Barkley-Grow

[Canuck Plumber]

Which would explain why some of the crashes ended as they did.

I took this today while going through some great archives at the museum today. According to these documents, BQM was restored to air worthiness.

[Canuck Plumber]

Found the company logo finally.

[Canuck Plumber]

I think I may have found the two missing BGs. While running through the archives at the museum, I stumbled on an article.

"Several other Barkley Grows were built, one being used for oil exploration in Columbia, South America, and another as a chartered executive transport in this country and still others in Canada."

CN 9 and 10?

[Antique Pilot]

I think I may have found the two missing BGs. While running through the archives at the museum, I stumbled on an article.

"Several other Barkley Grows were built, one being used for oil exploration in Columbia, South America, and another as a chartered executive transport in this country and still others in Canada."

CN 9 and 10?

I found a reference in the following website: www.airhistory.org.uk.

Says that Barkley Grow serial # 9 was ordered by the Tropical Oil Company of Columbia and assigned reg # C-113.
It appears that the order was cancelled, no dates are given.

AP

[TygardBird]

Just want to thank all of you for your posts. My Grandfather was Captain Harold Grow. He helped Barkley build this bird. If anyone wants to hear more about the "Grow" side of things, I'd be happy to boast! He was an early aviator, with family in Detroit. He went to Annapolis, married my G-Ma Betty, had my Dad-John. achieved the rank of Commander in WWI. Then Peru invited him to start their aviation school and industry. He couldn't say no. He made numerous flights in a bi-plane over the Andes in order to map the best route from Lima to the interior, where rubber plantations were located. He later was held Prisoner of War when President Leguia was overthrown. He was released and returned to the States. He then built the Barkley-Grow. They lost the company in a hostile takeover; not something they wanted. Then he joined WWII, achieved the Rank of Captain and accepted the surrender of the Japanese at Majuro in the Marshall Islands. He wrote a book about that too. When he was around his grandkids it was all about the kids. With his second wife Bea, he had 2 more sons, one who died tragically in a helicopter crash. His youngest son, Tom, lives in Florida and is an avid surfer.

[Canuck Plumber]

I have so many questions.

I found reference to your Grandfathers book titled, "Majuro Naval Air Base. Grow, Captain Harold B. (Atoll Commander, USNR)" but nothing is available online. I'll check at the military museum to see if there's a copy.

How did your Grandfather and Mr Barkley meet?

How was the hostile takeover hostile?

Do you have any pictures that you'd be willing to share of your grandfather with his aircraft company?

So exciting.

[Canuck Plumber]

CF-BQM

CF-BQM (serial number 8 ) left Detroit in 1940 with Leigh Brintnell at the controls on the 17th of May,1940 and arrived in Edmonton Alberta on May 21st. BQM went to work immediately for MacKenzie Air Service.
By June 28th of the same year, BQM was converted to floats and was flown by R.C. Randall.
BQM changed hands many times over the course of its life. MacKenzie Air became Canadian Pacific Ail Lines in 1942. At this time is was being operated out of Quebec. It was then sold to Associated Airways out of Edmonton in 1950 which was acquired by Pacific Western Airlines in 1957. It was sold later to F.R. Baker near west Vancouver the next year in 1958, and then Sioux Narrows Airways out of Sioux Narrows Ontario the following year. Parsons Airways then operated BQM in 1960 and three years later in 1963 it was sold and operated by Northland Airliners. A year later it was purchased by Dr. J. April from Montreal Quebec in 1970.

Poor old BQM then sat abandoned in Montreal from 1973 till 1977.

Then BQM was recovered by Roy Staniland and restored to airworthiness in 1978-79 and flown to Chestermere Lake Alberta in 1979.

In 1983 it was donated by Mr. Staniland to the Aerospace Museum of Calgary.

Although CF-BQM resides at the museum, according to documents uncovered at the museum, it is the only airworthy T8P-1 left out of the 11 units to leave Detroit.

[Canuck Plumber]

Our contribution to Remembrance day.

