Letter of Commendation

Going through a bunch of Grandpa's papers that were given to me after he passed. A lot of it I already had and have scanned in for the site, but there is a lot there I have not put up yet at all. My aim is to post some of those things in the coming months and announce them here, as I think there are some docs which many of the Norseman enthusiasts will be interested in. This one in particular caught my eye tonight... wish I knew where the original letter could be found!

Noorduyn Norseman VP-FAD in Falklands, circa 1951

Goose Green, 1951

This is a quick entry to announce that I've posted some new pictures to Flickr of VP-FAD in the Falklands. These pictures were given to me courtesy of Mr. Ian White. Here is the text Mr. White provided alongside the scanned pictures:

"Enclosed are 7 photos of VP-FAD in Falkland Islands Government Service. All photos excepting #0007 were taken at Goose Green on an unusually calm day in 1951. #0007 is taken at the, under construction, hangar in Stanley and the little guy on the beaching gear is me undergoing peliminary float training!

I subsequently had a career of 40 plus years in Canada, UK & Falklands. Now retired to Antigua and busy scanning 6000 slides.

I leave you to use the the photogaphs as you wish but grateful for credit to Freddy White, my Father who was Captain of RMS Fitzroy and then RMS Darwin until 1967.

Incidently the pilot of FAD was Vic Spencer (deceased) who held Licence #1 in the Falklands.

The airframe of FAD was destroyed by Naval Gunnery practice and the engine lay on the beach near the hangar. When I last saw it in 1982 it was still recogniseable but probably pertrified by now! The floats were auctioned off and may still be in use at Saunders Island West Falklands."

Thanks very much to Mr. White for his contribution. If any readers have questions on these photos for Mr. White, please contact me and I will give you his email address.

Cheers!

Anyone interested in buying a Norseman?

THABET AEROPLUS have a beautiful 1944 Norseman on wheels for sale. The aircraft is US registered located in Alexandria Minnesota. The owner is open for a trade for a Super Cub or PA 12 on wheels. The asking price has been reduced down to 275,000$ USD. Please see their website for specs and more photos.

THABET AEROPLUS
706 b 7th Ave de L'Aeroport
Quebec QC G2G 2T6
Tel: 418-871-0047

andrecantin@thabetaeroplus.ca

http://www.thabetaeroplus.ca/

New Correspondence from Site Visitors

I've decided that I am going to start posting interesting correspondence which I receive from site visitors and Norseman enthusiasts on this blog from now on rather than imbedded into the Correspondence page on the main site. This is mainly due to the fact it's much easier to post via the blog than update the main site - hope no one minds.

Earlier this month I received this lovely email from Michael Prophet along with a very interesting link. Thought I should share with the rest of you... Enjoy!!

Hi Julie

My name is Michael S.Prophet and I live near Amsterdam Schiphol airport Holland. I just noted your website via the classic propliner forum and wanted to drop you a message.

During the month of June I visited Winnipeg with an friend and we drove to the East in search of Bush planes. We visited places like Kenora and Red Lake and photographed many floatplanes like the Beaver, Otter and Norseman. While in Red Lake I got my first ever Norseman ride ....:-)....onboard the Viking Outpost Norseman CF-FQI

I am a free-lance aviation writer and photographer and frequently travel the world in search of vintage aircrafts in action. We flew an enjoyable 35 minutes in and around Red Lake, taking off and lading back on the cool waters of Red Lake.

Please check out my webpage on our track across the Ontario's lakes:

http://www.michaelprophet.com/News_articles/news4.html

Hope you like it

Greetings from Holland,

Michael Prophet
VINTAGE AVIATION PICTURES

And here is another I received from a British gentleman with whom my grandfather Bob used to correspond:

Hello Julie,

You might remember me from a while back when I covered Bob's Norseman site in 'Aircraft Illustrated' magazine. Following that, Bob and I communicated by e-mail and he sent me some items via the post. In recent times I had tried to get in touch but had no reply and then events took over, meaning that I hadn't got round to chasing him up until recently.

I am very sorry to hear of Bob's passing; he was a true gent.

Regards,

Howard J. Curtis
(Bournemouth, UK)

Links to my aircraft photos on the Internet:

• JetPhotos.net
• PlanePictures.net
• Airliners.net
• ABPIC

Norseman Restoration at the Dutch Aviodrome - Pics & Update

As many of you may know, there is a Norsman restoration going on in the Netherlands currently at the Aviodrome. I am periodically in contact with one of the members of the restoration team and I recently asked him for an update and some pictures. Below is what I received in return - thought you all might be interested.

Hello Julie!


Thanks for your mail with the picture! It is good to hear that you are still active with your gandfathers heritage! I attached some pics which show how far we are at this moment. We have fitted the wings to the fuselage (to see if it needs to be adjusted) and we are working on the engine and the cockpit (a.o. instruments).

If you want to stop by here in Lelystad, let me know in advance!

Best regards,

Nationaal Luchtvaart-Themapark Aviodrome

Arno van der Holst

E-mail: a.vdholst@aviodrome.nl

Website: http://www.aviodrome.nl/

New Documents Posted!

