Recovery canso, Tanker 702

[RuudLeeuw]

Hello,

came across this link
http://www.avcanada.ca/albums/displayim ... 2&pos=1070
to an image of Canso C-FNJE CV-437, Buffalo's Tanker 702.
The caption says recovery in progress.
No date to this image or the statement.
Anyone with more details ???
Was this the aircraft that a museum was trying to recover but
locals prevented this?

Thks
Ruud

[Cap'n P8]

Don't know much more about it, but I flew the guys that brought her up, in and out of Sitidgi.

Anyone else know if it's still sitting there?

[jspitfire]

Found this on the Catalina Society webpage, dated October 2006:
(http://www.catalina.org.uk/catalina-lat ... ticleid/15)

I have mentioned before that arrangements are well advanced for the 2007 Flying Boat Festival International that is intended to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the first trans-Atlantic experimental commercial flight. The celebrations will be centred on Botwood in Newfoundland but as part of the event it is planned that a re-enactment of that flight to Ireland will be made by a Catalina! It is now known that the aircraft involved is a former RCAF Canso A C-FPQM. Until recently part of the Buffalo Airways fleet at Red Deer, Alberta in Canada, ‘QM has been acquired by pilot Patrick White and, after a period of maintenance, it is flying again. Much more on this aircraft in our next edition of The Catalina News.

Speaking of Buffalo Airways, the following is an update on their Catalina fire fighting fleet. As previously reported in these pages, Canso A C-FOFI has flown to pastures new in Glendale, Arizona for a new museum to be set up there (see Issue 61). Canso A C-FUAW remains in storage at Hay River Airport, North West Territories. Another former Canso A C-FNJE was lost in an accident at Inuvik, NWT back in July 2001 but it was rumoured that the airframe was to be recovered from the lake into which it sank. Nothing more is known about this salvage attempt. Finally, despite Buffalo’s disposals, they acquired the former SLAFCO Catalina C-GFFC some time back and after remaining at its former base at Moses Lake, Washington for some time, it was flown, date unknown, to Red Deer, Alberta where it currently resides.

They also have a downloadable list of all surviving Catalinas: http://www.catalina.org.uk/downloads

[Siddley Hawker]

Hi Ruud, a bit of trivia for you.

C-GFFC used to be owned by Northern Wings when I went to work there. It was registered CF-IIW. We operated two Cansos, that one and CF-IHN. Both were sold in the US in 1969 by our parent company, Quebecair, to raise money to buy three BAC 1-11's from British Eagle. Both IHN and IIW were re-imported back into Canada by Flying Firemen, IIW as GFFC and IHN as GFFD. Along with the two Cansos, six DC-3's CF-TDR, TDT, SAW, QBI, QBM and QBB were sold as was L10 CF-TCC.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

FFC is now in Main, Joe sold it to a collector.

[Rudder Bug]

Hi RuudLeeuw,

I went to the site shortly after the incident in 2002, flying some ecolo locals there to check the pollution level on the beach. I got some close shots of the aircraft but not here. I will try to get them soon.

[RuudLeeuw]

Thanks guys, and looking forward to those pics!

Rudi
(that 'bug' is quite unnerving..)

[R1830]

As of last year it was still there, with no acticity towards moving it, and I haven't heard anything since I left the territories.

[Rudder Bug]

(that 'bug' is quite unnerving..)

Hi Rudi,

So my bug is bugging ya? Just smack it hard!

As I said, my close shots are on a hard drive that's still in Yukon but someone will send it to me shortly.

[Caracrane]

So Siddley you must have flown with my father one those PBY at Northern Wings. C-FQBI has been donated by M. Roger Pike when they ceased to fly her. She now has the name of Spirit of Harbour Grace and stand on a pole over there.

[Siddley Hawker]

Caracrane check your PM's.

[canso07]

Hello Ruud,

I maintained NJE that summer when she crashed. Myself along with a couple other people recovered her later that summer. I have a Yahoo group called CV-Canso. I have lots of photos of the recovery and how she sits there today. I can also tell the full story on her.
Here is the link - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CV-Canso/

canso07.

[RuudLeeuw]

Hi,
am aware of that, am a member of that group.
But don't recall any news on the recovery and decided to ask when I came across a pic.
Any progress forthcoming?