Last year I announced stumbling upon another small operator but was fortunate to find information on almost immediately. Guess what. I found more! The first two are associated with the recent Saskatchewan SEAT program. They're still in business and should prove quick to research. The second pair are - you probably guessed it - are companies that used one airplane 40 or 50 years ago. I've been aware of one of these companies for many years because of a nice photograph but I could find no information on its potential use as an air tanker. That changed around August when I read the plane's DOT records in Library and Archives Canada. I immediately spoke to the photographer and obtained permission to use his image. When I called back a couple weeks later I discovered he'd passed away - 10 days after we'd spoken! Sure, he was 100 years old, but...

Although Covid has prevented me from visiting several archives to perform research, progress continues to be made on the remaining chapters; interviews are being conducted, information is being tracked down, and permission has been asked for the right to publish hundreds of photographs. This is probably the single biggest difference between a printed publication and something like Facebook or a website. Print publications still follow traditional copyright laws where each image must be approved by the copyright holder (the photographer or archive). Images posted to the internet are considered as being deposited in the public domain, meaning once they're out there anyone can use them, share them, etc. as they see fit. Watermarking an image with a name or copyright statement is merely the best attempt a photographer can make to reduce or prevent unapproved reproduction.

Moving forward, about 10 chapters still require some level of research. Thankfully, many of them are already half done and continue to receive most of my attention.

Trevor McTavish

Update #25 - 2020

Oh my gosh, has it really been three and a half years since my last update?! Truth be told, I know I wrote an update after #24, but it seems to have disappeared. It was never posted to the website, was it only ever emailed? It doesn't matter.

Several people have contacted me recently to see if I'm still working on Flying Fire Trucks. I'll save you many of the details, but it is still moving forward. I am, and while there's been a lot of research and writing going on, a significant effort has gone into acquiring photographs, sorting them, selecting where in the manuscript they would fit, and then writing suitable captions. I was surprised to discover one good caption could take an hour or more to write. Multiply that by several hundred photos and a writer has his hands full.

Another time consuming project has been sorting out all my sources and organizing my bibliography. You wouldn't believe all the people and sources I've used to piece together some of these company histories. In this day of putting everything on the internet without copyright consent, proper credits, etc., most people have a hard time understanding why I'm going through all this. The short answer is, that's how you show you're not making this stuff up.

Last year I stumbled on to yet another of these one-airplane, one-season operations. Luckily though, I found enough details to flesh out a short chapter and found some photographs I could use. Victories like these are small but I'll take them.

Some time ago I said that 2019 would be the end of the narrative - 100 years of airplanes connected with fire fighting. Naturally, Murphy's Law dictated that 2019 would see Saskatchewan finally launch a provincial SEAT Program, Longview convert its first CL-215T, and an unbelievable fire season in Australia provide ample material to talk about for two Canadian companies. Mr. Murphy, oh how I hate you... The current list of fixed-wing companies now stands at 56!

Tonight, as I sit down to write this quick update, I do so having been informed that I'm one of 6,900 WestJetters being placed on furlough. Hopefully this doesn't last more than a few months, but in the meantime I'm doing my best to keep a positive outlook on things. In fact, I'm looking forward to spending time with my wife and kids, catching up on movies, building some plastic models, defeating the treadmill in the basement, and of course, plugging away with Flying Fire Trucks. With daytime telephone interviews impossible to conduct at work, staying home could actually help.

On a positive note, George Plawski has completed his autobiography, Never a Dull Moment. George and the late Linc Alexander were some of my first interviewees and two of the most supportive people for my project. I have yet to read my copy, but if it's as laugh out loud funny as our interviews, you're sure to be entertained. Get your copy (e-book, paperback or hardcover) from the publisher at Friesenpress.com

Stay safe and healthy as we face the challenges of 2020 together.

Trevor McTavish

Mid-year update:

Thanks to some rather irritating IT issues, I had to reload all my websites and every piece of content. So, I took advantage of this to rework the Flying Fire Trucks pages (as I hope you noticed). This includes redoing all the updates from PDFs to a single page on the website. Doing so removes a couple extra steps and should save me some time. I hope you like the change. One thing that struck me as I looked back, was how optimistic I was in those early years. I really was naive thinking I had a pretty good grasp on how big this project was going to be, and how quickly it would be ready for print.