"Barkley-Grow T8P-1
CF-BMV

Crew:
Pilot Wade
Navigator Capt. Moe (AAF)

A plane borrowed from the far north reaches of Canada was brought in for a rescue attempt of a downed B-17. The aircraft has been reportedly found, but is too deep and too remote to recover.
On December 22, the plane took off from southern Greenland headed for the weather station on the east coast. The plane encountered strong headwinds and bad weather and ran out of gas one hour short of the weather station. The pilot crash-landed the plane on a frozen fiord on the east coast. The two men aboard the plane spent four days fighting their way through the elements until they came upon a group of Eskimo hunters who took them to their village and cared for them until the weather cleared. On January 2, 1943, the Eskimos escorted the men to the weather station. The elements became so bad that it was four more months before the two were returned to the continent."

[Canuck Plumber]

Merry Christmas all.

I've just learned that I've made an error in my research regarding CF-BTX and her pilot. Carl Brooks did die at Kawka lake in 1945 but he was not the pilot. A family member corrected my mistake. I hope they'll share some pictures.

[Antique Pilot]

Here is a view from inside CF-BQM landing on the Red River east of St. Andrews Airport, May 1968. Pilot Ralph Birch, young "Antique Pilot" in the right seat.

AP

[Canuck Plumber]

Great shot AP. It's been a while. I hope you've been well. It looks like the grand daughter of Commander Grow is coming to Calgary next month to visit the T8P-1. I know it's short notice but I don't suppose you'd be able to come out for a visit?

[Canuck Plumber]

[/URL]

[wieesso]

[quote="Antique Pilot"][quote="Canuck Plumber"]I think I may have found the two missing BGs. While running through the archives at the museum, I stumbled on an article.

"Several other Barkley Grows were built, one being used for oil exploration in Columbia, South America, and another as a chartered executive transport in this country and still others in Canada."

CN 9 and 10?[/quote]

I found a reference in the following website: http://www.airhistory.org.uk.

Says that Barkley Grow serial # 9 was ordered by the Tropical Oil Company of Columbia and assigned reg # C-113.
It appears that the order was cancelled, no dates are given.

AP[/quote]

You can find three photos of C-113 (ordered but cancelled) at a SPB in NY 1940 here

http://issuu.com/vintageeaa/docs/va-vol ... 2-dec-1991

at page 25. - But they mention a wrong location - it was in front of American Aeronautical Corp. hangar at Port Washington SPB on Manhasset Isle, NY

Fate of c/n 9 is unknown!

Martin

edit: hint to proper location!

[Canuck Plumber]

Thanks Wieesso,

I found a picture online of the Schlee Brock hanger (Pride of Detroit) which was later used as the production facility for BG. The interesting note here is the lack of change to the logo from Schlee Brock to Barkley Grow.



Cheers

[arrrthur]

Seems like it's been a while since the Barkley Grow T8P-1 has been discussed, but as soon as I came across this discussion I felt I should share some photos of CF-BTX inside and outside, at Kakwa Lake, British Columbia in the summer of 1988 (about a year before Coulson salvaged it).
It seems like the site requires one photo to be attached at a time, or is there a way to attach several? I have 11 images. Here's the first one.
Art
(my wings rusted off a long time ago...)

[arrrthur]

CF-BTX in summer 1988 - second & third photos - got it figured out now I think. There was a trail of aluminum bits about 200 feet long leading to the plane - first came parts of floats, then parts of the underside, then the two Pratt & Whitneys that had twisted under the wings and been knocked off. The right wing had been thrown forward and off the right side of the fuselage; the left wing was intact. I suspect there may be Barkley Grow doors and seats etc. incorporated into a few trapper's shacks around there...
I'll send a couple more photos then wait for moderator yea/nay on the rest. The flight deck/cabin photos may be interesting, as the fuselage structure is fully exposed, thanks to those old time trappers I guess.

[arrrthur]

Fourth and fifth photos of Barkley Grow T8P-1 CF-BTX in the spot where its career ended in 1945, Kakwa Lake, BC. Photos taken summer of 1988. Haven't seen the first photo show up on his forum yet but it seemed to go through OK. Photo shows right engine (had no propeller as found). The left engine had a bent prop, was clearly rotating on impact.
Also a photo of the CP Air logo.
Art

[arrrthur]

For geolocation enthusiasts, CF-BTX in 1945 came to rest at approximately N53.99608 W120.17316. That's decimal degrees; you can cut & paste it directly into the Google Earth search box. To me the scene suggested that the pilot had been making a final attempt at a left turn back to the lake. The plane was lying at roughly a 30 degree left yaw from the direction of the debris trail and the trail of aluminum seemed to have a bit of a left curve to it.

