31 May 2010

My last entry for the month of May. John Nealon sent this shot of N4793C (296) looking rather forlorn at the edge of Figure Eight Lake. I hope she can be carefully salvaged from this location, and brought back to her usual pristine condition. Glad everyone is okay.

Photo: CAP © May 2010

30 May 2010

Further to my entry on 28 May 2010 about the Canadian Forces Lockheed CP-140 Aurora 140105, well it seems that Pierre Gillard was on station when it landed at St. Hubert! Small world eh? Thanks for the image Pierre - Merci.

Photo: Pierre Gillard © 28 May 2010 15:41 EDT

If you want to see a very interesting and varied website, check Pierre's out. You can find it here - Pierre Gillard's Website.

Today I am getting the June 2010 DHC-2.COM Calendar page ready for your viewing pleasure ;-)

29 May 2010

Our regular photographer/correspondent John W. Olafson, with his recent image of C-FDHC (1677TB45) in her latest Seair livery, just added his 900th accepted image to Airliners.Net. No mean feat, way to go JWO! I see image 901 was also added today!

Photo: John W. Olafson © 12 May 2010

28 May 2010

Nice visitor in the form of CFC Lockheed CP-140 Aurora 140105 (285B.5704) "Pathfinder35" did the customary couple of passes of the Royal Military College. Next stop, St. Hubert, Québec. He climbed up to FL150 for the IFR flight there.

Photo: Neil Aird © 28 May 2010 14:55 EDT

Another accident to report, N4793C (296) a Civil Air Patrol de havilland DHC-2 Beaver flipped. Three on board got out okay. 24 May 2010

Photo: Unknown photographer © 24 May 2010 - from www.

This is a big weekend for the folks of the Canadian Air & Space Museum at Downsview. Their annual "Wings and Wheels". Our friend Ken Swartz provided this unique shot of two Canadian Icons. The Avro CF-105 Arrow (Replica) and de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver C-FETE (1204) shown here receiving final checks before leaving for Ottawa/Rockcliffe and her summer at the Canada Aviation & Space Museum there, giving Flightseeing rides. Best wishes to Rideau Air's exciting venture - be sure to take a ride.

Photo: Kenneth I. Swartz © 25 May 2010

25 May 2010

Ben Cogger just gave me a heads up that the Alaska Airman's wonderful web-cam is showing two Beavers at the dock this morning. Here's a screen capture of N121AK (121) looking great in the early morning Lake Hood light. Thanks Ben. interesting aside. The web page of N121AK has the identity id985_m.htm!

Images: Alaska Airman's Web Cam © 25 May 2010

My attempt at stitching two images together ;-)

23 May 2010

Taking this Victoria Day Holiday Weekend off from the Web-site.

Just one brief comment about yesterday, May 22nd - a special day for me as my Dad, James B. Aird, was born one hundred years ago! Sadly, no longer around, but often in my thoughts.

20 May 2010

N5CC (1167) travelled to this event, taking 10 hours from Oslo. Relaxing after the long flight!

Great poster, but event marred somewhat by this - not so unusual - amphibian seaplane accident. An experienced Captain too.

19 May 2010

Here is a grand image of 52-0960 Douglas C-124C-DL Globemaster (43869) USAF-MATS from Bob's collection, just added to the Prestwick Portraits page.

15 May 2010

Feeling a bit more settled today and busy scanning some images sent to me by a school-chum, Robert Webster, who now resides in the United States. Quite something to get a call from someone you knew very well some 53 years ago, I moved from that school in 1960! We had a lot of fun in Denmark on a school trip as fifteen year olds, when "Webbie" and I played "hookey" and travelled to Kastrup Airport for a day, leaving our "guards" mystified, and somewhat annoyed.

Today I will be adding a new banner shot, a great "historic" image of an L-20A of the USAF taken at Goose Bay in Labrador, where several were stationed. My thanks to Robin Cooper for sending scans of these photos taken by his Grandfather Eugene Cooper.

14 May 2010

Hi everyone. Sorry for the lack of normal service, I have just spent five days under the care of the fine folks at Hotel Dieu "Urgent Care" and Kingston General Hospital. "King Beaver" was AOG. "A-Fib" was the reason. The long and short of it is that I have now to pop a pill morning and night. I'm happy to be back here at "Beaver Lodge" with Danielle. I'm back up in the cab, taking things easy. I might not be as busy as usual over the next few days while I adjust "to things". My thanks to the staff of KGH for getting me up and running again.

07 May 2010

Lots of noise today at 12:14 EDT. A Beaver went by the studio. I was busy shooting other items with the camera, so did not have correct lense on. Looked at the aircraft and hit the radio - "KC3" aha, I know who that is. C-GFRN (330) of Irving Oil. I changed frequencies and heard him talk to Montréal and ask for "flight following", he was heading for Drummondville, Québec. Sources tell me the aircraft was having some work done on it during the winter. Not often I get to see a new Beaver ;-)

Photo: Steven R. Peck © 09 October 2009

It was rather strange that I should see this particular aircraft today. My good friend Steven R. Peck who took the above picture, retired this very morning from his career with NavCan . . . so maybe no more nice snaps from "the room with a view". I'd like to wish Steve all the very best for his "retirement" years. I know he has been looking forward to this day. Happy "trails" bud.

01 May 2010

Today I have been continuing with my archiving of Eddy's negatives. It is a long job. I shoot the negatives on a light table and convert to positive paper copy which I then place behind each negative sheet in sleeve, in a huge binder. I will later document each aircraft from his logbooks, and add that information. Then I have to scan each negative! Maybe not all at once, eh Eddy?

Just who is this Eddy I talk about? Here is a picture of the two of us outside some cottage door in Southern England on one of my visits to see Robert and Verity. They both managed to visit Danie and myself here in Canada.

I have had the pleasure of having my painting "Denali Denizen" gracing the hallowed walls of the Vintage Wings of Canada library at Gatineau Airport, Québec. What a nice place to "hang out".