TM

Update #24 - 2016

Another year has come and gone, and I can honestly say that yes, I have been making progress with Flying Fire Trucks. A quick look back through my email from 2016 shows I'd been in communication with people from BC to the Maritimes, the Yukon to Haiti.

As much as I hate social media I've been forced to use Facebook to find many of my latest contacts. My biggest challenge continues to be the small water bombing companies in Quebec but I'm finally making inroads in this area.

I started sending chapters out for fact checking and content review in 2015, and that process has continued. Some chapters have required a lot of attention and revision but it's all about getting the story right before it's committed to print.

Trevor McTavish

Update #23 - 2013 & 2014

If you remember back to my last update, I spent 2014 getting back into my writing after focusing for several years on saving some vintage airplanes. I was able to dive back into Flying Fire Trucks and since then, I've expanded several chapters, rewritten and polished much of my older writings.

Several more chapters have gone out for fact checking and I've been happy to make some major corrections. Why would anyone be happy making corrections? It's because I want to get it right. When Flying Fire Trucks is done it will be the most comprehensive piece of work on the aerial fire fighting industry and it would be totally pointless to release a sloppy or error-laden book.

So just how big is Flying Fire Trucks at this point? Well, as of January 17 the word count was 183,695, or more than 7,300 words longer than it was a year ago. I've been told that translates into about 184 printed pages.

Maybe one of the most exciting recent events occurred when I contacted a major Canadian book printing company for a quote. After all these years, I finally had hard numbers to work with when talking about the economics of publishing a book. In some ways it surprised me and in other ways, it confirmed my guesses. Probably the most surprising discovery was how little it cost to increase the size of a book (from say, 400 to 450 or 500 pages). There's certainly a cost but in comparison to the costs of editing, layout, photographs, etc., it's actually pretty small. This might justify printing a bigger book and loading it with more pictures.

Looking forward, I have several contacts I will track down this year, including a number of people in Quebec, a province that I haven't done much research in (mostly because I don't read or speak French). Having these contacts makes me very excited and I hope I'll learn enough to bring closure to some of the outstanding chapters.

Trevor McTavish

Update #22 - 2013 & 2014

It's been two years since I published my last update for my fire fighting book and while I have been tardy in my updates, when it comes to my manuscript I can say that I have been productive.

In case you're not aware, for the past seven years I was working to preserve a de Havilland Mosquito and Hawker Hurricane. As a director in the organization I ended up devoting most of my writing time to the political games surrounding these planes and then raising $1.6-million to fund their restorations. We completed our fundraising in the summer of 2014 and that meant I was free to focus my energies on Flying Fire Trucks.

This renewed attention began on May 29 at the 2014 induction ceremony for Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame. Not only was I surrounded by some of the greats of Canadian aviation but I shared my table with one of Canada's greatest aces, James 'Stocky' Edwards. During the festivities I made contact with several people who helped answer some of my firefighting questions. Most satisfying of which was confirming that a Stearman on floats that I had come across several times was used for spraying - not firefighting - thus I won't need to add an another chapter to cover it's story. Bob Engle, one of this year's inductees, graciously provided information on Northwest Territorial Airways and the little bit of water bombing they did using an Otter. Sadly, Bob passed away in September.

Of course, no sooner had I been able to write that Stearman off than I came across two small companies in Quebec that used Beavers and Otters in the 1970s. These will be challenging to investigate because I don't speak French.

At the induction dinner, I was introduced to a gentleman in Calgary who has one of the largest private aviation libraries I had ever heard about. The best part was that he was willing to share it with me and I have been able to scan through about 50 years of magazines. Amongst their news releases were a couple gems that helped advance a couple of my chapters.

