever written about this airplane.

A few other bush facts:
-There were a total of 87 float installations on Beech-18's
-The first 9 installations were a smaller float: Edo 7170 (same as the Otter with the R1340 engine)
-There were 56 installations of the Bristol Aerospace (Winnipeg, MB) kits on Edo 7850 floats (When I last counted a couple of years ago, 17 of those float-equipped aircraft were still flying actively in Canada and at least one in the US. We've lost one or two since then but still, that is a pretty good percentage still flying considering the original number)
-There were a total of 44 ski installations on Beech-18's,
-Four of the five known types ofskis (total of 37 installations) were designed and manufactured in Canada

The Beech will give you such a big grin on take-off, your head will split in half...

Cheers,
Snoopy

FSS · Post by **FSS** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 9:38 am

Does anyone know if C-FWWV is still flying? Last heard was down Ontario way.

Cannonballer · Post by **Cannonballer** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 2:21 pm

I believe that WV is Peter Kaye's airplane - Kaye Air of Ear Falls NWO

Cannonballer · Post by **Cannonballer** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 2:27 pm

I believe that WV is Peter Kaye's airplane - Kaye Air of Ear Falls NWO

snoopy · Post by **snoopy** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 7:07 pm

WWV belongs to Dave Beaschene at Nestor Falls Fly-In Outposts. Peter Kay has TBH.

Cheers,
Snoopy

zero · Post by **zero** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 9:23 pm

Yep, Kayair has TBH.

FSS · Post by **FSS** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 11:44 am

Tnx, nice to heard the old gal is still flying.

B18rules · Post by **B18rules** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 5:32 pm

have you flown WWV FSS?

FSS · Post by **FSS** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:43 am

Nope, it belonged to a good friend (now deceased) few years back out of YZF. Have painting of it in his memory hanging on my wall. There is also a flying picture of it in "Seaplanes & Flying Boats" by Bill Yenne. The photo was taken out of YZF, his son was driving it at the time. How it ended up in the book, no one knows. The painting is by Steve Daly, showing the old bird on floats. The paint scheme is different in the painting from when he owned it. A copy of the painting is hanging in the Av Museum in YWG. Couple weeks prior to his death, we were in the museum and he spotted it. I purchased a copy, only to receive it in time to display at his funeral. He said it was one of his favourites to fly..

Doctor Evil · Post by **Doctor Evil** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 11:54 pm

WWV is a real nice bird. The guys in Nestor Falls did a lot of work on it when it first arrived. It doesn't look anything like what it did when it left YZF.