Photo: David Graham © 12 April 2010

30 April 2010

The end of April already, and, surprise, surprise, the May 2010 DHC-2.COM Calendar page is ready for you all to download. Now all I have to do is reformat the website for the merry, merry month of May. The stunning action image by Rick Church shows Tom Radatzke having some fun with C-FXUN (1299) with those grand Tundra Tires on a Fraser River Gravel Bar.

25 April 2010

It's amazing how quickly the images add up. Now five hundred non Beaver pictures on my Aird Aviation Archives section of the website.

Another Sunday has rolled around. While Danielle fund-raises at the Kingston Market all day long, I will be working on some more of my favourite images from "Eddy's" collection. To start the day, some "Tankers" - I added some more photos of the beautiful Boeing KC-97L Stratotanker. Shown here 52-2630 (16661) of the Ohio ANG., demonstrates for the public the tanking configuration. Quite dramatic with the jets in action.

Photo: Robert A. Edwards © Aird Archives

23 April 2010

Been working away steadily on more of Robert A. Edwards - Eddy's great negatives. I was unable to get to these locations, especially the Greenham Common and Fairford RIAT's. Now I can, through Eddy's negs. Each requires some work, but that is a great pleasure. Here's a sample. D-8266 and D-8257 two Netherlands Air Force Lockheed F-104 Starfighter before they break to land.

18 April 2010

I've been trying for "years" to get a contrail crossing the moon. I thought, just for a moment, I'd see N738MA B738 (32799) "Diane" "BSK623" routing KIAG - CYJT at FL350 "fit the bill" - alas, even twisting and contorting myself at the skylight window, I came close, but, as they say, no coconut!

Photo: Neil Aird © 16:39 EDT 19 April 2010

Over the recent days, I have been adding more nostalgic images to my Abbotsinch page. Gordon Macadie had the foresight to take some snaps of the storage areas at the 1961 Air Show. Almost all the airframes he "snapped' were turned into saucepans, with the exception of the FAA Skyraiders and a few that made it into museums, or onward to India as "spare parts". I have a few more to add after I "tweak" them. Many thanks Gordon!

17 April 2010

Last night EC-GPB Airbus 340-313X (193) "Teresa De Avila" operating Iberia's "IBE6274" cruised by my window heading to Madrid from Chicago.

Photo: Neil Aird © 19:04 EDT 16 April 2010 FL329 7nm south

This morning, I checked the European airspace, and only the very southern high level airspace was active. A couple of Eurocopter EC-225LP, G-ZZSI (2736) at 950' inbound and G-ZZSG (2714) both of Bristow Helicopters at 3,000' outbound, were working the rigs off the east coast of Scotland near Aberdeen.

16 April 2010

I've been monitoring the European Airspace since yesterday morning. Just now, 14:06 EDT, I was "in the cockpit" of TF-FIX Boeing 757-308 (29434) "Hengill" of Icelandair "ICE431" en route back to Iceland from Glasgow. Here is a screen shot from the virtual cockpit. About FL270 in the climb over the western coast of Scotland.

Left: Google Earth - Right: Plane Plotter

I'm used to taking pictures of high flying aircraft from my studio, but on 13 April 2010, the tables were turned! The wee red dot is the location of "Beaver Lodge".

Photo: Bill Hann © 17:41 EDT 13 April 2010

My friend Bill Hann sent this fine early evening image of Kingston, Ontario, as he cruised by at FL390 in C-FEWJ B737 (32769) "Westjet 398".

Bill wrote:

I know you take pictures of passers-by through your porthole, but did you know the passers-by were taking pictures of you?
From FL390 WS398 Apr13/10.
Nice wx you're having.
Bill

Earlier in the day I did take a snap of RA-76950 IL-76 (2053420697) operating Volga-Dnepr "VDA6220" from Colorado Springs to Gander. It was at FL330.

13 April 2010

Had a couple of friends (Alexis and Aad) advise me that G-BVER/XV268 (1648) is finally inside and being worked on at Cumbernauld, Scotland. After many years of being outside in the Scottish climate, this is very good news. (from a report by Alan Park)

My fondness for the old "Strat" shows. Terry Aitken recently sent me this close up of 53-0276 after seeing her in my Monthan Memories.

Terry wrote:

Neil,

I was sent a link to your pictures at Monthan.  Being in the the Air Force (SAC) from 1962 to 1965 I found a lot of these pictures bringing back many memories.  I was an aircraft electrician and worked on the KC-97G and stationed in Dover Delaware. Two pictures of the KC-97's were from Dover; 0283 which was a "G" model, note the 11th ARS patch symbol on the nose.  The other was 0276 of which I am enclosing a picture of during an open house on base. Your site is great and I will have to visit more often.

Regards,

Terry Aiken

10 April 2010

About to try and reinstall my Local Network. I've been having problems with it for a few days now, so this morning I am building it from scratch. If I vanish for a while, you'll know why! Hopefully I will be back to add a Beaver at some point.

I've added another page to Aird Aviation Archives, European Air Arms. Images by my pal Eddy. What a treasure trove, you can see why I have been distracted of late.

08 April 2010

Photo: David W. Menard © April 1964

Some things take longer to resolve than others! Today, thanks to info gleaned by A/1C David W. Menard back in April 1964 at Misawa AFB in Japan. He climbed in and inspected the plate of N1102T (264) and then took some snaps. I had this machine as c/n 1079, which is what the FAA had in their records. Well, Dave said this machine had been 51-16494 (264) before being transferred over to the Base Aero Club. The FAA used the Army Number "1079" as a c/n (s/n) , not the first time they have done that! So today I wiped N1102T from the record page of c/n 1079 and she now has her own page, and we have a New ! Beaver. I can't say I can keep up this pace of adding New ! Beavers, but I think I do have a couple more coming up soon ;-) - Thanks Dave.

03 April 2010

Well the 2010 April DHC-2.COM Calendar page is up for you all. Enjoy. Thanks to Bob Kobzey for the image. Remember Canon Matte Photo paper is best (in my opinion - but any would do), I'm off to Staples to get some more ;-) I need a Calendar on my wall!

01 April 2010

Since C-FPBJ (1613) took to the air just the other day at Campbell River, I thought it would be appropriate to select Bob Kobzey's fine study of her for the April DHC-2.COM 2010 Calendar page. It will take me a day or so to get that online. Here's a glimpse.

