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The Final Journey. Perhaps celebrated more for its last flight than for its first, the ex–Canadian Pacific Airlines Douglas DC-6B 'Empress of Suva' completed one of its most challenging landings on December 4, 2010, to alight for the last time at a modest dirt airstrip cut across two small agricultural holdings north of Pretoria, South Africa. Acquired in an effort to turn CPA from a bush operator into an ocean-crossing airline, the DC-6B, delivered in 1957, served its purpose for a modest four years before the jet age arrived. In 1961 the still almost new airliner was sold to Sweden’s Transair, and for many years lost the aristocratic Empress name applied to many of Canadian Pacific’s aircraft. The airplane passed through a number of owners, including a Norwegian airline, Braathens, and then Greenland Air, with which it served remote Cold War radar installations within the Arctic Circle. Following a route taken by many weary old airliners, the DC-6B eventually wound up in Africa flying UN relief missions in Mozambique. Its last commercial operator retired the Empress from the Democratic Republic of Congo to South Africa, and then generously donated it to the South African Airways Museum Society. Unloved, it fell to dereliction at its temporary home at Swartkop air force base. Seemingly a target for the scrap man, the DC-6B was spotted by vintage military vehicle collectors and business partners Witold Walus and Willie Muntingh. Walus and Muntingh hired engineer Mike Mayers and brought the DC-6B back to life over a two-year period, and in December 2010 obtained a ferry permit to make one last flight to their business premises, Walmannstal, near Pretoria, South Africa, where the 'Empress of Suva' is now safely parked, proudly serving as a gate guardian. Editors' Note: 'Empress of Suva' CF-CZV c/n 45329 fin# 444 was delivered to CPA on August 15, 1957 and sold to Transair, Sweden on November 9, 1961 registered SE-BDG. See our 'Featured Video' just below for more on its final flight. |
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Issue dated April 1984 'extra' |
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Now a Halifax hub, national identity - 'Together we're better!' CP Air's 'Together We're Better' courtship with Eastern Provincial Airways became a marriage on April 16, 1984 when it was announced that CP is purchasing EPA and its Air Maritime affiliate. |
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