I've spent an incredible amount of time editing my manuscript. Some of my earliest writing dates back to 2001 and several chapters have not been seriously reviewed for about a decade. I put a lot of time into cleaning them up and tightening the story but they are still a long way away from getting a professional's polish. However, I am confident enough that I have started to send some chapters out for proof reading but I was nervous because this is the first time anyone has actually laid eyes on Flying Fire Trucks. One of the first reviewers was Bud Rude, former owner of The Flying Fireman, during my annual business trip to Seattle I was fortunate to pay him a visit and he caught a couple mistakes, answered some questions, and helped ex-pand on some points. Incidentally, this was my last business trip to Seattle because Boeing is moving their engineering department to Long Beach, California, so future meetings will most likely include bringing the family along for a visit to Mickey Mouse.

Speaking of business trips, I've been fortunate this year in that I have been able to use several of my trips to benefit Flying Fire Trucks. I don't know what it was like in your families but my family vacations, whether only for a day or a week, almost always involved a visit to at least one of my dad's business clients. It was just part of our holidays. Society seems to love inventing new words these days, and have dubbed such trips workations (work-vacation). The first of these was the aforementioned Seattle trip.

The second was to Victoria where I spent two days in the BC Archives searching through the BC Forest Service's photo collection - all 26,000 of them. The archivists had a hard time understanding that an au-thor needs more than a description like "Avenger" to determine what a particular photo was showing. What was the tanker number on the plane, what base was it tak-en at, what activity is the photo showing? If it's dropping retardant is it a demonstration or training drop or is it fighting a real fire? These are details that need to be known when it comes time to match an image with the story. In the end I came away knowing there are 362 photos of interest and I was permitted to take a snapshot of all of them.

My third trip took me all the way to Moncton and allowed me to finally meet with Forest Patrol Ltd. and discuss their work protecting private timber reserves in the Maritimes. Forest Patrol is part of the J.D. Irving empire, famous for guarding their privacy and corporate interests, so I am very lucky to have been welcomed into their offices.

In November I was in contact with the Alberta Forest Service, and our communications led to some very informative research materials in the form of a history book on the AFS and a digital copy of the photo collection. That means someone else has gone into the archives and done all my research for me - what an enormous help.

As you can see, a major part of my research has been taking place in libraries and archives. Whether they are housed in people's basements, antique buildings or modern offices, these repositories contain a tremendous amount of history. Sadly, in our demand for instant answers modern society has come to believe that Wikipedia holds everything we could possibly want to know. There is so much more out there if we just spend a little times looking for it.

Trevor McTavish

Update #21 - 2012

Since update #20 ended in mid-2012, I'll pick up there with a pleasant surprise.

The family of one of the pilots that I've been trying to track down information on contacted me out of the blue. Not only did they answer all of my questions but they gave me some new information and a wonderful photograph of their father. It's surprises like these that give projects like mine excitement - new information that breathes new life into stalled stories, allowing you to advance your writing or fill in the gaps - and its even better when they fall into your lap.

Of course there were also three new companies that I discovered doing water bombing in the 1960s. Thankfully I had some contacts that knew of these airplanes and were able to provide me with a helping hand and some photographs.

At the start of August, I took my family on a trip to Whitehorse. Whitehorse you ask? Yes, Whitehorse. Not only did I want to go through the Yukon Archives to see what materials they have, but I also wanted to get some photos for some "Yukon content" in the book. As it happens, I arrived just in time to catch the departure of Air Spray's Electra and one of the last dispatches for Conair's Firecats. It's the sad conclusion to the Firecat era which started back in 1978 but both tankers have found new homes in museums - Langley, BC and Wetaskiwin, AB.

Thanks to my day job I was back in Seattle this year - twice - and was finally able to make contact with Bud Rude, former owner of The Flying Fireman Ltd. Bud invited me into his home and we enjoyed several hours talking about PBYs, Neptunes and a wide assortment of fire fighting and aviation related topics. Unfortunately it seems the USFS and the State of Washington have finally succeeded in slamming the door shut on the water bomber PBY. Another era has come to an end.

As I write this I'm encouraged to add that in late November I made contact with a Calgary-based publisher who's breaking into the aviation market. I'm eager to learn what steps I should be taking as my manuscript nears completion. Don't get too excited yet; there are still a couple chapters that need some serious research.

Have a safe, healthy and prosperous 2013.

