Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

Allan Gray advised us of this article by Morgan Ostler published in the Campbell River Mirror. Excerpt below:

Decade-long effort to install floatplane tribute to Campbell River aviation soars.

The long-awaited installation of the famous DeHavilland Beaver floatplane was hoisted on a display pedestal on Monday, April 25 at the Campbellton entrance to Campbell River, commemorating a significant period in the history of the city. 

The Tyee Spit, a long strip of land which juts out into the Campbell River estuary was considered the busiest floatplane base in Canada in 1966.

The much-admired de Havilland Beaver, amongst many aircraft that used the Spit, was known as the 'Workhorse of the North.' Although that famous plane was first constructed in 1947, it was no longer built by de Havilland Canada after 1967. Still, the Beaver continued to lead the way in the charter industry for the next half century.

See full article at: www.campbellrivermirror.com

We found the video, linked below, posted by Jim Howard on YouTube. It shows Jim at the controls of a DeHavilland Beaver floatplane taking off at Campbell River in 2012.

Editors' Note: The aircraft in the video is not the one mounted at the Campbellton entrance to Campbell River. This one is still flying today for Northwest Seaplanes of Seattle, Washington.

Some Australian Aviation Inventions

Distance measuring equipment (1944/45)
Australia has made several important contributions to airline safety. Distance measuring equipment, which calculates the distance between aircraft and a ground system using radio waves, was invented by engineer James Gerrand under the supervision of Welsh-born Australian radar pioneer Edward George Bowen while the pair were working for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), which has brought the world a multitude of amazing inventions.

Black box flight recorder (1953)
A spate of unsolved crashes of de Havilland Comet jetliners prompted Aussie researcher David Warren to come up with the idea for a device that could record cockpit sounds back in 1953. Warren, whose father perished in 1934 in a mysterious plane crash, created a prototype in 1956, and the gadget was commercialized not long after, improving airline safety immeasurably.

Inflatable escape slide and raft (1965)
Australia made yet another crucial contribution to airline safety in 1965 with the invention of the inflatable escape slide, which doubles up as a life raft. Devised by Qantas employee Jack Grant, the blow-up apparatus has become a standard feature on passenger aircraft around the globe.

Additional info at:

www.australiangeographic.com.au

impactinnovation.com

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_aviation_firsts

UK budget airline, EasyJet, will remove a row of seats from some of its planes so it can operate flights with fewer cabin crew it announced.

The airline said it will remove the last row of seats on some of its Airbus A319 aircraft, limiting the number of passengers on board to 150.

By removing the seats, it means the aircraft will be able to operate with three cabin crew members instead of four. According to UK regulations, airlines must provide one cabin crew member for every 50 passengers on board an aircraft.

www.businessinsider.com