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Aviation History
1929
1929 - 0869.PDF
FLIGHT, APRIL 25, 1929 THE ONTARIO PROVINCIAL AIR SERVICE A Canadian Fire-Fighting Organisation ONE of the most fully-equipped and well-organised repairand reconditioning plants in North America is thatmaintained by the Air Service of the Forest Branch of the Ontario Provincial Government at Sault Ste Marie Ont. This service operates 11 H.S.2L flying-boats, 10 Gypsy- Moth seaplanes, and a D.H.61 seaplane, primarily for forest tire detection and suppression, but in the five years it has been in existence, it has filled the need for flying service of the following duties in addition : aerial photography and timber type sketching ; emergency flights for both the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Provincial Police • the transportation of doctors and nurses for the Depart- ment of Health and of sick or injured from outlying parts of the Province ; in co-operation with the Department of Mines ; and in general inspections and surveys by the Provincial Minister of Lands, the Hon. William Finlayson Its flying hours have mounted year by year, and now reach an aggregate of almost 20,000 hours. During the summer months of fire hazard, the machines are scattered among a number of bases, each one provided with a comfortable cabin for the personnel, a cook who provides meals at any hour, and a shop for minor repairs engine changes and the like, lire detection work is carried out by the Moths, following a regular patrol system. When a fire is spotted, the machine continues a short way along its route until it reaches one of the frequent wireless transmitting stations that have been erected. Here it lands, the report of the fire is handed in, and the machine continues on its flight By this system, a fire discovered in the early part of the patrol does not cause the latter portion to be neglected, as would be the case if a report had to be carried back to the base, or to headquarters. Headquarters receives the wireless signal and passes it to the District Forester responsible for the area in which the rtre occurs. This official, knowing the disposition of his men and fire-fighting equipment, and also where to obtain addi- tional labour should it be required, makes his plans, and requisitions H.S.2L boats as transport craft to earn' the fire- fighting crew to the landing place nearest to the fire. This system has been found to work to the utmost possible advant- age and to give remarkable results in the speedy arrival of trained fire fighters, fully equipped, at the scene of action. On one fire which was spotted by a Moth at Cairn's Lake, 200 miles north of the Canadian National Railway lines last year, and which raged for between three and four weeks, 327 hours of flying were necessary. Practically no other way of reaching the spot existed, and men, tools, food, pumps, hose, petrol, and even-thing else was transported by air! Ihe weight of material flown in, including food for the crew amounted to 37,000 lbs., and all the non-consumable stores were flown out again. The upper picture shows the picturesque and comfort- able living quarters, at Remi Lake, provided for the personnel of the Ontario Provincial Air Service. In the lower picture, H.S.2L flying-boat hulls are being overhauled at the reconditioning plant, Sault Ste. Marie. AIR SERVICE : The D.H.61 seaplane on the slipway outside the hangar atCapt. Maxwell, Director of the Air Service, is in the centre of the picture. 339
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