Trevor McTavish

Update #20 - 2011

Anyone remembering back to Update 19 will recall that 2010 was a very unproductive year for Flying Fire Trucks. I'll be honest, even I was shocked to see how little I'd done on this book, but that's not to say that I haven't been doing any writing. Quite the contrary. Back in the spring of 2004 I started another writing project that was supposed to help fill in the lulls I was experiencing as I wrote Flying Fire Trucks. That project, a biography about my family's 70 years in aviation has dragged out to the 75th anniversary but I'm happy to say it's finally finished.

Unlike Flying Fire Trucks, which I've always expected to be a BIG book, Chinook Flying Services Ltd. evolved from a website through several iterations of book until I finally found a layout design that worked for me. Originally it was to have been only for my family, but it grew as I added stories from a mix of friends, former employees and students. Each time, the project became a little more complex. Because I only thought it would interest a small number of people I self-published using a print-on-demand company called Blurb. If you're interested you can check it out at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3147731. Go ahead and order a copy if you're interested.

Now, its back to Flying Fire Trucks. I have to apologize for the delay in getting this update out. I know many of you are curious about my progress and I wanted to 'kill' my family history project before I went any further. So now that my family history has been recorded for the masses to see, I'm ready to jump back into Flying Fire Trucks and finish it off before my kids get to college.

In 2011, while taking a day off of work, I managed to interview a number of smaller companies, including some agricultural application companies in Manitoba that have been involved in establishing a couple tanker groups of SEAT spray plane/tankers.

I also managed to spend some time in the collections of the Alberta Aviation Museum in Edmonton. If you haven't been there, I recommend a visit, it's a rather active museum with more than a passing focus on civil aviation.

Last fall, work sent me to Winnipeg which worked out great because I was able to drop in and visit the Western Canadian Aviation Museum and see what kinds of firefighting related photographs they have. The simple answer is LOTS and I'll be returning when it comes time to pick photos to accompany the stories.

Although its now half over, have a safe, healthy and prosperous 2012.

Trevor McTavish

Update #19 - 2010

2010 started off early with the arrival of my son, Ryan. This of course put my writing on hold but I was able to steal away and make some phone calls and do some interviews.

My wife finally challenged me to figure out just how big I was going to let this book get. After much soul searching and thinking I was forced to admit that no matter how hard I try and how fast I work, its only going to get bigger. So, when the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 2010 it will mark with it the cutoff for Flying Fire Trucks. A squadron of fire bombing 747s could arrive in January but they'll have to wait for Volume 2 (don't hold your breath). (Looking back from 2011, with all the interesting new tankers coming into service I wonder how long I'll actually hold myself to this limit).

Right now, there are a number of chapters that need to researched and written but I think its safe to say that I should have about 200 letter-sized pages of text. My dream is to combine this with another 200 pages of photos.

In March I met Bob Petite, probably the most knowledgeable person on Canadian helicopter history. Not only did Bob invite me into his home but he shared his knowledge on a variety of fire-related topics. It shouldn't be surprising that he also offered to assist with my explanation of the intricacies of bird dogging - he's been an Air Attack Officer with the province of Alberta for decades.

As many of you know the 2010 fire season started off with a fatal accident in New Brunswick. I met the pilot, Ron Clowes, during my 2002 whirlwind tour and my condolences go out to all of Ron's family, friends and coworkers.

Unfortunately Ron wasn't the only casualty this season. Tim Whiting and Brian Tilly also lost their lives when their Convair 580 crashed in BC. Although I never met these gentlemen, my condolences to their families and friends as well. I truly hope these three men will be the last names to appear on my memorial, which currently stands at 102.

A safe, healthy and prosperous 2011.

Trevor McTavish

Book Review:

Fire Bomber Into Hell
Linc W. Alexander (2010)

When it comes to fire bombing, few pilots can claim the experience that Linc Alexander can. Starting in open cockpit Stearmans in 1960, he graduated to TBMs, F7Fs, A-26s, Trackers and DC-6s. Linc quite literally wrote the book on the subject - Air Attack on Forest Fires - the first and definitive instructional text on fire bombing.

