Andreas Morgner wrote me this in Feb.2008 :
"Saw a possible new addition to your Wrecks of the North -section...
Adjacent to the small Unagan village of Nikolski on the southwest end of Unmak Island (way out on the Aleutian chain) is a gravel airstrip once owned and run by the USAF. Off to one side is an old DC-3 that used to belong to Reeve Aleutian Airways (tail number N91016) that had a little mishap in 1965 and has been there ever since!
Accident report: http://aviation-safety.net
The above photo is from 2004 which I found here: http://kiska.giseis.alaska.edu/Input/celso/okmok/photos/2004Okmok62.html
Maybe someone else has a better photo of it?"

A few facts:
In February 1946, Bob Reeve received a call informing him that some ex USAAF C-47s and DC-3s were for sale. Reeve bought his first DC-3, N19906, for $20,000 with $3,000 down and the balance payable over 3 years. The cost of conversion to civilian standard was quoted at $50,000 but Reeve did the work himself at a cost of $5,000.
A strike by sailors on steamships operating between Seattle and Anchorage started on April 6 1946. Reeve, along with Merritt Boyle and Bill Borland began flying between Seattle and Anchorage, with stops at Juneau, Yakutat or Annette Island. Each trip carried a full load of 21 passengers and took and average of 9½ hours. In 53 days, 26 round trips were made.
In July 1946, DC-3 N91016 was purchased from the USAF. In the Winter of 1946/7, Reeve filed with the CAA for a licence to operate on the 1,783 miles (2,869 km) run between Anchorage and Attu, and in the summer of 1947 he was making weekly flights down the chain. Within a year, he was running a twice-weekly service, keeping all four DC-3s busy.
[Source Wikipedia ]

http://www.geocities.com/alaskanheritage/REEVEFLEET.html N91016 w/o Nikolski,AK 29May65

Wikipedia on Nikolski and Umnak Island

DC-3 at Reindeer Lake, July 2006

In July 2006 a very unteresting thread was started by the King of Obsolete on www.avcanada.ca/forums. He published these 2 photos, with a link to the story on his website: http://kingofobsolete.ca/discovery_of_the_dc3_airplane_webpage.htm
The DC-3 crashed when take off failed; it flew for a lodge situated here. The King's website offers the link to the report on Aviation-Safety Network: it concerns here DC-3B-202A N139D (c/n 2027). Photos on the King's report shows Ozark- titles.
Found this website with a map of Reindeer Lake's location, assuming there is only one, in Saskatchewan.

Dirk Septer added to this (Oct.2006):
"The DC-3 at Reindeer Lake: damaged beyond repair July 10, 1969 at Malcolm Island, Saskatchewan.
This must be one of the hundreds of islands in this huge Reindeer Lake in northern Sask. I worked one winter north of there on Walleston Lake. We were flying out every morning on a Beaver on skis. In one of the doors was a metal tag from the Dutch firm of Aviolanda.
Most of the time we had a hard time finding a spot to land: thousands of migrating cariboo everywhere and where there weren't any of them the rough ice surface was often covered with windblown ice ridges, making landing very risky. A couple of mornings we went out on a Cessna 185 on skis: it's amazing how much abuse those landing gears can take!"

Read about how the King is planning to salvage this DC-3,
on www.douglasdc3.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=287

Joey "the King of Obsolete" has also found something written about this crash and the one mentioned further down, on Lynn Lake-
BOOK COVER - PAGE1 - PAGE2

This photo was published on that same forum and thread.
I have a feeling this concerns a DC-3/C-47 I paid a visit, see: C-47 in the Ruby Mountains.

Photo taken by 'Scudrunner'.

Aviation-safety Network report on this C-46 crash.

 

The King sent me this picture, which 'kinda' makes me want to put on my boots, grab the camera and go there...

