'That's an excellent link, Pete. Interestingly enough, RCAF ser. no. 625 was a 51 that was later bought by Austin Airways
and it became CF-BVY. Austin also bought a 71 which was CF-BVI. When the engine of BVY got time expired Austin
requested permission of Transport Canada to install a larger engine as no spares of the same size were available.
They were denied and BVI was taken out of service. However, BVY ( the 71 with a 50' wingspan) needed new wings
and those from BVY ( 44' wingspan ) were fitted. It turned out that the 71 with the 51 wings was a better flyer all round.
BVI finally suffered an engine failure on takeoff in 1949 from English lake and it remained submerged for thirteen years
before being salvaged by Gordie Hughes then of Port Stanley, Ontario and now of Ignace, Ontario.
Gordie invited me up to look at the carcass as it still sits out side his shop, Northland Air Services in Ignace, Ontario
and I flew up there last summer from Ottawa in my Christavia. It was a hell of a trip that took six days in all. I fought 40 mph
headwinds all the way with a cruise speed of only a legit 85 mph. Terrible turbulence most of the the way and at one time
I had the throttle back almost to idle, carb heat on, stick quite a bit forward and I was going up at 700 fpm. I had to tie down
in Thunder Bay for two nights with Tornado warnings in the area. I landed there with a direct crosswind at 18 Kt gusting 25.
It was about all the Christavia and I could manage.
A sad sight BVI was when I got there but I got it out of my system. Nothing really salvageable or useful for my project, but
Gordie was kind enough to cut out some parts and send them to me to use as patterns and I'm very pleased to have them.
Northland Air Services with Gordie at the helm is now known as Mr. Norseman up here. His restorations of them are
legendary.
David Stroud Ottawa, Canada
Christavia C-FDWS
Fairchild 51 replica
under construction C-FYXV
----- Original Message -----
From: shergei2001
To:
fairchildclub@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, April 02, 2011 10:59 AM
Subject: [fairchildclub] Canadian military aircraft serial numbers
I just added this to the yahoo group "Links" section - it's a great website listing serial numbers of Canadian military aircraft, with a wealth of information on individual aircraft operated by Canadian military forces, including Fairchild and Fleet-built PT-26s.
www.ody.ca/~bwalker/index.htm
Pete Crawford
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