Photos Bob Kobzey © 29 March 2010

31 March 2010

End of the month and a "heads up" as what is coming up in the next few days. Am solo here in Beaver Lodge for ten days. My Danielle will be off in HB-IQA Airbus A330-223 (229) Swiss International "LX87" at 17:00 today from Montréal to Zurich and onward tomorrow to Barcelona on "LX1952".

I received an envelope yesterday, via UPS from Dayton, Ohio. David W. Menard has loaned me some precious slides, negatives and prints to scan and add to the website. What treasures. A few New ! Beavers to swell the site. Thanks Dave.

I will not be adding a Beaver today, so that's it for March 2010. I'll try to have the April DHC-2.COM Calendar PDF ready in the next few days also.

26 March 2010

Was on my way home from the funeral of an Aviation Artist pal Chris Driver, so decided to pay a brief visit to my local airfield CYGK. Some of you may not have had a good look at this long-nosed DHC product before. We call it affectionately "Gonzo" and the one here is 142804 de Havilland CT-142 (080) CAF 402 Squadron.

24 March 2010

The other day after I uploaded the image of a French Navy - Aéronaval Lockheed SP-2 Neptune, my pal Peter Reardon sent me these two shots of an awesome Aussie retrieval and eight year restoration job on VH-LRR at Illawarra Regional Airport by the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society!

I noticed D-ABVO operating "DLH440" again today, I thought that it might be fun to take a snap in the same spot...pretty close. Here it is with the 16th March image to compare. Slightly different athmospheric conditions and altitude. Today FL35,975 - previous FL37,975 over my studio.

Photo: Neil Aird © 13:43EDT 24 March 2010 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXPhoto: Neil Aird © 13:16EDT 16 March 2010

23 March 2010

Quite the important day for me here. Got a clean bill of health at my Hospital check-up today. No need to go back ;-)

CD arrived from UK with some important historical images for my research and my parallel webpages. Thanks to Gordon Pearson. I will be adding some of his images in the near future. Gordon has sent many images from Turnhouse, Prestwick, Renfrew and a few other Scottish locations. Here is a sample, 44-9146 Douglas C-54E-15-DO Skymaster (27372) USAF at Prestwick in the late 1950's.

Photo: Gordon Pearson © 1950's

22 March 2010

A big day here in the Beaver Lodge...I scaled up the main page, the Blog will follow next. Most folk have larger monitors and I think these pages will now conform to the average size of screen. When I started the website "way back" I made it conform to the majority of monitors out there. I will not be able to enlarge the whole website!! If I did, I would never, never catch up...even finding the original files would be an overwhelming task! The website is just too big. ;-)

20 March 2010

James Craik sent me these two snaps from his collection. They show a mass formation of 421 Squadron Canadair CL-13 Sabres. "You can hide da fire, but what yah gonna do with da smoke?"

Thanks Jim. Glad you enjoyed the Sabre content on my website.

Photos: © James Craik Collection

Today I will be scanning and working on Lockheed SP-2E/H Neptune negatives, I hope to have a page dedicated to them shortly. My friend Baldaur Sveinsson in Iceland is the expert on these fine machines. Most of the negs will be from my Robert A. Edwards Collection. This has to be one of the most photgenic angles of the Neptune. Here Aéronaval 147562 SP-2H (7174) does a fly-by at St. Mawgan.

Photo: Robert A. Edwards © Aird Archives

On Thursday 18th, life was breathed into C-FPBJ (1613) as she was fired up for the first time, outside the Sealand Aviation hangar. I wonder who the lucky new owner will be ? - She is for sale!

Photo: Greg Koopman © 19 March 2010

18 March 2010

I decided to do a title shot for Gordon Macadie's expanded Canadair CL-13B Sabre 6 section. A sad end to these magnificent machines. Just imagine if you had been able to "spirit" a few away.

Photo: Gordon Macadie © 1963

16 March 2010

Website now hosted on a new server at MidPhase, with unlimited bandwidth. More expense, but will allow expansion. I'm taking today and tomorrow off to celebrate a birthday. Back on Monday with normal service.

10 March 2010

Beautiful day here, our warmest so far, saw +15C on the thermometer.

Back to day-glo. I just signed up to a Flight Sim group because of this image. I amazes me what can be created in this Virtual World. Not sure of a name to credit just yet, that's why I joined the group, to find the creator!

Image: "Miss Oklahoma City" 51-0224 Boeing C-97E Stratofreighter (16297) 125th MAS.

It just so happens that last night I added 53-0214 Boeing C-97G Stratofreighter (16996) "City of Tulsa" of the Oklahoma Air National Guard to my Monthan Memories page. Only two more C-97 to add.

09 March 2010

Pretty good coverage in the United States I'd say? Here are the last 1,000 visitors.

I continue to be blown away by the number of visitors to the website. Here's a blast from the past, two screens. Just look at the number of unique visitors. Right now the website is at 822,632! Now I'm getting worried about "bandwidth" I've almost used up this month's quota. So if the website vanishes before March 31st, you will know why.

08 March 2010

This has been quite a day on the website. I guess the word has spread about my Davis-Monthan/MASDC page. As I type this 21:15EST, according to web-stat, visitor 541 has just popped in to the site! Sunday is usually a quiet day, but over 440 folk peeked at the site! I've had some very interesting e-mails as well.

Tonight I finally added a page on my brief visit to NAS Litchfield Park, which is now known as Goodyear - KGYR.

Graeme Mills just noticed my blog item about New! Beavers and sent me three more New Zealand ones to add....so that will be 12 before too long!

It is hard these days to come up with images of New! Beavers, but David W. Menard has offered me the opportunity to scan some of his older negatives and slides. Amongst that treasure trove of USAF/US ARMY L-20A/U-6A Beavers are no less than nine that will be new airframes to the website. Many thanks Dave for your kind offer and I will look forward to the day they arrive at "Beaver Lodge".

04 March 2010

Whilst digging for some old jewellery renderings in the basement, I came across these old side-views I did when I was about sixteen or so. It was a Saturday afternoon project and did not go much further than that. As you can see, my fascination for day-glo goes way back.