Jackie Robinson sent me a photo taken on 16Nov07:

Joe Baugher describes an interesting history:
44-78630 (c/n 22453) to XT-526 Central Air Transport Corp., to N8311C.
To Flying Tiger Line Jan 1953 as N4879V.
To Cubana March 1954 as CU-T558, and to Ultramar April 1955 as N94593.
To Canadian Pacific May 1955 as CF-CZM and to Fairbanks Air Service in May 1974 as N802FA.
And subsequently back to Canadian ownership as C-GIXZ.
Another aerial shot found on AvCanada.

Brian followed this up with the following:
The wreck "near Thompson" is C-FCZH, which ran out of fuel and "landed in trees" as per the description:
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19770929-2 , which includes the following information: Curtiss C-46C CF-CZH (c/n 22515) of North Coast Air Services was written off 24km [15mls] SE of Thompson,MAN on 29Sep77 when it lost height due to engine problems and was force-landed in trees, while trying to return to the airport.

In Sep.2007 I received following email: Just to confirm Brian's story: that is indeed the C-46 out of Thompson, Sep 29, 1977... I was the Area Manager for Northern Manitoba for Transport Canada Flight Service Stations, based out of Thompson. I remember that one accident well, as they had just left Thompson (YTH) on a fuel flight (they had bladders of fuel on board), when they declared problems because of an engine failure and were returning to YTH. We had them on the VHF DF so as to keep a bearing on the flight (no radar them days) and when we could no longer communicate with them, a Transport Inspector (the name I cannot remember now), who was doing some inspecting in YTH, commandeered a chopper which was about to depart and flew the heading of our last bearing on CF-CZH and found the wreck within minutes! They landed and picked up the two pilots and flew them directly to the Thompson hospital. The injuries were fortunately minor. I believe the time from impact to hospital was within 30 to 45 minutes!! Probably a record for search and rescue! That afternoon we were treated to beers in the "Trappers" by the crew. Tom Gibson (ret.). ("Oh, there is a C-46 on Southampton Island, three miles off the end of the runway, I walked out to it in 1964 when I was a Radio Operator in Coral Harbour,NWT)."

Another sad C-46 Commando: CF-HEI.

This wreckage lies at Beaver Creek, though I have no specifics of where this is nor the date of the photo.
It seems this could (!) be Douglas C-54D 42-72469 (c/n 10574).

The photo was taken by 'scudrunner' who tells his tales on the AvCanada forum.
He wrote me (July 2008): "I am the photographer of the pictures from the Beaver Creek and the Ruby Range DC-3's. All of those pics where taken in 2005/2006. As for the Snag airport, last I saw the strip it was in beautiful condition. Check it out: 62°20'36.09"N 140°24'35.80"W
I am not quite certain but that aircraft lies some distance north of the snag airport, I will email some friends up there to see if I can get the exact location."

Sheldon Rose wrote me in June 2007:
"The DC-4 near Beaver Creek was actually destined for the airport (military) at Snag, in the 1950s I believe.
Snag no longer exists as a town; but it is still famous for the lowest recorded temperature in North America, -83.5F or something like that!
You can still see the outline of old airstrip in Snag in Google Earth. Beaver Creek is to the west of it.
I flew over the wreck a couple of years ago, but cannot recall exactly where it was."

Sheldon found more details on www.planecrashinfo.com/1950/1950-6.htm, which offers the following information:
January 26, 1950 (Time: ?), near Snag, Yukon Territory
Operator: Military - U.S. Air Force, flight: ?. Route: Elmendorf - Great Falls, MT
AC Type: Douglas C-54D-DC (DC-4), registration: 42-72469 (c/n 10574)
Aboard: 44 (passengers:36 crew:8). Fatalities: 44 (passengers: 36 & crew: 8)
Summary: Disappeared while en route.
This wreckage seem to be related to the DC-3 accident described on Mystery DC-3 in the Yukon, which was described to me as crashed during a search for DC-4, which to this day was never found. Both crashed in the same area on 26Jan50 and 07Feb50...

