CF-TFX (cn 13137) is a Bristol Mk.31 Freighter: not many of these around anymore!

Its first registration was supposed to become G-AMRV for the Bristol Aeroplane Company Ltd, but this was not taken up. Instead it became CF-TFX for Trans Canada Air Lines ('501') upon its delivery on 30Sep53.
Two years later it was obtained by Central Northern Airways (23Dec55). By merger it went to Transair Ltd in Jan56 and on 10Mar58 Wardair bought it.
Its active career was terminated in Feb68, when it was stored. It has been preserved here at Yellowknife, to commemmorate Max Ward and Wardair.
Dirk Septer added the date; "TFX was preserved as a monument on June 22nd, 1968".
If you decide to visit CF-TFX: make sure you bring plenty of bug repellent!

Robin Weber (Archival Technician, NWT Archives www.nwtarchives.ca) replied to my query for info on since when 'TFX has been preserved here in this way: here is a copy of the article in the YELLOWKNIFER, AUGUST 16, 1996 (pdf format) stating "bought from Wardair in 1970, later hoisted to its current location". I don't see an exact date of month mentioned, though.

Bristol Freighter CF-TFX, high on its pedestal but the trees are growing higher and higher!

The book THE ARCTIC FOX by the man himself, Don C. Braun (co-written by John C.Warren; Back Bay Press, 1994 and a forword by Max Ward) has chapters about this very Bristol Freighter CF-TFX, its use by Wardair in the Arctic North and also a chapter about how CF-TFX became the first wheel-equipped aircraft at the North Pole (in 1967, pilot: Don 'the Fox' Braun himself!).
The first wheel-equipped aircraft to land on Antarctica suffered a much less dignified fate: DC-4 N44915 was scrapped except for the cockpit section.
There is only one other Bristol Freighter in more or less airworthy state and I found photographed it a few days ago at the Reynolds Transportation Museum.

Another Bristol Freighter, C-FWAE, is preserved in Winnipeg's Western Canada Aviation Museum.

Parked next to C-GWZS is C-GJKM.

C-GJKM on Airliners.net

To learn a little more about the area these aircraft operate on, see the Yellowknife article on Wikipedia.org; it also has a map and information on mines and mining in the Northwest Territories.

According to BuffaloAirways.com these DC-3's can haul some 6.000 lbs (2700+ kgs).
I have a page of general info on the versatile Douglas DC-3.

Let's have a look inside C-GJKM...

In May 2019 C-GJKM had an incident: "Friday 3 May 2019 - Buffalo Airways Flight 169, a Douglas C-47A Skytrain (DC-3), was enroute about 20 minutes into the 55 minutes flight when the right hand engine failed. The crew attempted to return to Hay River, however, had to perform a forced landing in open terrain 9 kilometers from runway 32. Both pilots were not injured." ¬aviation-safety.net (ASN)

Here is a 'regional anecdote, Ken Lubinski wrote me:
"Around the late-1970's, gold had hit the high. There was a lot of aircraft activity around Yellowknife.
I staked a lot of claims for mining companys in the bush. If you had a existing claim, you had to do x-number of $ work to a claim to keep the title and a lot of new claims were being staked...
I spent a couple of summers (and some winter months) staking and working small claims. The work entailed blasting some rock to look like exploration work was being done or blazing a trail and marking corner posts on a new claim. One of the last of the old time bush pilots was Jim MacAvoy. I did a lot of flying with him in a old standard DHC-2 Beaver.
One day, it was mid summer, Jim was to fly me to a job. With my gear, dynamite and some supplys for another camp. The plane was loaded very heavily (probably overweight). As we taxied out to the centre of the bay, the wind was very strong. On calm water, you just apply power untill the floats begin to come on top and skim the water, then up you go. On large waves, it is not that easy to get on top, because you are always ploughing through, hence a lot of drag...
As we ventured out farther into the bay, trying to gain speed, the waves grew larger. I distincly remember every third or forth wave hitting the prop and the windscreen would be covered in water! Like someone throwing a pail of water at it. It got worse and worse...
Jim must have looked over at me and seen that "deer-in-the-headlights"-look... He yelled at me over the roar of the radial engine "can you swim?". I yelled back "NO, SO GET THIS DAMM PLANE IN THE AIR". He laughed, pulled back and up we went..!
Was not so funny at the time...