Profile paintings: Neil Aird © 1961

26 February 2010

Friday afternoon sedate fly-by. Our Air Force seems to work Fridays.

I've been planning on adding Dave Baadsvik's Dad Ralph's image of CF-JAA (961) for about a week now, but today's image from Ron Bridden spurred me into action. Talk about being "on the spot!" The pilot had just dropped Ron off and was taking off again when he hit a rock and ended up in the local Port Simpson rubbish tip! This image was taken shortly afterwards.

Photo: Ron Bridden © 18 September 1982

25 February 2010

It always happens, as soon as I add an image, I seem to dig up another few I have in reserve! Here is a case in point. Rob Mitchell zipped out and shot C-FXPC (1196) when she arrived at Cochrane, Ontario from Lac-du-Bonnet, Manitoba. As Rob mentioned, he waited until it warmed up to -18C (from -27C) before nipping out to take these snaps for us. C-FXPC will be working up in the James Bay coast this winter.

Photo: Rob Mitchell © 17 December 2009

24 February 2010

Painting: Neil Aird © 1987

Added an image of the Viking DHC-6-400 first flight, scroll down to 16 February 2010 for that.

23 February 2010

Congratulations to "our own" Ken Swartz of Aeromedia Communications on his Award Presentation last night in Houston, Texas, at the Helicopter Association International - Heliexpo 2010, where he received his accolade: The “Salute to Excellence” Awards Banquet was held Monday night in the Ballroom of the Americas at the Hilton Americas Hotel. The highlight of the banquet was a video paying tribute to award winners, recognizing their outstanding contributions to the international helicopter community.

Ken received the "Excellence in Communications Award". Well done Ken.

I'm sure you have all enjoyed Ken's images on this website, without his content, this website would be pretty empty!

22 February 2010

Today I got another interesting e-mail. This time from Dave Ferguson. Thanks Dave for the pictures. Dave wrote;

Hello Neil:

19 February 2010

Keeping up with the Beaver-a-Day so far. I have been very busy with my Aird Aviation Archives collection, 353 images so far! Recent additions are colour images to Monthan Memories.

I received a welcome CD of photographs, courtesy of Mike Mircovic of the Aviation Heritage Museum of Western Australia, at Bull Creek near Perth.

16 February 2010

14 February 2010

My wife Danie just got back from a short trip to Nicaragua. She took a couple of snaps when leaving Managua. Not quite a spotter yet, but coming along in her training. Here are a couple of the remaining 15 or so Fuerza Aérea - Ejército de Nicaragua MIL Mi-17 Hip-H choppers at MNMG - Managua's Cesar Sandino airport.

Photos: Danielle Aird © 11 February 2010

10 February 2010

Have added a new section to my Aird Aviation Archives, the great period images of Gordon Macadie. Those heady days at Prestwick! Check them out, lots to come in the near future. Here 52-6426 Republic F-84F-35-RE USAF - TAC taxis for departure returning from Europe.

David Menard wrote:

52-6426 is one of the recalled ANG a/c left behind for the RegAF
to take over and then go back to MacDill AFB FL for duty with 
either the 12th or 15th TFWs or to Holloman AFB NM for duty with the 
366th TFW.  The pilots flew them for a while til brand new F-4Cs
began to arrive.

Photo: Gordon Macadie © 15 July 1963

I'm sure you are all familiar with the Blue Angels Lockheed C-130 Hercules "Fat Albert" JATO take off (now history), well here's a Canadian Armed Forces equivalent. 692 Douglas CC-129 Dakota (12295) blasts off Toronto Island Airport. Only thing that beat that was a water take off by a RCAF Grumman Albatross using JATO two years earlier on 30 August 1968!!

08 February 2010

Go grab your DHC-2.COM February Calendar Pages. Thanks to Kihei Kitagawa for his image!

07 February 2010

Photo: Neil Aird © 09 September 1968

I also almost got the February 2010 Calendar Page ready . . just have to locate the image and it will be up for download.

06 February 2010

Still enjoying my "oldies" immensely. Today I located my Davis-Monthan slides for 1968. Wow, what a lot of work coming up, but hey, what a delight. Here's a sample - Skyraiders and Seastars.

Photo: Neil Aird © 09 September 1968

Here's an image of N1002U SE.210 Caravelle (87) "Ville de Cahors" United at Cleveland, one beautiful aircraft. It was nice to see her in service. I saw a few being delivered through Prestwick. This one travelled back to Europe and served as PH-TRY before returning back to the US as N777VV. Note N7511A Boeing 707-123 (17638) "Flagship New Jersey" of American Airlines in the distance, about to depart. The tail of N37587 Douglas DC-6B (45492) "Mainliner Toledo" of United to the left - now why did I not take a picture of that gem you ask? Probably because it was just a regular old DC-6 and film had to be rationed!

03 February 2010

Suffering from a stiff neck due to too much computer time retouching images! Well, that's what I figure. For example, yesterday I pulled a sheet of slides from Ken Swartz's fantastic collection. They were still in the older style heavy protective DF Snap in Page. When I took them out, I noticed that some were sticking to the plastic. After scanning them, I selected this wonderful image of Seair's N1455T (1647TB26), I then relocated them all in a new Print File Archival Protector. When it came time to retouch and prep for the website . . this is what I had to contend with! Below you can see before and after image of about 2 hours of cleaning using Photoshop CS4 and a lot of patience. I think the digital result is worthwhile, but alas, the slide remains the same.

29 January 2010

I guess I should get working on the February Calendar page PDF soon . . where did the month go? (well I do know actually!).

The rather colourful DHL Cargo Boeing B767-3JHF G-DHLE (37805) just went by here, so popped of quick snap as it went by doing 503kts at FL310. It was the ship operating today's "DHK979" KCVG-EGNX (East Midlands).

Photo: Neil Aird © 11:35EST 29 January 2010

Here is a great crisp action shot buy my pal Fred Seggie, taken at Prestwick just after she was delivered, doing some crew training. Thanks Fred.

