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Aviation History
1929
1929 - 0622.PDF
FLIGHT, MARCH 28, 1929 WESTERN CANADA AIRWAYS CARRIES ON T those who are accustomed to thinking of the savingseffected by air transport in terms of hours, or at themost, days, the vast economy of time attained in north-western Canada must seem almost fantastic. There it is that this new industry shows the most remark- able contrasts with the older and hitherto only available forms of travel. Pitted not against railways and fast steamships, but against the two primitive northland methods of transportation, the canoe and the dog-team, it is no wonder that the aeroplane is able to cut off not only days, but weeks, and in some instances even months. A recent example will serve perfectly to illustrate this statement. On January- 23 last, a Western Canada Airways' Fokker Super-Universal set out from Waterways, the northern terminus of the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway, 305 miles from Edmonton, for Fort Smith, some 400 miles still farther north. The arrival of this machine rejoiced the inhabitants of the little Mackenzie River settlement with their Christmas mail. The last previous mail delivery at Fort Smith was in September, and but for aircraft, the Christmas mail would not have arrived before next June, when the river steamers start to run for their short summer season. Passengers, furs and mail constituted the return cargo, and the trip is scheduled to be a weekly one in future. Western Canada Airways, the sponsors of this service, have played and are playing a very important part in the development of the northland. Commencing operations upon the arrival of their first Fokker Universal at Hudson, Ontario, on Christmas Day, 1926, within a few months they were bringing in two more similar machines. With these three machines, in the period ending April 30, 1927, the company carried 250 passengers, 50,000 lbs. of freight, and flew 34,000 miles. The operations included the transportation of 14 men and eight tons of material (including 800 lbs. of dynamite) from Cache Lake, at the head of construction on the Hudson's Bay Railway, to Fort Churchill, and the successful completion of the contract made possible the subsequent decision to make Fort Churchill the ocean terminus of the railroad. In the summer of 1927, during which time the fleet was increased to seven machines. Western Canada Airways carried 950 passengers, 240,000 lbs. of freight, and flew 120,000 miles. One of the outstanding single achievements of that year was the transportation of 40 men and 35 tons of material, including petrol, diamond drills and other mining equipment to Cold Lake for the Sherritt-Gordon Mines, Ltd The country over which most of this work was dcwle is extremely difficult for surface travel. In the summer it is largely muskeg, or swampy, broken ground, dotted with lakes and watercourses. Canoes are the only practicable means of ground transportation, on account of the frequent portages between separated bodies of water. In the winter dogs are used. Vast mineralised areas abound, many of which had never been prospected. Fur-producing empires, hitherto reached, A » NOSE-BAG HANGAR " : Our sketch shows'an ingenious arrangement whereby Western Canada Air- ways can carry out minor repairs and adjustments to the engine in comparative comfort during winter conditions. Orthodox hangars are few and far between, but these small huts can be put up almost anywhere. if reached at all, by long and arduous dog-team joaraeys,are now within a few hours' flight of the main-line cities of the Dominion. Floats are universal equipment in summer, and skis are used in winter, the flat surfaces of the many lakes, whether liquid or frozen, providing ideal aerodromes throughout the year, except for brief periods in autumn and spring, when the ice is forming or breaking up. Needless to say, hangar accommodation is rarely available, which has led to the WESTERN CANADA AIRWAYS : Some of the machines employed by W.C.A. ; (Top) A Boeing flying-boat, based on Vancouver. (Left) The summer base at Opawika Lake, with a Fokker " Universal " fitted with floats. (Right) Fokker » Universals," fitted with skis, on the frozen surface of Cold Lake. 256
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