I used Google Maps to search for Snag (right) and Beaver Creek (below).

In Jan.2008 I received following email:
"I am contacting you regarding the January 1950 crash in the Yukon of an Army Air Force C-54. My great-uncle Mike Tisik was one of the pilots of this plane, and I was intrigued by the photo on the Abandoned Plane Wrecks of the North page..
Are you aware if anyone ever followed-up to confirm what that aircraft was exactly? Was the location ever visited after this photo was taken and ruled-out as something of interest? This is obviously important to my family for personal reasons, but I noticed around the web that there were still some folks out there with some interest in this aircraft after all these years. Are you aware of anything related to individual searches for this plane?
Brad
[I had to reply I knew of no initiatives whatsoever on this plane wreck, nor a 100 percent certainty it actually is Douglas C-54D 4272468 -Webmaster.]

This led to a reaction by Matt Miller (Feb.2008):
"After more research into the RCAF Dakota history I came to a conclusion about the wreckage at Beaver Creek in your Wrecks of the North-page. I have to agree it is not C-54 42-72469...
In early February 1950, Canadian and US forces were conducting 'Exercise Sweetbriar' in the Yukon. On 16Feb1950, a RCAF Dakota force-landed on a small frozen lake about 8 miles from Snag,YT, about 8 Miles east of the Alaska highway and about 20 miles from the border with Alaska; no fatalities.
Your picture certainly shows a small lake and it is in the correct vicinity. The crash was survivable which is
consistent with the data you have. I have still to uncover the identity of the Dakota, possibly 664 or KJ936."

That same thread provided also these 2 photos of a Bristol Freighter... A sad sight!
Klimman123 provided these photos and also this clarification:
The Bristol Freighter is laying on the shore of Beaver Lodge Lake in NWT; about 150nm northwest of Yellowknife.
From what I could find out, it seems it went through the ice one year while servicing a uranium mine in the 1960s. It was hauled on shore and salvaged.

Heard it belonged to Max Ward back in the ol'days. I didn't get a chance to poke around her or find out it's registration. Found it just 3 weeks (July 2006) ago."

I would welcome the name of the photographer for a proper credit.

Aad van de Voet provided the following details: "This is Bristol 170 Freighter Mk.31 CF-TFZ, c/n 13139, which was flying for Pacific Western Airlines at the time. It crashed there on 30 May 1956, only two months after PWA had acquired it..."
Thanks Aad!

Dirk Septer added the following:
"It was one of the three originally purchased by Trans Canada Airlines (later Air Canada). These aircraft were totally unsuited for this airline's requirements and were soon sold off to smaller Canadian operators.
CF-TFZ crashed on May 30, 1956 after only flying with Pacific Western Airlines for 2 months. It was damaged beyond repair after the undercarriage sank through the ice. Upon landing the port landing gear broke through the ice and the aircraft fell on its wing, bending the spars and crushing the sides of the fuselage....
The remains were later hauled onto the shore and stripped for parts. It was then left there on the shore.
Many off these Bristols had short careers with Canadian operators, mostly lost during landing accidents. Lambair, for example, lost two (of all the four they owned!) like this. One was in service with them for only two months too, while the second was lost after flying only 35 hours for them!"
Dirk Septer

Sean Barry zoomed past and sent me these photos, which I believe were taken in Feb.2007

In July 2007 Dean Steer sent me photos of the 1956 accident, taken by his father Keith Steer at the time!

In Dec.2007 I received following email:
"The salvage rights for the Beaverlodge Bristol 170 have been secured from Air Canada (AC is the successor firm to Pacific Western Airlines). I am trying to find a museum or preservation group who would be willing to recover and restore the plane.
Unfortunately, several Canadian museums have begged off due to the anticipated high costs.
I also reached out to the people at the Bristol Aero Collection but that may not fly as they were already finalizing arrangements for a Bristol fuselage in Australia.
If you know any museum people..???

