Originally published at: De Havilland Canada Delivers 1,000th Twin Otter
Milestone delivery adds another chapter to a utility aircraft whose history dates to 1965.
Are you sure de Havilland Canada delivered these? Viking Air acquired the type certificate for the DHC-6 in 2006…
deHavilland Canada is the new name for the companies owned by Longview Aviation Capital and relatives. Longview owned Viking Air of the Victoria BC area, which had aircraft assembly and other aviation businesses in Calgary AB. It was the creation of Sherry Brydson, the name is deliberate for a long business outlook.
The company has big plans for a factory and training centre east of Calgary, and more improved models of the CL (perhaps even of the Twin Otter which is now assembled in Calgary).
But production of dash8 is hard to predict, it is a small tough market. Bombardier sold the product line but kept the land the factory was on in Toronto ON. Some employees probably were moved to Calgary or North Saanich BC to work on other products.
History:
Viking Air was started by an immigrant from Norway, who worked as an aircraft mechanic at Victoria International Airport then started his own business - Viking (get the name connection?). Nils Christensen - Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame
I forget who he sold Viking to - perhaps Longview, Dave Curtis managed the company.
Much local history including Christensen’s involvement with the large forest fire aerial suppression tanker Martin Mars.
I flew on Pilgrim Airlines’ Twin Otters many times from New London-Groton to LGA in the 1970s. Fun sightseeing trips.
See my posts on history of the product line.
As Viking/Longview the upgraded -400 was produced, assembly in Calgary AB with components made at Victoria International Airport.
In the history the company wanted to upgrade the deHavilland Buffalo freighter for coastal rescue but the government of Canada instead chose a fast turboprop to cover all missions, time to respond being a primary factor. (The notion was that the short field characteristics of the Buffalo were ideal for remote area including beaches.)
The operation has upgraded the former Canadair CL415 fire tankers, CL415EAF and perhaps already the CL515. A popular fire fighter in Europe, where is known as The Canadairs - so the new dHC includes Canadair in the airplane’s name. The CL is amphibious but fuselage somewhat limited for utility use.
I worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The DOE contracted with Ross Aviation to fly staff members from Los Alamos to ABQ to catch commercial flights. The story was that before I started at LANL in 1981, they had an accident with some other aircraft, and switched to the Twin Otter because it had the power to perform well at Los Alamos 7200 ft elevation. I flew Ross many times and the Twin Otter performed like a champ.