Photo: Fred Seggie © 10 September 2009

On Wednesday 27th January, VH-WOZ (156) was loaded into her container at Bankstown by an enthusiastic, hard working crew. Futre stowaways? Thanks to Graeme D. Mills for the images. He will have more on his super website Kiwi Beavers Web Site. Thanks again Graeme.

27 January 2010

The other day I was entertaining my youngest Grand Daughter (age six) in the studio, she of course is aware of my interest in airplanes. We decided to do some "Dot Spotting" and pretty soon she was seeing big jets up to 60 nautical miles away. I decided to amaze her and do some "sky magic". I ventured to her that I could have an "X" drawn in the sky. Well shortly there after, I had her do a countdown as two airliners approached, just 2,000 feet of vertical separation. I think she was impressed. Soon we were back to other projects of greater interest - paper, glue, crayons, coloured pencils and drawing.

Photos: Neil Aird © 13:38 EST 23 January 2010

Korean Air Lines "KAL082" HL7783 B773 at FL360 crosses British Airways "BAW26E" G-BNLP B744's trail at FL340.

My Aird Aviation Archives section is now up to 265 images! Here's a snap of the spotter in question, at age 19, propping up a WV-2 Warning Star of the United States Navy.

25 January 2010

Well name chosen . . Callum Jeffrey. We're all happy with that choice, I guess "Beaver" would have been hard to live with.

22 January 2010

Big day in our family. My daughter gave birth at home to her fourth child, the first boy in the brood. All doing well. Two and a half hours in labour. Congratulations to everyone in the happy family. Needless to say we are anxious to say "hello". . . ! Almost one hundred years since my Dad, his Great Grandad, was born 22 May 1910! Now, all we need is a name . . . .

19 January 2010

On a visit to our house by a guest from United States of America, I was given this small colour print of N109A Lockheed L-749A Constellation (2530) of Eastern Airlines, taken at Philadelphia Airport. It has been inside the cover of one of my 1959 log books since that time. I finally got to visit KPHL in 1966. By that time Eastern were only operating Super Connies, and N109A had already been broken up in 1964 for spares at Burbank.

One of the nice things about the web site is the instant reactions I get. Items, like this letter from Peter Shrive, fill us in on some interesting background to an image. Thanks Peter for letting me post this on the blog.

Hi Neil

        It was fun to see the shot of ODB at the Remi Lake dock near
Kapauskasing...

        I played on that dock in the late 40's and early 50's until one
parent or the other yelled that we were to "get off the dock, and stay away
from the lake!"

        You would be well aware the the 40 or so Beavers that the Lands and
Forests [as the Ministry of Natural Resources was known at the time] bought,
wintered at Sault Ste Marie and then were dispatched to bases in the near
North in the summertime....I think that the pilots got their pick of the
bases based on seniority and usually elected to go back to the same
"neighbourhood" each summer.

        My father, Tony Shrive, and either OCK or OCL would ferry the family
to Remi Lake each spring - from about 1949 - 1954 -  usually late May [when
the ice had gone out] and stay until mid October [when the fire season was
over] and we lived with 25 cycle electricity, outdoor privies, and an ice
house full of the blocks that had been sawn out of the lake during the
winter...my younger brother was actually born in one of the two houses that
made up the "base".....and the search party for Dr Henry Hudson and Bill
Barilko operated out the base until they finally gave up the search....

        Tom Cooke had the base at South Porcupine and had an Otter there for
most of the time that I remember, although he may have had ODB at South
Porcupine before the otter arrived...he flew a Canso during the war and got
a DFC for attacking a German Submarine in the mouth of the St
Lawrence....was also part of the group that invented the water bombing tanks
on the floats of a Beaver....the original ones were old hot water tanks and
he and my Father Tony used to practice by "bombing" Tony's brand new
Plymouth in the yard of the South Porcupine base

        I believe that the houses at Remi were torn down and that the town
made the base into some kind of a sailing club...the part of the dock that
used to run 90 degrees to the section that runs from the shore has been
changed.....

        The shot that you have shows cottages across the bay which weren't
there when we were....and you can see an open area at the upper right hand
of the picture, which was the site of a dance hall owned by the late Rene
Brunelle [was Minister of Lands and Forests for a time]....dance hall burned
down one night and I don't think that it was ever replaced.

        .....no TV, no radio and for the first couple of years, no car
either....had to take the boat over to Brunelle's place and then use a L&F
truck to go into "Kap" for groceries....

        OCK "disappeared" into the Pacific Ocean as far as I know and OCL is
still flying

        Keep up the good work - no one else will - and glad to hear that
your "MOH" went well

                                    Peter Shrive
 

15 January 2010

Friday again, although for me, one day blends into the next. No more Monday to Friday routine for me!

Today I received some great images of Northern Ontario, from a Beaver pilot Mark Stachowiak. They are fine shots and show every day operations in that region. I'll be adding a couple shortly.

I also scanned some old prints taken on Wednesday 14 April 1965. I seldom skipped my classes (for more than a few hours!) but the thought of seeing a new type of aircraft prompted me to take the train from Glasgow to Leuchars Junction. Four Sud-Ouest SO-4050 Vautour of the French Air Force were on deployment to RAF Leuchars. Here two of them sit between the hangars.

Photo: Neil Aird © 14 April 1965

14 January 2010

I have not been idle here, added 33 images to my "Monthan Memories" web page, no titles yet, that research is ongoing. A grand total of 181 images digitally restored so far and now in my "Aird Aviation Archives" section. Don't worry, will be adding a Beaver image or two today from a collection sent to me by Paul Beaver in the UK.

Here's a tease for you. You all know that the UK has been having a dose of snow, this shot shows that it has happened before. This dramatic image is one from the soon to be Ken Marshall page of the website.

Photo: Ken Marshall © c 1963

Photo: James B. Aird © 1947

Another piece of snow proof is the winter of 1947 at Dumbarton, Scotland - with a certain two year old webmaster with his feet wrapped in waterproof cloth as wee laddie had "nae snaw bits". (snow boots!)

Don't forget to follow the Bob Kobzey's great images on the rebuilding adventures of VH-IDO (1545) on the Sealand Blog. I have a great shot Bob took of another Beaver, reserved for a 2010 Calendar Page this year . . . which month? You'll just have to wait.