Anyone with any sightings (or fate) after Dec.1970 of Lambair's Bristol Freighter CF-WAC:
Bill of sale recorded 20Nov70 from Wardair to Lambair Ltd, The Pas,MB, and registered to them that date. Lasted only 37 flying hours with them before being lost in a non-fatal landing accident when it crashed 19Dec70 at Trout Lake, Manitoba, (95.50 N 90.00 W) on landing in muddy conditions.
Swung off runway and substantially damaged fuselage and wings. WFU with TT 11,707 hrs. Canx 7 Apr 71.

This is a Canso, about 25 mile NE of Sioux Lookout.
Mark Stachowiak had seen and photographed it while flying by, he returned for a closer look and better pictures...
Mark wrote: "the lake is called Jackson Lake, it's about 6 miles S of Adamhay Lake (Top NE corner of the Large Lac Seul); I took these pictures in Oct.2006."

C-GFFJ is a Canso PBY-6A, it has c/n 2066.

Its aviation history is like this:
Operated by Sonora Flying Service, Columbia,CA 1962-1966 with tailnumber N6456C, airtanker no.38.
Jack R. Ulrich of Chiloquin,OR bought it in 1969.
With Hemet Valley Flying Service (Hemet,CA) during 1972-1978.
It flew as tanker E84 (later simply 84).
It was damaged by fire while on the ground at Stockton,CA in 1977.

Came across this photo of Buffalo's C-FNJE Tanker 702 (PBY-5A c/n CV-437) at the AvCanada website, click here for a larger image.

It flipped over while scooping water Sitidgi Lake, NWT 24Jul2001. It was recovered from the seabed and brought ashore for repairs.

Curtis voluteered the following on the CV-Canso Yahoo forum:
"The Alberta Aviation Museum in Edmonton is trying to recover it as Buffalo Airways donated 'NJE to the museum about one year ago.
But the local native people in the area of Inuvik have been giving Buffalo (and now the museum) a hard time about the aircraft being on their land and about crossing their land to bring CF-NJE to Inuvik for further transportation south...
There are no heavy lift helecopters in the NWT, so the only way to get NJE to Inuvik is to tow her in the winter on ski's across the native land."
In March 2008 I was informed 'NJE had been sold by Buffalo A/W to a private party, Don Wieben of Alberta. During April he and his son Greg went over to have a look; this resulted in a move (after almost 7 years of desolate storage) on 20Apr08, when transport reached Dempster Highway and headed for Inuvik that day.
The ultimate goal is to restore 'NJE to flying condition, tour the western Canada air shows and do one epic journey with it... Go for it!!

Sean Keating made me aware of this wreck, he wrote:
"I found this on Google Images…. by typing in “dc-4” it was on the first page… (property of www.warbelows.com, image direct link www.warbelows.com/images/Village Pictures/Venetie/VEE DC4 Wreck.jpg )
This may be good to display on your "abandoned plane wrecks of the north".
I have no idea if the Carvair picture is recent or not, maybe they can tell you."

The story of the crash of N103 (ATL-98 conversion no.7, ex DC-4 cn10273) can be found on Aviation-Safety Network :
(28Jun97) The Carvair took off from Venetie for a VFR positioning flight to Fairbanks. The aircraft was climbing when the number two engine on the left wing began to run rough. Soon thereafter, a fire warning light for the same engine illuminated in the cockpit. Fire was visually confirmed, the engine was shut down, and both banks of fire bottles were discharged. The fire continued to burn, and the number two engine fell off the wing. The captain was forced to carry out an emergency landing on a sand and gravel bar in the Chandalar River.