Sure did, Ken! (See also Ken's photos on Abandoned Plane Wrecks of the North and Photos by Friends & Others).
Jim McAvoy had a brother, Chuck, who disappeared on a flight on 09Jun64, only to be found by accident in 2003. details here. And more details on Jim's career would be welcomed!

An excellent read about flying in the Arctic North, is THE ARCTIC FOX, by the man himself, Don C.Braun; he mentions the McAvoy brothers in his chapter 'Many Searches, Few Rescues':
Chuck McAvoy took the Fairchild 71 up into the Barren Lands to move two prospectors and all their gear. He and the propectors and the Fairchild disappeared from the face of the earth and were never seen again.

Jim MacAvoy passed away on 21Nov2009.
MCAVOY, James (Jim) (b. 17Sep1930) - One of the renowned northern bush pilots, Jim passed away peacefully at this home outside of Thorsby on Saturday, November 21st. He leaves to mourn his wife of 58 years, Betty, children Lynette, Jim and Jack, his grand- and great-grandchildren.
Jim's flying feats were legendary in the north.
He obtained his pilot's license at the age of 16 and flew the skies over the N.W.T. until he retired to his acreage south of Thorsby. His life revolved around flying and he was an avid supporter of the Edmonton City Centre Airport and its importance in aviation history. In his later years, he was a devoted grandfather and great-grandfather.
Donations may be made in honor of Jim's memory to the Alberta Aviation Museum.

I love snooping around...! They should give guided tours here: what is that wreck there, another Beech Baron? (Little did I know that the popular tv series Ice Pilots would lead to just that at Yellowknife: guided tours!).
Of course, when the series Ice Pilots aired for a number of years, the popularity here increased and tours did become the thing to do here!

Avgas fueltruck and clutter

C-FBAA / 12 Douglas C-54D C-FBAA has c/n 10653.

It was delivered as 42-72548 to the USAAF on 03Apr45; the US Army Air Force was renamed US Air Force (USAF) and its registry was revised acordingly on 18Sep47.
It was stored in the desert of Arizona, on Davis Monthan AFB during Oct71.
On 18Oct78 it was registered as N4994H for Aero Union Corporation and converted for use in a new role: that of aerial firefighting. And so it became 'Tanker 12'.
I saw it at Chico,CA in 1996, when it was for sale by Aero Union.
It became CF-BAA for Buffalo Airways in April 2002 (my own records record a purchase and ferry flight in 2001) and in spite of this recent purchase it has been stored here at Yellowknife, after spending a period at Red Deer,ALB.

C-GBPA / 16 has been stored, but could be made to work probably..?
For its history details (and more) photos see my Yellowknife Day 1 account.

For general information on the Douglas DC-4, see my DC-4 Info Page.

C-GBPA was reported in August 2010 as having been taken out of the storage area, into the hangar, and work was being done on it!

Buffalo's DC-4 C-GBPA / Tanker 16; old markings,'506',peeping through..

C-GBPA registration under the wing

Note 'NAVY'-titles up on the fuselage

Let's have a look inside C-GBPA...

Ballast put forward to weigh it down, preventing it to sink backwards

Equipment in detail

Spraytanks inside Buffalo's Tanker 16, DC-4 C-GBPA

Tanks for Tanker 16's use in the role of aerial firefighting

Inside Buffalo's Tanker 16, a look at the overhead panel in the cockpit of C-GBPA

After a few hours of sunshine the clouds started to roll in again. But I just kept on looking, nothing nicer than unhurriedly stroll among these planes and work that shutter...

So here I was and I had another good look at C-FAVO...