12 January 2010

A nice clear, crisp winter day with some grand trails to distract me. Lufthansa Flight "DLH498" came directly over the studio at FL360, en route to sunny Mexico City MMMX operating equipment today was D-ABVN B744 (26427).

09 January 2009

I notice visitor 800,000 clicked through the website this morning!

Just added a page of old photos my Dad took in 1934. More very early history of Prestwick Airport when it was only a grass aerodrome. Here three based RAF Hawker Demon aircraft taxi in after a flight.

08 January 2010

Photo: John Caswell © 2009 - Calendar Neil Aird © 2010

Hi again, just a quick entry to announce the FREE ! January 2010 DHC-2.COM Calendar PDF. My sincere thanks to John Caswell for letting me use his image.

Snowing steadily here (outside!) while I type this entry. As promised I have added the arrival and unpacking pictures of VH-IDO (1545).

I'm also planning on adding a very interesting link in this blog, sent to me by Dennis Newell the other day . . so please check back later.

07 January 2010

As usual a coincidence to start the day! I posted a shot of VH-IDO (1545) today, now I hear she is arriving at Campbell River this very afternoon! Check out the Sealand Blog for updates on her arrival and rebuild. John Caswell will try to "capture" her arrival. Hopefully safe in her container, and not like this!

Photo: from Sealand Aviation website ;-)

Photo: Dirk Septer © 17:55 07 January 2010

Good news, the Beaver's here. Thanks to Dirk Septer for the images. I'll add the rest tomorrow.

06 January 2010

Every once in a while an image arrives showing a Beaver doing a daily, routine task. The banner shot of N94DC (238) by Steve Rice shows one doing just that. He was the only passenger on this flight "The Wednesday Plane" out of Meyer's Chuck, Alaska (population 6) to Ketchikan. Many thanks Steve.

My maintainers did a great job. Systems good. Need to take it easy for a while, so looks like business as usual in the cab, just no aerobatics for a while!

24 hours door to door with my wife Danielle overseeing the hard working staff overnight.

My thanks to all a Kingston General Hospital aka "The Big Hangar".

Thanks for all your good wishes folks, much appreciated by yours truly.

Neil

03 January 2010

Just wondering what I will be doing this time tomorrow? 12:10EST - I'm off to "the hangar" for some maintenance. Wish me luck. Thanks to all of you for your good wishes. Means a lot.

Cheers.

02 January 2010

Back in 1968 my pal Tom Baillie and I when travelling from Scotland, ended up at a small airfield outside of Tucson, it was KRYN - Ryan Field. We arrived just at dusk. There to our surprise were fifty Douglas C-47 Dakota languishing there. Cautious about snakes in the grass, we gathered info on each and every Dakota. There were six more which had already been converted to civil by the company that owned them. This Panorama shot is really 78" wide on my computer, here is a much smaller version! Again, this is part of my ongoing project.

01 January 2010

"Monthan Memories" will be another section I shall add to the Neil's Nostalgia area of the web site in the coming year. I first visited Davis-Monthan AFB in 1966, and have since been back a few times. Here is an example that I saw on the early version of Celebrity Row in 1968. It subsequently moved to the Pima Museum, where we were reunited forty-one years later in the Spring of 2009. 53-0965 North American F-86L-60 Sabre Dog (201-409) USAF.

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Photos: Neil Aird © 10 September 1968 and 17 May 2009

The years seem to go by faster and faster. Here we are into 2010. Dusted off my first Beaver of the year.

Steve and Lesley Kamm's Seawind Aviation operated N87597 (987), captured in her normal working area near Ketchikan in the spectacular Misty Fjords region by Chip Porter.

I see Viking have their Gift Shop open now. Now you can get your Viking 2010 Calendar easily.

30 December 2009

I think this will be my last blog entry for 2009. I hope to be able to add a January 2010 Calendar page PDF for you, if I can get my old Adobe In Design template to load. If not right at the beginning of the month, it should appear soon afterwards.

I might be scarce for a few days or so around January 4th-5th as I have that "scheduled maintenance" I alluded to. Hope my "AME" is well rested and has a steady hand.

Best to you all for a great 2010.

28 December 2009

Some of you may have noticed I have added a page dedicated to Canadian Armed Forces aircraft. CFB Trenton is the closest airbase to Kingston, some 99 kilometres down highway 401 to the west. I knew of this base long before I left Scotland in 1968. I would watch RCAF (later CAF) aircraft arrive and depart from a far away Canadian place called Trenton. Through the years I have managed to attend a few Air Shows there. I will gradually be adding some images from those visits.

26 December 2009

Many more images scanned for my Aviation Archives. I trust you all had a pleasant Christmas Day and hopefully can enjoy a lazy weekend as well.

24 December 2009

I'm going to take a short break from adding DHC-2 Beavers over the Holiday Season - I've managed to meet my quota of one-a-day. I'm having way too much fun digging in my old negatives and randomly selecting ones to "clean-up". Great time capsules

I hope everyone has some time to relax and spend time with family and friends. Let me again wish you all the very best. Thanks for the many good wishes I have received.

Oh yes - I see a very big complicated jig-saw in my future - and it's not even an airplane one!

23 December 2009

Today got a welcome e-mail update from Michael S. Prophet in the Netherlands. Here is a link to Michael's Incredible Website. What a treasure trove! You should bookmark this site and I know it will bring you much pleasure, I know it got me "all fired up" . . . Michael and I have stood on the same patch of ground at times snapping the same airframes, but have not yet met. He is a good friend of Ruud Leeuw and they live near one another beside Schiphol Airport.

22 December 2009

I noticed a huge spike in hits to the website on December 18th.

Just found out that "The Immortal Beaver" aired again on December 17th and 18th. For those of you in Canada, it airs again on Christmas Day at 15:00 on History Television.

19 December 2009

Neglecting the Beavers again recently. The house is busy with the second weekend of my wife Danie's fund-raising Bazaar for her charity Calcutta Rescue Canada. Going very well indeed.

I will be adding a Beaver today, so don't despair! I am continuing with my Scottish Airfields section and some of my other plane spotting travels. I'm shooting digitally, copying and cleaning up old negatives. Really enjoying this!! I had camera problems some fifty years ago. I'm now finally able to correct the problem! Some things take time.