Tonight I scanned in several documents I've found in a folder of items which I got from my grandfather before his passing. They are all linked from the Documents section of http://www.noorduynnorseman.com/. Here's the list of what has been scanned and posted as of today:

• Norseman Total Production Summary
• Registry: USAAF YC-64 Norseman Aircraft
• Norseman UC64A Diversions to Great Britain
• History of MkVI CN 367
• Norsemans in Czechoslovakia
• Norseman Report on Instrument Groups

I have quite a few more documents left to scan - will try to make time for them over the next few weeks and post them on the site accordingly.

Hello, and greetings from Newcastle!

First things first... I've moved the blog from a really old piece of software onto Blogger, so you'll notice that the blog has a LOT more features & looks a bit snazzier as well. Hope you enjoy...

Now, onto more interesting things...

My husband and I have been back from our North American adventure for a couple weeks now. Unfortunately we both came back to very nasty colds and lots of work, so this is the first chance I've had since my return to dive into the site. For those of you who arenɔ aware, Will and I went to the annual Norseman Festival in Red Lake, Ontario in July. We also visited my family in Ohio and took a couple days vacation in Chicago. It was an amazing trip all told.

I have tons of pictures and stories to share about our time in Red Lake, which I will try to get posted slowly as time allows. I have already posted several pictures out on the Norseman Flickr Group, so be sure to check those out. Thanks to everyone who showed us such kindness whilst in Red Lake ʼnt was truly an amazing trip. I'd especially like to thank Ron Robinson and his family for being such gracious hosts and support for our family.

Next businessPI have scanned six pages of black & white Norseman specification drawings and posted them on my site. The pics are compiled in a PDF format and can be accessed through the Documents section of the site. Sadly they are photocopies of photocopies. The quality isnɔ the greatest but some people HAVE found them helpful in the past, so I thought it best to post them for everyone else to share. When my grandfather was alive, he used to send photocopies of these drawings to people upon request via 'snail mail'. I doubt he'd mind that I'm sharing them electronically nowadays.

Til next time,

Julie

Kenora Daily article

Thought I would share this article recently printed in the Kenora Miner newspaper:






Thanks to Phil Gies for sending it on!! Visit his air traffic control site at:

www.winnipegacc.org/


Phil also sent on a collection of aerial pics of the Cartierville Airport taken between 1929 and 1998. The collection comes from his friend Alan Browne - thanks to both of them for allowing me to post these on my site.

To view the pics, please go to NoorduynNorseman.com.

Hall of Fame

There are efforts underway to nominate my great-grandfather, RBC Noorduyn, to the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame. These efforts are being led by a third party who has contacted me for a letter of support. This individual is in need of additional support besides just my family to push the nomination through the qualification process. If you are interested in contributing to this effort, please contact me at julie@noorduynnorseman.com and I will provide further details.



Cheers!

Julie Boddy

julie@noorduynnorseman.com

Jack Lamb

See the full article at: EdZaruk.com

Site Updates Imminent

Attention users: You will start noticing changes to the website occuring over the next few months. I am starting the slow process of upgrading the site, fixing broken links and making general improvements. Please bear with me during this process. Thanks for your support.

Reminder about the flickr group...

Hello everyone !

Just a quick note to let you know that I've started a Norseman group on the Flickr photo sharing site where I am posting some of the pictures I receive from fans of the Norseman as well as some pics from my own collection. Please feel free to check out the pictures as well as contribute your own norseman pictures. Here's the link:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/noorduynnorseman

Thanks!

Julie

Correspondence from Liam Lang

Hello Norseman Friends ! I know I have been a bit remiss in updating the site, and for that I do apologise. That said, I received a great story and some pics from a fellow Norseman enthusiast in Louisville, KY which I'd like to share with you, so to get it out there quickly, I'm posting his story and pics for you here. Enjoy and thanks again to Liam for the wonderful contribution!

September, 2008
Hi Julie,

You have a great website - I've visited it a few times over the years. Finally thought I'd write in with my Norseman story and send you a few pics of CF-JEC, Sn: 469.

I flew for Sabourin Lake Airways in Cochenour, Ont, (Red Lake) from 1980-85. Started on the 180/185, then flew the mighty Norseman one fall doing fish hauls from a small commercial fishing camp the natives were operating. One day, one of the other pilots brought JEC in, complaining that the elevator trim crank was slipping. You could trim nose down, but not nose up! Our mechanic took a look at it, fiddled with it some, and got the trim tab to where it was almost faired with the trailing edge of the elevator. He told me what he had done and said to just not use the darn trim! Well, I got in, cranked up the Pratt & Whitney, and thundered down the lake for my run up North, about an hour away. I was empty going up, so JEC got airborne fine, but sure enough, there was a bit of nose down trim still present, and my arms were going to get mighty tired trying to hold that for an hour! We always had a substantial rope tied to the diagonal brace tube running just behind the pilots seat, so I grabbed the rope, wound it around the control column a few times, and then by ɣrankingŀthe rope tight, voila, I had my elevator trim! (You can see what I'm talking about in the picture of me at the controls).