In Fire Bomber Into Hell, Linc looks back at his 37 year career, combining his personal experiences with an authoritative description of the challenges each fire bomber pilot faces. From turbulence and winds, to bosses playing favourites and bureaucrats building procedural walls and laying down political land mines, Linc tackles them all.

This is not an in-depth history (hey that's what mine book is all about), but a fantastic book that will easily entertain and educate readers about the dangerous world of air attack and the risks these special pilots take every summer.

Highly recommended.

TM

Update #18 - 2009

At the start of January, Sylvia Achter supplied me with a number of photographs of A-26s, taken in Whitehorse in the early 1970s. Among the shots were a series of images of the mysterious MCAC - Mid Canada Aerial Contractors' plane, CF-BVH. Combine this with another shot I received in November 2008, and it appears that MCAC is one of those well photographed, poorly remembered companies. The search continues for more. Apparently the pilot for their 1973/74 seasons was Bert Nelson. Does anyone know anything about this man?

Early February turned out to be an extremely time for me. I finally got into contact with Mary Harrington, wife of the Dave Harrington, who owned Air Spray Ltd. when it started fire bombing with Stearmans. Mary not only spent time answering my questions, but she also directed me to the recipients of her late husband's records and photographs. Thanks to her comments, I know have a fairly good picture of an unknown company called National Air Tankers Ltd., who owned and operated what I know to be the first PBY water bomber in Western Canada. After our talk I found new motivation to dig out my little note book, working my way through the phone numbers. Telephone interviews were performed with people associated with Eastern Provincial Airlines, Conair and the Saskatchewan Smoke Jumpers. I also talked with Duane Hicks, of Hicks & Lawrence, who graciously packed up his family photo album and sent it to me.

Unfortunately the progress at the start of February quickly turned sour. My wife and I were expecting to move into our new house in late May. Well, the builder sprung a late March possession date on us - leaving us with just five weeks to finish a "fix it" list the length of my arm, pack, and find a renter for our current house. Sounds a little busy huh? I think I have a few more grey hairs because of that little surprise.

Early in April, Conair celebrated its 40th anniversary with a huge party in Abbotsford. Thanks to Tom Wilson, I was able to join the festivities as the guest of Murray Cliff - one of Skyway Air Service's Stearman pilots. Conair must be commended for the great party. Not only was I able to visit with many of my past acquaintances, I met some of you face-to-face, and introduced Flying Fire Trucks to others.

A post on an internet forum led to a number of leads for pilots who'd flown PBYs in Manitoba with Northland Airlines, Midwest Airlines and Transair Ltd. After a couple phone calls, I had a pretty good idea of what was going on with these companies. I even received some pictures.

In part, because of what Mary Harrington had told me, I began looking into a company called Mercury Flights. Now the few references I've found to this company say it was Dave Harrington of Air Spray renaming his company. I thought this was odd, especially since it would have changed back to Air Spray (1967) Ltd., and after some more digging, I discovered it was a partnership gone sour. And since Mercury Flights competed against Air Spray (1967) Ltd., I had to add yet another chapter to the book. Incidentally, that brings it up to an even 50! I also managed to track down a massive collection of Air Spray information. I'm sure everyone will be surprised when you finally get to read that chapter.

After years of waiting, WestJet finally announced that it would begin service to Yellowknife. Naturally I was ecstatic, as it meant I'd finally be able to meet with Buffalo Airways and Northwestern Air Lease.

Although this year's season could easily be called dead, I was still able to talk to some of Buffalo's pilots and AMEs in Yellowknife, capture some stunning photos of a DC-4 in front of the tanker base at Hay River, and finally meet with the father and son team of Terry and Brian Harrold in Fort Smith. With any luck, and a boost to my bank account, I'll return next summer to get some action shots.

At the end of October, I was invited to attend a reunion of the Flying Fireman Ltd. in Victoria. It was an excellent opportunity for me to reconnect with many people I've spoken to, and to connect with many of the Flying Firemen I hadn't. Thanks to Derwyn Ross for organizing the event.

At the start of December, work had me in Vancouver and Toronto. Naturally I took advantage of this and spent some time visiting Canadian Air-Crane, SEI Industries (makers of the famous Bambi-Bucket), and Field Aviation Ltd. Each company shared some interesting information.