BC Parks personnel told a story (which you can take with as many or as few grains of salt as you wish) that the crash should have been 100% survivable for all, except that Carl Brooks, perhaps fearing fire and maybe from a sense of guide's responsibility, got out of his seat and stood poised near the cabin door in the last seconds, so was thrown forward. Everyone else was buckled in.

You could easily see that when the right wing separated, it did so just outboard of the right wing-root fuel tank leaving the tank intact.
Art

[Antique Pilot]

Arrrthur,

Thanks very much for those great pics and the write up.

Stills bugs me as to what became of the aircraft after the Calgary Aerospace Museum got it.

AP

[arrrthur]

You're welcome AP.
Might as well go inside CF-BTX... some photos of flight deck and cabin.
Art

[arrrthur]

Final 3 photos of CF-BTX at Kakwa: Wing used as a map table by my hiking friends; view out left flight deck window; and a closeup of the memorial plaque to Carl Brooks, which was attached to the fuselage at that time.

[arrrthur]

Hi again!
It appears that CF-BTX was used in scouting out a route for the Canol oil pipeline in the Yukon during World War II. Canol surveyor Guy Blanchet is in all these photos. The interior photo can't be unequivocally identified as CF-BTX but the other two can be. In the last photo you can see a bit of the registration on the wing, enough to recognize the "3D" font that was used on CF-BTX for the registration markings. From what I have read, Blanchet was an incredibly tough character even late in life.

On another note, there is a billboard not far northwest of where I live, on Highway 16 between Tete Jaune Cache and Dunster, BC, placed there I think by the Fort St. James tourism folks. It depicts a bush pilot with his head sticking out of a plane window. He's got an enormous broad grin. I suspect the billboard depicts Sheldon Luck who was no stranger to the Barkley Grow.

Check out this link:

http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_arch ... py=a124227

Art

[Antique Pilot]

Arrrthur,

Thanks again for posting those interior shots of BTX and the rare shots during the Canol project. Amazing history there. Are you by chance in the helicopter business out there in that beautiful part of BC?

AP

[arrrthur]

Not in the helicopter business, AP. Fixed wing license 1972, only used it a few times and never owned a plane. However I'm avidly interested in local history (any locality). I got interested in the Barkley Grow after flying in to Kakwa Lake with friends for a backpack trip south down the Continental Divide. I'd been told there was a derelict twin-engine plane there and saw it as we came in. First thing I did was walk over to it and document it.

I often research old aircraft, especially if I can determine the registration. Seems like every one of them has stories to tell!
Art

[Antique Pilot]

Hi again!
It appears that CF-BTX was used in scouting out a route for the Canol oil pipeline in the Yukon during World War II. Canol surveyor Guy Blanchet is in all these photos. The interior photo can't be unequivocally identified as CF-BTX but the other two can be. In the last photo you can see a bit of the registration on the wing, enough to recognize the "3D" font that was used on CF-BTX for the registration markings. From what I have read, Blanchet was an incredibly tough character even late in life.

On another note, there is a billboard not far northwest of where I live, on Highway 16 between Tete Jaune Cache and Dunster, BC, placed there I think by the Fort St. James tourism folks. It depicts a bush pilot with his head sticking out of a plane window. He's got an enormous broad grin. I suspect the billboard depicts Sheldon Luck who was no stranger to the Barkley Grow.

Check out this link:


http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_arch ... py=a124227

Art

The Canol Road project is not well known by a lot of folks. I have read that it was a tougher project than building the Alaska Highway in the early to mid 1940's. In May 1974 I was part of a crew flying an Otter out of Ross River YT along the old Canol Road pipeline route to the Godlin Lakes area. We were there for about 10 days flying drilling equipment to a camp. Beautiful wild country. There were still some of the old telegraph poles standing and large bunkhouses in places. I took video with an old
movie camera and have it somewhere.

Sheldon Luck's son is an old acquaintance. Sorry for the thread drift.

AP