Here's a self portrait with two chums taken at Prestwick airport and a cunning way to shoot a plane when you have a square format and you are too close!

Photo: G-APTA Viscount © Neil Aird

16 December 2009

Still plodding away on the website, amazed and happy at how many Beavers I am managing to add. Ahead of the game right now by four, but who knows what lies ahead, maybe more, maybe less? Enjoy.

15 December 2009

Thanks Viking for my Calendar, it arrived safely this morning. Wonderful shots by Heath Moffatt! Well done. Only thing is that "Olivia" forgot to sign my copy.

14 December 2009

While I continue to amuse myself here with some nostalgia. Here's a snap of one of my first log books, done when I was thirteen. You can see that the Royal Canadian Air Force - RCAF and the Canadair CL-13 Sabre has always played an important part in my life, even growing up in Scotland. We have one on a stick, as you know, here in Kingston. I remember doing a mural in my bedroom on the back of pinned up, layered, rolls of wallpaper! Some of the entries in this log were entered by my Mum for me, when I broke my arm in 1958. Boys will be boys.

12 December 2009

Today I started a long overdue project. It's totally Neil's Nostalgia for myself, my early days as a spotter, but I hope it will help others and as usual, which is the sole purpose, bring pleasure to one and all. The links to "Renfrew Reflections" and "Prestwick Portraits" are on my current page, scroll way down. It will be a slow project, but already I can see it is lots of fun! It's like many periods of time passing, I managed to sneak in at the end of Steam Locomotives and Big Props in regular service.

Photo: Neil Aird © 13 July 1959

Graeme Mills made the trip to Sydney-Bankstown yesterday (today over here) to see the progress with VH-WOZ (156).

Photo: Graeme D. Mills © 12 December 2009

11 December 2009

President Obama and escorts just went by on their return from Oslo...I waved.

The other day David Salter ferried VH-WOZ (156) to Bankstown for crating and onward shipment to Hallett Griffin in New Zealand. My pal Peter Reardon was there to capture the event. Here is a snap, with left to right; Sy Allsep, John Land, David Salter and Peter Reardon. What a happy, contented looking bunch. There were four Beavers there, with a fifth arriving later in the day. Man, I wish I had been there too. Thanks Peter for the snaps.

Photo: via Peter Reardon © 09 December 2009

07 December 2009

Trying to keep functioning here - I've just added a link to my pal Chip Porter's 2010 Bush Planes Calendar. Good job as always Chip.

Photo: Chip Porter © 2009

05 December 2009

Some general house keeping on the website today. I've tried to make the Front Page smaller and removed some banners to my Fast Links section further down the that page. Have added a couple of link pages for some sites of friends. Planeplotter, Scramble, AMCAR and AvDb.

04 December 2009

Viking have produced a 2010 Calendar using some of their stock shots, also some by Heath Moffatt, whose work you are all familiar with. Their website will soon be updated with their shopping cart items. In the meantime, if you can't wait, I will post details here. My thanks to Viking for the nice credit on the back cover.

Photo: Viking © 2009

03 December 2009

Well, managed to get the "Free" December DHC-2.COM Calendar pages up for you to enjoy. thanks to Lenn Bayliss for his image of VH-AQU (1544) at Rose Bay, NSW. The last month of the last DHC-2.COM paper Calendar. remember to print it on the best paper you can afford. I use Canon Matt Photo Paper MP-101, and it even prints out better than the real original calendar !

I'm also making a start on a section decicated to one of my other interests. Mode-S/ADS-B monitoring, what I call "Spotter's Sadoku".

02 December 2009

For the record, here is an image taken from the CBC website of C-GTMC (1171) after being raised to the surface. We will all now await the TSB report in the course of time.

Photo: CBC © 01 December 2009

30 November 2009

A very sad and tragic event yesterday. C-GTMC (1171) crashed shortly after take off in Lyall Harbour area of Saturna Island, British Columbia. Two survived and sadly, six perished. Sympathies to all people affected by this accident. Gratitude to those who tried to help and those who risked their lives in the rescue, and even now, those who are risking theirs in the recovery attempts. Take care.

Photo: Neil Aird © 27 May 2005

28 November 2009

Danie is back on Canadian soil, at Montréal. My friend Paul Scalzo took this shot of her from his balcony. Many thanks Paul and also PH-BFH (24518) "City of Hong Kong" KLM671.

Photo: Paul Scalzo © 15:17 EST 28 November 2009

26 November 2009

I have to include this image, without comment. Taken while shooting ZK-CKH (25) at Ardmore, New Zealand, Lenn Bayliss had some company. "Eagle" is the cat's name!

23 November 2009

I glanced up a few minutes ago and saw an interesting snap evolving. By the time I got my reading glasses off, grabbed the camera, the two aircraft had almost left the viewfinder frame. There are three high fliers in this shot. Two are obvious, but the third is a regular who perches between pidgeon catching flights. Another fine "Hawk One". The other two birds are N362AA B763 "AAL37" westbound en route to KDFW from LEMD FL340 and the one heading east is C-GITR A319 "ACA612" CYYZ - CYHZ at FL369.

Photo: Neil Aird © 14:59 EST 23 November 2009

It pays to look up every now and then ;-)

22 November 2009

As a diversion today, I have been trawling through some older images and log books. Here's a flight deck image of de Havilland DH.106 Comet 2 G-AMXA, taken on the roof of Gatwick Airport. It has now been restored and is in Sharjah, UAE.

21 November 2009

Just completed all of the first 100 aircraft in the main index - now each has some detail for you to enjoy. Still a long way to go.

Remember, if you can help find an image of any aircraft we do not have, please send it along. Even a link would help, then I can try to chase up the photograph/slide.

20 November 2009

You can tell I'm beginning to miss Danielle - I looked at the earth just now - jings, Pushkar, Rajasthan is a long way from Kingston, Ontario. I guess this what you term a real Global perspective!

