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CF-FHA at Alsek Lake on the Alsek River, Yukon.
Photo: Bob Cameron © 1950's - James Court Collection
CF-FHA from CF-GCY (216)
Photo: Bob Cameron © 1950's - James Court Collection
CF-FHA in Yukon during Federal Topographical Survey.
Photo: Peter Mann © Summer 1950 - Kenneth I. Swartz Collection
CF-FHA at Whitehorse.
Photo: Unknown photographer © 1950 - Bob Cameron Collection
CF-FHA of Lome Airways on "the dolly".
Photo: de Havilland Canada - Bombardier © 30 July 1948  (DHC Neg 194)

15

CF-FHA

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Entries preceded by dates are extracts from Department of Transport archives.

27-Jul-1948 Application for registration by Aero Tool Works Ltd., Toronto, ON.

28-Jul-1948 Test flown for Aeroplane Inspection Release Certificate by G. A. Neal.

28-Jul-1948 Certificate of Airworthiness #2815 issued.

28-Jul-1948 Certificate of Registration #7231, Aero Tool Works Ltd., issued.

29-Jul-1948 DHC advise Department of Transport that owner of Beaver msn 15 CF-FHA is Aero Tools Works Ltd., Toronto, ON.

• CF-FHA Aero Tools Works Ltd, Toronto, ON. Regd 29-Jul-1948. Delivered 05-Aug-1948.

• CF-FHA Lome Airways, Toronto, ON. Presumed leased from Jul-1948 as we have DHC photo evidence of it in Lome Airways markings and dated 30-Jul-1948.

Accident: Port Arthur, ON. 21-Jun-1950. On arrival at Port Arthur with five passengers on board in the float equipped aircraft logs and floating debris were visible inside the breakwater and the pilot decided that it would be safer to land just outside the breakwater. The floats struck the face of a wave and the front float struts snapped. The five passengers and pilot, R. J. Henderson who were uninjured, were picked up by a tug. During the transfer to the tug the starboard wing tip, aileron and elevator were also damaged. Minor damage.

26-Jun-1950 Authority for Lome Airways to ferry aircraft from Port Arthur back to Toronto, ON.

14-Jul-1950 Bill of Sale; Aero Tool Works Ltd., to Whitehorse Flying Service Ltd., Whitehorse YT.

14-Jul-1950 Application for registration by Whitehorse Flying Service Ltd.

14-Jul-1950 Certificate of Registration 14-Jul-1950  #8862 issued to Whitehorse Flying Service Ltd.

• CF-FHA Whitehorse Flying Services Ltd., Whitehorse, YT. Regd Canx by Transport Canada 16-Feb-1955.

Accident: 02-Oct-1954, Fox Mountain, Halfway Creek, Yukon. Aircraft crashed into a rock face near the bottom of a cirque at 4,275 ft. whilst routing Whitehorse, Ross River, Vangorda Creek. Wreckage found on 13-Oct-1954 at the 6,000’ level. The wreck had caught fire seven days after the crash, presumably a battery shorting and igniting clothing or fuel in the wreck. (See note below). Capt George Milne and three passengers received fatal injuries. It was contracted to haul fuel and personnel to Army Survey camps where Kenting Hiller 360s were operating. Aircraft recovered and rebuilt. Reported as having “new” construction number of 15-R. circa Apr-1958.

No accident report on the file but it has been written up in several books including, notably, Bob Cameron’s Yukon Wings.

This note from Bob Cameron:

When FHA was missing in 1954 it was indeed a survey party member who spotted a strange flickering light in the direction of Fox Mountain, seven days after the aircraft had gone missing. That sighting lead to the discovery of the burnt-out wreckage, which had mysteriously set itself on fire after seven days of lying on a barren snow-swept mountainside. No one had survived the impact. An RCAF S-51 was indeed involved in the search, but it was destroyed in a crash at Quiet Lake during a refuelling stop. So the actual retrieval of the bodies was done with the Hudson Bay S-55 flown by Ross Lennox.

On that fateful trip it was merely finishing up its last charter of the float season, not hauling fuel for an Army Survey. In the summers of 1950, 51 and 52 it flew on the Federal Topographical Survey in the north Yukon, hauling fuel and camp supplies in support of the two Kenting Hiller 360 helicopters on that mapping project.

In the air-to-air shot, that is George Milne visible flying FHA. On October 2, 1954 George Milne and his three passengers were killed in the crash of FHA in a cirque on Fox Mountain a hundred miles north of Whitehorse. The aircraft was totally destroyed, the only thing surviving for a "re-build" being the tag.

Total time since new as recorded in Department of Transport archives

14-Jul-1950   474 hours.

25-Jul-1952   1,434 hours.

03-Jul-1953   1,752 hours.

22-Apr-1954   1,896 hours.

• CF-FHA Cancelled CCAR. 16-Feb-1955.

• Rebuilt under new c/n 15-R follow link •

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