Ontario Central Airlines and the Metal Norseman
In Canadian Aviator’s Tales From the Lakeview, Bob Grant had little success
convincing old-time pilots that CF-UUD was a MK VIII Norseman. It’s a
shame because this truly was an innovative concept for the venerable
freighter. Metalizing Norseman in Canada was started in Redditt with the
rebuilding of CF-SAN. Ontario Central Airlines replaced the fabric belly with
aluminium as this area that was prone to ice damage. Next, when CF KVB
was rebuilt, the sides
back to the cargo door
were done in metal.
As Bob describes in his
article, a mysterious pilot
flew
away
with
the
airplane and it turned up
in Canada, owned by Bud
Mallory, who operated it
in Fort Francis, ON.
When Barney Lamm,
who also owned OCA,
acquired
Canadian
Voyager
Airlines,
this
unique aircraft came to
Redditt
where
Ed
Hanratty
had
Rollie
Hammerstadt give it a thorough going over. The airplane didn’t perform
that well, and during his inspection, Rollie found the entire structure had a
slight down bend. The conclusion both engineers reached, was that at some
time during its life prior to Ursell metalizing it, the aircraft had flipped over
on its back. Rather than strip the skin and straighten the frame, they opted
to start from scratch.
Another
fuselage,
CF-OBE
was
selected and plans laid out to
completely replace all the fabric with
metal and use UUD’s wings. After
replacing the metal stabilizer, but
leaving the vertical fin intact, UUD
was given a pair of good wooden
wings and later sold to Dave Harvey,
who operated it out of Red Lake for
many years.
It was the only Norseman ever to have the big door as seen in the photo
below taken by Charlie Ursell in Texas, and well described by Bob in his
article.
CF-OBE, which became the only all metal
Norseman rebuilt in Canada, never had
anything but standard size cargo doors,
although they were one piece. UUD bounced
from pillar to post until Glen Crandall bought
it, restored it, and has it in a private antique
collection, in Panoka, Alta.
Incidently, I would highly recommend you subscribe to Canadian Aviator
Ontario Central Airlines First Step in metalizing a Norseman
Over the years Barney Lamm used Norseman aircraft extensively.
He started his fleet by purchasing used UC-64’s but as the years
went by concentrated on acquiring MK. Vs. One of these was CFSAN. This airplane was involved in an accident at Brochet in
northern Manitoba. (See the book Ontario Central Airlines - The
Kenora Years pp 282/83) The company was getting tired of doing
fabric repairs to the bellies on Norseman and Rollie Hammerstadt, in
consultation with Syd Green, decided to replace the fabric with
aluminium.
This
required
designing aluminium stringers as
well.
Rebuilt, CF-SAN served
with OCA for many years before
eventually ending up owned by
Joe McBryan of Buffalo Airways.
When Joe had it rebuilt to
original specifications, he did
away with the aluminium and
went back to the fabric covered
belly.
CF-SAN
is on the right tied to the OCA dock
at the foot of Second Street in Kenora. Circ 1969
More Aluminium Skin for The Norseman
In the spring of 1962, Fred Chuipka bought CF-KVB from Northalnds. On
the morning of October 9th it caught fire at his fish plant dock. The fire was
put out but not before enough damage was done to put the aircraft out of
commission.
Rollie Hammerstadt was
asked by the insurance
company
to
do
an
appraisal of the damage.
Shortly after that Fred
received a cheque for the
airplane and it was put up
for salvage.
Rollie got to talking with
Barney about this wreck
and after some discussion
it was decided they’d buy it. SAN was out of the hangar and Rollie wanted
another airplane to rebuild. He and Sid had some ideas about meatalizing
they wanted to try.
Barney made an offer to the insurance company and the wreck was theirs.
Rollie and Vic Sarapau went up to Lynn Lake and took the airplane apart,
then loaded it into a boxcar and for shipment to Redditt.
When they redid this air plane, Rollie and Sid Green decided to replace the
fabric back of the cabin doors a couple of feet where it was often punctured
loading cargo. It only seemed natural that while they were working that
area, they skin the section
between the front and rear
doors as well. Rollie left Sid
to install a modified and
slightly
enlarged
cabin
window that followed the
tube structure in the air
plane.