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Images: Google Earth - manipulated by Neil

At the risk of repeating myself, yet another coincidence. While doing some cleaning up on Danie's lap-top, I was looking at Ruud Leeuw's site and some of Martin Prince's DHC-2 images. Noticed a shot of N900NL (1063). I did not recognise that registration or colour scheme.

Photo: Martin Prince Jnr © May 2008

There was a reference to this aircraft having an accident on 03 October 2009 at Kokhanok, AK. I checked the NTSB accident site and found no report. Two people got out okay when the aircraft reportedly flipped.

Okay, you say, what's the coincidence? I saved the image downstairs on Danie's lap top and switched it off. I came up to the studio and checked my e-mails. There was one on the DHC-2 Yahoo Group from Klaus M., and I just checked lower on my list - there is one from Rudi, who did the same checking as myself, I too found out about N490K (1268) and that report with NTSB Reference ANC10CA001 which told of the DHC-2 unfortunately running out of available water surface at Nonvianuk lake. All okay, but bent wing and float struts sustained damage.

18 November 2009

Was up a ladder working on my 2nd floor balcony railing, when I heard the sound of a big radial. Descended quickly to ground level, sprinted up front stairs, then up three flights to studio, changed lense on camera and caught this fine gull-winged bird heading up the Rideau River back to Gatineau and Vintage Wings Canada. Sweet. Chance Vought (Goodyear build) FG-1D Corsair C-GVWC (3367) .

Photo: Neil Aird © 13:13EST 18 November 2009

Quite the coincidence with the Corsair passing the studio. This morning I received the current CAHS Ottawa Newsletter "The Observair" which, amongst other items, had an article on Coins (including mine) and stamps. One was the one illustrated below. Produced by the Ascension Islands.

Image: Ascension Island Post Office © 2009

16 November 2009

Most of you know I spend a fair bit of my time watching the sky. For a few minutes this morning, I had an interesting view through my Beaver Porthole window. What do you think? Out of this world, eh? This zero G is fun!

Photo: Neil Aird © 09:08 EST 16 November 2009

15 November 2009

Can't believe another week has flown by. Managed a few Beavers and "No Image" pages to the website. Our front porch has been 50% painted, which is amazing as this is November. We had mild, sunny weather here, and it did get me outside doing a different kind of painting!!!! I've also had my share of "banking" issues to deal with to help Danie out while she is in India. I will expect a large number of heavy packages arriving in the next little while. Will keep DHL etc., quite busy. Hopefully these items will get here before Danie returns, as her annual "Bazaar" will happen just after her return. She had two more rickshaws built and these will make a huge difference to two poor families in Jaipur!

07 November 2009

Out of this World. This animation came in to me recently about the ISS construction, 1998 - 2009, quite amazing just what is hurtling around up there now. Impressive project to say the least!

Image: From USA Today - tweaked by Neil.

Spent a delightful time online with Laurent in France. He set me up (working directly on my computer) to send my data to Europe. This remote working is fascinating. Merci Laurent. Here is his website, now you can see what's happening, we'll expand North America soon.

Our folks fly on Saturdays! Another buzz job of Beaver Lodge!

Photo: Neil Aird © 16:05 07 November 2009

06 November 2009

I have started the long and onerous task of adding pages (completed c/n 8, 9 and 10 tonight) to the website, aircraft that I do not have photographs of yet. I hope that some of you may have an imageor two tucked away. I do have data on most of the missing Beavers, and feel it is time to flesh out the on-line database.

05 November 2009

"Remember, remember, the fifth of November" - well every British kid learned that as it is Guy Fawkes day. For me it has a very different meaning today. My Danielle flew last night in "KLM672" MD11 PH-KCG (48561) "Maria Callas" from CYUL Montreal to EHAM Schiphol. She was to travel onward on "KLM871" to Delhi. I awoke at 05:00 and realised she was not due off Amsterdam for another hour. I went back to bed. Could not sleep, so made a coffee and sat down at my desk. The computers were running. I checked my Amsterdam radar screen, then found that the time there was not UTC as I thought, but UTC plus one hour. Dang, missed her. Well in just under three minutes, there she was. PH-BFA B744 (23999) "City of Atlanta" popped up on both my screens. The flight was late in leaving! I had the pleasure, albeit with a five minute delay, of escorting her all the way to Warsaw, where she dropped from my "radar" coverage, being chased by a Turkish Airbus A321, and headed towards the Black Sea, and on eventually to India. Here are a few small images from my screens.

Screen capture: 06:18 EST 11:18 UTC (image from 12:13 left runway 12:12 local)

Screen capture: 06:18 EST 11:18 UTC (12:13 local)

Screen capture: 07:07 EST 12:18 UTC (13:02 local)

My new antennas are great, but not that powerful to pick up Europe!! I use other methods to track aircraft so far away. Many of you already know I enjoy this sport. The first screen is courtesy of Frontier in the Netherlands. The others are captured from feeds provided by COAA Planeplotter, and the large number of correspondents who share information from their Kinetic SBS Unit or AirNav Systems Radar Box. I submit the aircraft signals I receive in my area for other enthusiasts to enjoy. This is the first time I have really been helped by the European Feeds. It's a lot of fun. I will add a section to the website soon with some more information on this fascinating subject.

Danie e-mailed me at 02:00 from Delhi to say she was there safe and sound, e-mailing from the Ajay Hotel she knew, just down the street from her hotel. Yikes, what a gal. I'm really tired, and I never left home.

01 November 2009

I'm enjoying my new VHF-UHF Antenna from DPD. Looks good, especially through my Beaver Porthole!! Beautifully crafted Dave.

Photo: Neil Aird © 01 November 2009

I thought I'd start this month of with 52-6137 (528), the very first de Havilland L-20A Beaver I ever saw, just over fifty years ago!

Photo: Unknown photographer © Ian MacFarlane Collection - Aird Archives

Now, a test page for you all. Here is a link to a page with November 2009 from my last DHC-2.COM Calendar. You can click on the PDF link and print it out. I suggest Canon Inkjet Matt Photo Paper for printing out. Use the highest quality you can for the best effect. I'm sorry it won't be quite as easy as having the real Calendar, but will relieve my guilt at retiring from doing a "printed version" each year. There will be an option for you, that I will anounce soon!