Andreas forwarded me this link: www.dced.state.ak.us/dca/commdb/images/Venetie_planecrash.jpg which shows the following image:

Dirk Septer provided the text and photo:
In 1953 two Convair B-36 Peacemakers went down on Canadian soil. On February 12, 1953, B-36H Serial 51-5729 from the 7th Bomb Wing crashed on a hill near Goose Bay, Labrador. The bomber ran out of fuel while holding for traffic at the SAC base in Goose Bay. Two crewmembers in the rear compartment were killed in the mishap.
Blair Rendall visited the wreck in 1978. "It is in two pieces but you could spend a week there going through the wreckage. At that time there was 5,000 rounds of ammo still on it! I crawled in the tail and there were two boxes there on the fuselage, either side, with printing: 600 rounds 20-mm each. The ammo was still neatly stacked in the boxes as it was 20 years before."
A month later on March 18, RB-36H-25, Serial 51-13721 got off course in bad weather and crashed on Random Island, Newfoundland. This was the B-36 in which Brig. Gen. Richard Ellsworth and a number of others were killed. The aircraft had very nearly cleared the top of the 600-foot hill overlooking Smith Sound. In honour of Gen. Weaver Ellsworth AFB near Rapid City was later renamed Ellsworth AFB.
Today, a surprising amount of wreckage is still visible. The crash site remained virtually undisturbed since the U.S. Air Force salvaged it in 1953. A well-groomed trail, about one kilometre from the road, leads to the wreck.
Sean O’Brien, who visited the site in 2000, gives the following description. "It isn’t quite as remote as it may have been in the '50s. The tail section is intact and perfectly upright. I counted seven engines in the area. There are large sections of wing scattered everywhere. Oddly, there was remarkably little fuselage evident. But maybe local people salvaged some of that. Certainly, most of the armament was. I saw an electrically operated cannon mounted on a workshop wall of a local youth, who had only dragged the gun from the scene years ago. And locals tell me that there are truckloads of bits and pieces sitting in cellars in all nearby towns. "
A few years earlier, on February 13, 1950, U.S. Air Force B-36B strategic bomber 44-92075 ('075) the crashed in northwestern British Columbia. The giant aircraft belonging to 436 Squadron, 8th Air Force, 7th Bomb Wing, 7th Bomb Group (H) of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) was en route from Eielson Air Force Base (AFB) near Fairbanks, Alaska to its home base at Carswell AFB at Forth Worth, Tex.
Besides carrying 252 pounds of 20-mm aircraft cannon ammunition, the aircraft had an 11,000-pound Mk. IV atomic fission bomb on board, similar to the one dropped on Nagasaki, Japan in August 1945. "Lost Nuke", a Discovery Channel production, follows three Canadians, Dirk Septer, Jim Laird and John Clearwater to the crashsite in their attempt to unravel this mystery of the U.S. military’s very first "Broken Arrow" or loss of a nuclear bomb.

Joey "the King of Obsolete" has also found something written about the crashes mentioned by Marc McCrimmon (and the 'Ozark DC-3' earlier up this page)-
BOOK COVER - PAGE1 - PAGE2
Joey would like to recover the Beech 18 but has no experience in salvaging a plane wreck from the water, advise welcomed !!!

On the AvCanada another interesting item appeared: about a B-29 surviving in Northern Greenland. Those with aircraft preservation at heart will understand the drama when an attempt to recover B-29 "Kee Bird" went awfully wrong in the summer of 1995...

"Finally after two years of work they are ready for the flight back to Thule. The plane has frozen into the mud and snow, and it takes maximum power to break the wheels free. The nose wheel can't be controlled, and at slow speeds, Darryl has to adjust the engine power to steer the plane. Finally, it is moving in a wide circle, out onto the lake, on its way toward the end of the runway. The plane is bounced and shaken by the frozen snowdrifts. Suddenly, smoke can be seen pouring from the windows in the cockpit. The auxiliary power unit, a stand-by generator, was thrown from its mounting in the rear fuselage, and caught fire."

See HERE how it sits now (2008).
The failed 'Kee Bird' recovery was discussed on
AvCanada forum. More details here on www.dhc4and5.org

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