With new fabric and all
painted in yellow with red
trim, KVB on floats was
rolled out on a dolly and
hauled to the ramp on Black
Lake.
Barney
had
it
photographed for a new Ball Lake Lodge brochure he was making for the
1969 season. The picture was also made into a postcard. In the coming
years KVB would see service out of Red Lake for ten years until Austin
bought the base. A month later it would go to a United States Air Force
museum in Dayton, Ohio.
Source material- Ontario Central Airlines – The Kenora Years
CF-OBE Only All Metal Norseman
When Pete Lazarenko phoned Rollie Hammerstdt at OCA’s Redditt hangar
and mentioned he had some Norseman stuff for sale, Rollie said he wasn’t
interested as they had a yard full of Norseman spares. Pete persisted and
Rollie agreed to buy the lot for $6000. Barney figured he could do better
and, in bargaining with his old nemesis, ended up paying $10,000. Included
in the deal was CF-OBE, all in
pieces.
After KVB, with its metal belly and
side was in service, the carcass of
OBE was
dragged into the
hangar
and work started
on
rebuilding it. By now Barney had
acquired
CF-UUD.
(See
article
below) Rollie and Ed Hanratty found
some issues with this airplane and
decided to keep only the wings and
stabiliser, incorporating them in a
full metalization of OBE.
With the experience gained in
sheeting both SAN, and KVB, Sid
Green took on the task of covering
the compound curvature of the
fuselage. OBE also benefited from
the narrow pilot’s doors and light
one-piece cargo doors, which were
beginning
to
become
industry
standard. When complete, the only
wood remaining in the fuselage was
the birch plywood floor. After the
metal wings and stabilizer were
installed, all the control surfaces, as
well as the vertical stabilizer were
installed and covered with new fabric. Before the interior could be finished,
Barney had shut down the Redditt operation because of mercury pollution in
the English River, and the airplane was ferried to Gimli, Manitoba to be
completed.
It remained in service with OCA, operating out of Red Lake until it was
bought by Green Airways in 1986. It was the end of a dream, but not the
last of the breed as at least two more Norseman were to be skinned with
aluminium. OBE,
however, remained the only Norseman to have metal wings. *
(Note- OBE never, ever had the big door installed. The installation was already done when
Charlie Ursell when skinned UUD in Texas and built the metal wings.)
*It should be noted that when the Mk VII was built as a prototype, it had a set of metal wings.
Here is a good shot of CF-OBE taking off at Red Lake. At this time it was
owned by Green Airways. On July 3, 2004 when it suffered substantial
damage during an attempted glassy water landing at Birch Lake Lodge
120 kilometers northwest of Red Lake , Ontario. It was never rebuilt.
Collin Oliver and CF-JEC
While rebuilding another Norseman, Collin acquired CF-JEC for parts. It was
during the ferry flight to his home in Brooks, Alberta that he couldn’t see
himself dismantling a perfectly good airplane. Not only that, but this one
had been metalized.
Renowned AME Rollie Hammerstedt was the owner of Redditt Aviation, an
AMO catering to commercial carriers when plans were made to metalize
JEC. Although he sold the operation on his retirement in December 1998
Rollie continued to work with the new owner. CF-JEC was metalized for
Sabourin Airways during the winter and spring of 1989. OBE had
individual metal skins spanning two stringers and exhibited the same
appearance as a fabric-covered aircraft. With CF-JEC, after some
experimenting with the sheet metal application, several stringers could
be spanned and a very rounded, smooth skin contour resulted which
Rollie felt enhanced flight performance to a small degree The aircraft
fuselage was trucked from Red Lake to Redditt, Ontario, and upon
completion was returned for final assembly. It was test flown on floats
and had to meet some performance criteria described by Transport
Canada.
Here are some views of the sheet metal work.
Collin restored the airplane and regularly brings it to the Norseman Festival
At Red Lake, Ontario.
Here is a picture of the airplane in 2010 with Ed Zaruk and Collin Oliver
More views of the aluminium covering the fuselage. Note- This airplane has
wooden wings and stabilizer. Only OBE had metal ones.