The Lufthansa 'Crane'-symbol survived on 'AVO when it was operated by Air Manitoba in the late-1980s; retaining the Lufthansa insignia in spite of Buffalo's fine livery was Joe McBryan's idea and I applaud it !
So how did this insignia come about in the first place? Read on for a history lesson on this Curtiss C-46D Commando c/n 33242-
This C-46 was delivered as 44-77846 to the USAAF during Feb45 (USAAF becoming USAF on 18sep47). It was probably stored somewhere for a number of years as I doubt whether the USAF continued to fly it until 1961.
N9891Z was its first civil tailnumber, Capitol Airways obtained it on 08feb61.
Lufthansa of Germany leased it in March 1964 and Capitol Aws had it returned in Nov69. So that is when it had the insignia applied!

Shamrock Airlines purchased it on 12jan73 and at first I assumed this meant it continued to operate in Europe, from Ireland. But Fred Austin (retired captain, formerly flying for/on Intermountain/C46, Rosenbaum/C46 and Zantop/DC6) corrected me: "Shamrock Airlines, was a US commercial operator base in Atlanta,GA in the early 1970's. Around 1974 they moved their operation up to Detroit's Willow Run Airport. Joining Zantop, Ortner, Intermountain, Mannion, ONA, Century, and another half dozen DC-3,DC-6,C-46, the occasional Connie, operators they hauled auto parts around the country all night long!"

The Lufthansa 'Crane'-symbol adorns Curtiss C-46 C-FAVO of Buffalo Airways at Yellowknife

Let us continue down that crooked path of history...
Plymouth Leasing Company bought it 05apr74 and on that date Ortner Air Service started a lease.
Trans Continental Airlines leased N9891Z in 1976 and the Detroit Institute of Aeronautics bought it on 31mar78.
Owners continued to change rapidly: on 04May79 we see Landy Taylor Aircraft Sales making the investment of ownership, quite successfully as on 11May79 Evans Aviation Inc made the purchase.
Northland Air Manitoba registered it C-FAVO on Dec87, changing their name to Air Manitoba in Dec90.
And Buffalo Airways bought it in June 1994.

So good to see it operational ealry-2019, featuring in the Planesavers episodes on Mikey McBryan's YouTube channel.
For more on 'Planesavers' see Photos by Friends & Guests #56 and page #57

Let's check the innards of this beast...

Checking out the airtanker base... Buffalo maintains a role in that business of aerial firefighting too.

While the airtanker base seemed deserted as anything else here, I stumbled into a group who were being shown around by Gary (Law? Lord?). I was allowed to join the guided tour of friends/relatives and considered myself lucky.
I knew other Canadair CL-215s have been refitted with turbo engines, so it came as no surprise to hear that these Scoopers are candidates for such modification too.

The first 2 Canadair CL-215's arrived in April 2004, bought and flown over from Croatia.

C-GBPD/291

Fire retardant storage

C-GBYU, Northwest Territories''

The 'Birddog' C-FCGE is a Beech 95-A90 (c/n LJ-118, manufactured 1966, registered to Buffalo Aws 10Apr03.

Let's have a look inside one of the CL.2015's..

Part of scooper system I think, for that is how the CL.215 reloads

C-GBYU, Buffalo Tanker 290

UK-12002 is an Antonov An-12V with c/n 402002.

Besides the large SRX titles (if it is an abbreviation I don't know the meaning) it has subtitles www.srx.aero operated by Aeroleasing (which has aircraft based in Florida).

In May 2007 I was able to put good use to knowledge of availability for charters by this An-12...

An-12 UK-12002 of SRX

N404LC is Lockheed L-100-382G with c/n 4763.
It was registered on 19Nov98 to Lynden Air Cargo (of Anchorage,AK).
This Herc was manufactured in 1977. Pics on Facebook in 2019 showed it at Kingman,AZ with most parts missing.

I saw N404LC also make numerous flights but had no way of checking their destination. As I had no car at my disposal, I did not venture to the ramp near threshold of rwy 09, where the Herc and the An-12 were handled. Next time I will get a car!