Arrived at the fishing camp and proceeded to load 1700 lbs of slimy, gutted, headless fish, arranged in big plastic tubs. Good thing it wasn't during the heat of summer - eau du fish is pretty potent! We had a big tarp lining the inside of the cabin, but no matter how hard we tried, that fish slime always worked its way out of the tubs, past the barrier, into the interior, and eventually the belly of the airplane! We would use buckets and buckets of Pine Sol water trying to remove the smell.

When I finally fired up for the run home, there was barely a breeze, so I knew that the takeoff was going to be extra work to get on the step and get those big Edo 5400's to break their suction. A nice headwind and surface chop was always a welcome help in getting off the water. The lake was shaped like a boomerang, with an island at the apex. I taxied as far as I could, and after turning around estimated there should be plenty of room to get airborne, so up came the water rudders and I eased the power up to unleash the 600 horses on the Pratt - I was going to need all of them for this takeoff. We plowed on down the lake, and slowly, oh so slowly, I could feel JEC accelerating, so when things felt right, I nursed her up on the step, and we thundered along some more. The airspeed was barely inching its way toward takeoff speed, and that island was front and center in the windscreen. Oh well, I was committed, and there was no sense in stopping the takeoff now - I'd deal with the island in another 60 seconds or so. Finally, with barely enough airspeed, I applied aileron to lift one float out, and now in a sideslip, coaxed and pleaded with JEC to get airborne.

Eventually, the other float also came out of the water, and usually at this point it was a matter of accelerating to climb speed while easing the flaps up and heading for destination, but not this time! Remember that slight nose down trim I mentioned earlier?

Now I desperately needed some nose up trim just to get the old girl to even consider accelerating, but it was not to be. There we sat, JEC, the decapitated fish, and myself, lumbering along a few feet off the water, firmly in ground effect, the airspeed needle seemingly stuck and refusing to budge. I resisted the strong urge to tap the glass on the gauge, because deep down, I knew it would be futile. Besides, with the Pratt bellowing and hollering, there was enough power coursing through the airframe to provide all the instrument vibration one could ever want! Now the island that seemed comfortably distant at the beginning of the takeoff run was inexorably starting to loom larger in the windscreen! There wasn't any room left to chop the power and land straight ahead without risking a crack-up on the rocks - besides, that would only delay the inevitable trip home, and, not wishing to spend the rest of the day at a forlorn fishing camp hoping the wind would pick up for a second try, I sure as heck wasn't about to let those floats see water again until it was at the home base. Besides, this was the bush and one way or the other, unless you blew a jug, you figured out a way to get the trip done.

There was only one thing left to do, and that was to try and buy some more time, so I booted in some rudder and skidded JEC into a shallow turn away from the island. Down another stretch of the lake we roared, still in ground effect. Almost imperceptibly, the airspeed needle started to wiggle and waver, slowly, oh so slowly inching its way into positive territory. I was able to nurse JEC out of ground effect, pick up about another 10 or 15 knots, and coax the old beast up to about 500 feet AGL at around 100 feet per minute before deciding that I had probably reached the new out-of-trim service ceiling. I cinched up the control column strain-reliever for the slog back to home base. It was a happy moment when the floats finally touched water, I having learned a very graphic lesson about Norseman aerodynamics! I'm glad to hear that JEC / sn 469 is still around, apparently now registered to Collin Oliver in Brooks, Alberta, the province of my birth.

Regards,
Liam Lang (B-757/767, UPS)
Louisville, KY
LLang@IPApilot.org

Some bad news...

Hello there Noorduyn friends.

I am writing with some sad news unfortunately. After a long battle with Alzheimer's, my grandpa Bob Noorduyn (RBC Noorduyn's son) has passed away. He has been unwell for about the last month, and over the last week he had a stroke of some sort and died peacefully last night. Grandpa didn't want a funeral of any sort and made my mother promise she would not hold one, so instead she will be having a very informal memorial for him on September 7th in Columbus, Ohio where people are invited to say a few words about him, or for those who can't attend in person, can send flowers or cards/letters. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it myself, as I am living in the United Kingdom right now and am getting married on September 6th so its impossible for me to be there. I am blessed to have been home in April and able to see Bob at that time and I was even more blessed because he remembered me, which felt so good.

Anyway, I thought you would want to know of his passing. If you would like to send anything to my mother for the ceremony, please email me at julie@noorduynnorseman.com and I wll forward the contact details.


Thank you,

Julie Hicks

www.noorduynnorseman.com

Flickr Photo Group Created

Hello friends !

I know that so far I haven't made good on promises to create a wiki or blog for noorduynnorseman.com, and I must admit it's partially out of laziness and the other part is due to the fact I've spent the last 6 month adjusting to my new life in England (which is quite the culture shock at times!). Excuses, excuses... yeah, I know. Anyway, I decided to scan some new pics in for all to see and I've posted the master images on my flickr account for all to see - finally, huh?

Below are some of the images I have posted, and the rest can be seen here.