Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

Pacific Western Airlines L-100 Hercules 

A retired pilot friend of mine at the local Seniors' Centre that I frequent was telling me about his experiences when he flew the Pacific Western Airlines L-100 Hercules fleet. Always lots of fun to listen to whatever John has to say, always with a glint in his eye while recalling the adventures.

My only personal recollection of the Hercules was through occasional leasing for engine movements. When I started doing my research, I discovered that the aircraft has a long and distinguished career both in civilian and military (C-130) service. 

I don't have any personal recollection of ever seeing these aircraft in PWA livery, so I asked Ken & Terry if they had any insight to share; they always come through. 

Ken advises:

PWA Hercules operation is quite well known. And it wasn't just in the North. They were flown on charters all over the world.

The civil Hercules was marketed by Lockheed as L-100. The L-100-20 was about 8.5 feet longer than the original and the L-100-30 had a further stretch of about 6.5 feet.

PWA operated both the -20 and -30 models. The L-100 designations were just for marketing purposes. They were officially registered and certified as L-382 with a letter following to identify the different models. The longest L-100-30 was certified as L-382G.

Came across that undated footage (link below) of PW Hercules CF-PWO at a remote site in the North, probably operating on a frozen lake. That was the aircraft written off in Peru on July 16, 1968 with no fatalities, landing at a remote jungle strip.

It was only two years old, delivered May 11, 1967, so the undated footage is somewhere between those dates. That's the standard original L-100 with the short fuselage, so PW actually operated all 3 models, not just the lengthened L-100-20 and further stretched L-100-30 mentioned in my earlier message.

Also found the following in a site (www.diecastmodelaircraft.com) related to model aircraft, but has very good info and a photo of another PW L-100-20, with an article written by Stuart (Stu) Russell whose office was near my own during my CP years in Calgary. 

The article says incorrectly that Stu was a Hercules pilot. He was a loadmaster who dealt with the cargo loading, weight and balance and paperwork etc. during their flights. 

Additional photos and info at:

www.pwareunion.com/hercules.htm

Terry supplied the following fleet list:

Current status as per rzjets.net

• CF-PWO - L-100-20 -1967-1969 
  • written off July 1969 at Cayaya, Peru
• C-FPWN - L100-20 - 1969-1984
  • written off November 1989 on alleged CIA mission
• C-FPWX - L-100-20 - 1969-1976
  • written off November 1976 at Kisangani,  Zaire
• CF-PWR - L-100-20 - 1969-1980
  • Libyan Air Cargo - withdrawn from use
• C-FPWK - L-100-20 - 1973-1981
  • Paulatuk, Northwest Territories burned on ground while unloading fuel - April 1982
• C-GHPW - L-100-30 -1978-1983
  • Current registration N411LC with Lynden Air Cargo
• N9263R L-100-100 - 1966-1966 lease
  • Current registration S9-BAT with Transafrik International
  • No longer in service as per Wikipedia (see photo below)

CF-PWO Lockheed L-100 Hercules
Pacific Western Airlines

Unspecified date in the Canadian Arctic

Posted by Keith Deines

Former registration N9263R in World Food Programme (WFP) livery. 'United Nations Humanitarian Service' painted on the fuselage.

Registered S9-BAT to Transafrik International of Angola headquartered in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.

Photo by Marco Antonio Silva at Recife, Brazil November 4, 2004

It is probably common knowledge among our readers that the first supersonic flight by a commercial airliner was achieved during a test flight of a DC-8-43 (test registration N9604Z) on August 21, 1961.

This aircraft would be delivered to Canadian Pacific Airlines on November 15, 1961 (fin #602, registration CF-CPG) where it remained in service for close to 20 years.

The video linked below comes from 'Maximus Aviation' and chronicles the events leading up to that flight. 

Editors' Note: You will certainly notice that the video creators confuse CP Air with Air Canada in their graphics!

Another cartoon by Dave Mathias appeared in the 'Horizons' magazine issue April 1980.

The caption reads "I don't know what it is, but something about that guy bothers me."