Here is Google Map link that will show the situation: map or satellite photo or click on the thumbail for a screendump I made:

This link will also provide much information on Yellowknife Airport

With great interest I read Allan MacNutt's book "Canada's Arctic Sovereignty" (available from Mac's Aviation Books, Abbotsford,BC; fax +1 604 859-3218), describing in detail about Canada's wealth of buried resources, the bloated bureaucracy of the Territories and the culture of the northern aboriginals but also about their deplorable lifestyle.
Among the many minerals to be found in the north, oil, natural gas and diamonds are the biggest news at the present time. Tantalum has been found in the Yukon and this is very valuable for surgical equipment, cell phones and computer science. A new find near Yellowknife is Bismuth and this is valuable to medicine. Other minerals could prove of great value too. Gold has been the most lucrative mineral in Canada, but will soon be replaced by energy products: gas and oil.
Diamonds have caused a boom in the Northwest Territories, comparable to the Yukon Gold Rush in 1898. Yellowknife has shown rapid growth; it was originally developed as a gold mining area and has a highway to the south; it is now a boomtown for the Canadian diamond trade, but the Arctic North is largely an undeveloped area in terms of infrastructure (roads, seaports, etc). Many issues, including of a cultural and environmental nature, need to be adressed too. Grab and run will prove to be ruinous in the long term.
Al MacNutt is a retired pilot and the book covers many aspects of flying in these parts, too.

Meanwhile, back in the hangar... another look at C-FBAJ.

Ron McBryan suffered in patience many a foolish question by me and of course at the end of the day I did try to remember all the bits of news...
One of the replies, on flighthours on these 'Skytrucks', I think FBAJ was considered to be at a lowly 17.000 flighthours, while GPSH (the 'Freightliner') had some 70.000 hrs on the airframe.
I hope I understood these figures are correct... Will verify on some future visit!

Piston power!

C-GCTF was again taken out by Ron, for another no.2 testrun. The only help I could offer was to put the chocks in place.

Unfortunately the result was, again, not to Ron's satisfaction.
I did not mind: I suffer false notes in a Radial Performance just as gladly!

DC-4 C-GCTF of Buffalo Airways, spouting smoke!

Ron McBryan checking the rumbling pistons, not yet quite satisfied with the harmony there..

DC-4 C-GCTF of Buffalo Aws

This brought my travels through Alaska and Canada almost to an end...
The next morning I showed up at the airport for my Canadian North flight to Edmonton, connecting to my Martinair flight to Amsterdam, only to find Canadian North had advanced the schedule to such an extend that I had missed the flight!
After an 8 hour wait in the cafetaria, watching one thunderstorm afer another and suffering the power failures and bad food, I flew to Vancouver via Calgary and made my way back to Amsterdam, two days late...
In the end it wasn't all bad as Canadian North payed a big chunk of the costs I suffered in this and I met someone in Vancouver whom I can forever call a friend!
So this long trip ended somewhat unorganised, with some considerable mood swings but this trail was concluded on a high note!

www.buffaloairways.com/photogallery

As per 01Jan07 the Transport Canada online database (broken link, may 2014) gave 45 records of Buffalo Airways aircraft currently on the Canadian Register; mind, some aircraft may still be owned by Buffalo Aws but due inactivity taken off the Register: e.g. C-54 C-FBAK was reported at Hay River during May06, but is not on the Register.

I am indebted to the unlimited hospitality displayed by the staff of Buffalo Airways and my heartfelt thanks go to Ron McBryan and Mike Handley for their time, patience and generosity !
Sources of information:
Production List of Piston Engine Airliners (TAHS, 2002)
The DC-3: the First Seventy Years; (Air-Britain 2006)
Website Transport Canada tailnumber search (EN)

Back to My visit to Yellowknife... Day 1 !
Back to CANADA -2006-

Besides at Red Deer and Yellowknife, Buffalo Aws also has a base at Hay River,NWT with aeroplanes located there as well. But DC-4 C-GXKN was absent from all three... GXKN (c/n 36090) had an 'extended stay' at Norman Wells, where it crashlanded on 05Jan06:

Registration : C-GXKN Operator : BUFFALO AIRWAYS LTD.
Manufacturer : DOUGLAS Operator Type: COMMERCIAL
Model : C-54G CARs Info: 705 - AIRLINER
Injuries: Fatal : 0 Serious : 0 Minor : 0 None : 4 Unknown : 0
Occurrence Summary :
A06W0002: The Buffalo Airways Ltd. Douglas C54G-DC, registration C-GXKN, operating as flight BFL1405, had departed Norman Wells at 16:52 MST. Six minutes later, on climb-out, the crew declared an emergency due to a fire in the number 2 engine (Pratt and Whitney USA R-2000). At the time the fire was discovered, the no. 2 engine stopped due to internal damage. The fire bottles were discharged with little result.
Coincident with the feathering of no 2 propeller, the no 1 propellor auto-feathered while the engine was at climb power. The crew were planning an emergency off-field landing when the fire extinguished, and the flight returned to Norman Wells for an uneventful 2 engine landing at 17:04. Normal braking was not available during the landing roll and emergency braking was applied. The aircraft departed the runway surface and came to a full stop in deep snow approximately 60 feet from the edge of the runway. The aircraft sustained substantial fire damage but there were no injuries to the four crew members on board.
GXKN made the way back to Hay River in Oct.2006 in true bush-style: by river barge!
See photo on Flickr.com
However, C-GXKN did not get the chance to return to airworthiness, as it was used to repair damage on C-GPSH at Carat Lake... Images on my page Photos by Friends & Guests, page 8.

Ice Pilots on You Tube

This Buffalo Airways vintage transport, a WW2 Curtiss C-46 Commando (of which Buffalo has two) with 4 crew members crash-landed while making for an emergency landing in Deline, N.W.T., on Sep. 25th.
Initial reports showed that nobody was injured in the incident.
It seems there was an engine problem and the C-46 while fully loaded has great difficulty staying in the air on one operating engine. So it diverted to the airport at Deline, but ran out of altitude shortly before reaching it.
This concerns C-GTXW, see report Aviation-Safety.net (ASN)

UPDATE Dec.2015:
"Transport Canada has grounded the operations of Buffalo Airways, the popular northern airline chronicled over six seasons on TV's Ice Pilots NWT, due to safety compliance issues."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/buffalo-airways-suspended-1.3346524

From www.hayriverhub.com/2016/01/buffalo-airways-cleared-to-resume-flights/ (part):
The Hay River-based company was notified around 4 p.m., Jan. 12 (2016) by the regulator that the suspension issued Nov. 30 had been lifted, said Bruce Jonasson.
"It means that we're going back to work," he said shortly after receiving the update from Transport Canada
A spokesperson with the federal department did not immediately return a request for comment.
During the six-week suspension, the company was prohibited from flying. To maintain service, it hired chartered flights for cargo and passenger service.
However, on Dec. 24, the company ended chartered passenger flights to Hay River.
The company's cargo flights will be the first to resume service within days, Jonasson said.
"The passenger service to Hay River is on hold for the moment," he said.
That's because the company won't immediately be able to jump back into regular operations.

The company also hired Sol Taboada with DTI Training as a consultant to help address issues raised by Transport Canada.
In a news release last year, the department said it acted because of the company's "poor safety record."
Jonasson said the company worked hard to address the corrective actions required by Transport Canada.
During the suspension, Jonasson said the company was still paying its employees.
"It's been awful over the Christmas season," he said about the impact on staff.
He estimated the financial impact was in the range of $1.5 million.
Transport Canada has previously said it would only allow the company to fly once it had demonstrated it could safely operate. ./end quote

I am not sure if passenger flights were taken up during 2016 (Inquiries thru email & facebook went unreplied,
Buffalo being tightlipped as usual).
In march 2017 I came across "Canada's Buffalo Airways ends regular DC3 pax ops" (dated 15Mar2017) on www.ch-aviation.com/ but I could not read the news item due lack of a 'pro account'.
The Buffalo Airways website stated at this date (15/3/17) "All Passenger service has been temporarily postponed, sorry for any inconvenience."
A rather terse quote from Mikey McBryan was relayed to me: "For the moment there are no passenger DC-3 flights planned and not for the foreseeable future. The current business model does not allow it. Buffalo Aws has currently (March 2017) three cargo DC-3s online for the daily freight schedule."