Some of you may have noticed a new book on fire bombing has come out (see sidebar). Although this book is almost identical to the original concept I had for Flying Fire Trucks, it falls down in that it has almost zero mention of Canada, or Canadians' contributions to the fire fighting industry. From my perspective however, this book has done three important things:

A) its proven there's a world-wide interest in fire fighting aircraft, and what they do.
B) The author has left the door wide open for a fresh, all encompassing book on Canada's fire fighting history - my Flying Fire Trucks.
C) Its lit a fire under my butt, driving me to press on harder and faster than I had been.

I'd only ask that you don't confuse this book with Flying Fire Trucks.

Trevor McTavish

Book Review:

Aerial Firefighting
Wolfgang Jendsch (2008)

I'll admit, this is something new for me, reviewing another authors fire fighting book - albeit an unsolicited review.

Entitled "Aerial Fire Fighting", the author (from Germany) has done a commendable job documenting modern fire fighting activities in, well, pretty much every country EXCEPT Canada.

I was surprised that in 352 pages, the Canadian content could be described as almost completely non-existent. A quick check showed that Canada or Canadians were only mentioned a half dozen times in passing, typically with incorrect information (Canadians still water bombing with DHC-2 Beavers), and that three of the six photos of Canadian aircraft were taken while they were on contract in other countries.

Now, I of all people understand the challenge this author faced, but I would have expected to see some mention of Canada's significant contribution to fire fighting, which I would easily greater than Croatia or Korea's.

Inside the hardcover are 352 heavy-weight, glossy pages, packed with photos of a wide assortment of air tankers, bird dogs, helicopters, and a selection of people and places - almost all of them in full colour. The author claims he selected them from a collection of more than 40,000 fire fighting related photos and I'd believe him.

The original book was published in the author's native German, and the English version suffers in some sentence structure and typographical errors (eg: CL-315T), but if you can work your way through the takeout menu of your local Chinese restaurant, you'll have no problem following the Anglicized version.

The author has gone to a great deal of effort creating a list of aircraft types used in fire fighting although, as I've noted, Canada's contribution is again lacking in this area, plus I have a serious problem with anyone referring to Douglas airplanes as McDonnell Douglas or Boeing products.

Although Canada is noticeable in its absence, I whole heartedly recommend this book as a reference for what the rest of the world has been doing for the last 15 years or so.

TM

Update #17 - 2008

Sometimes I wondered if anyone actually read my website, or if my website was of any value. I finally received an answer to that question. While at an unrelated aviation event in my local air museum, a complete stranger came up and asked if I was the same Trevor McTavish writing a book about fire bombing? Here was someone not-connected with the industry that had found my website and learned about what I was doing. Almost as important, was that he mentioned a couple friends were also interested. Shortly after I emailed the 2007 update, I sat down with Peter Weinkoff to talk about his time flying tankers. Peter started off in PBYs for the province of Saskatchewan, moving on to the CL-215. He's since worked for Buffalo Airways, flown a contract in Greece, and has returned to Saskatchewan. Along with our talk, Peter supplied me with a list of pilots from Saskatchewan, and I've been contacting them as time permits.

A big thank you to Dan Dertien and Elwood White. Elwood was a prolific photographer, and with Dan's help, he's sharing his fantastic collection of early BC fire bomber photos with me. During an unrelated visit to Vancouver Island, I met Elwood in person, and received a bunch of information about his photographs - a nice touch when you're trying to put together captions.

I've had to add more operators to Section 4; B.C. Air Lines Ltd., Husky Aircraft and West Coast Air Services Ltd. I had no idea that all three of these companies were involved with fire fighting. Luckily I was able to talk with people who were involved with them and get most of the information I needed to complete the chapters. In fact, one of these men referred me to a friend who flew water bombers for Pacific Western Airlines which allowed me to bring that chapter to an end. Unfortunately I didn't have the same luck with the new chapter on Northland Airlines Ltd., Midwest Airlines Ltd. and Transair Ltd. - they're the same airplanes - the companies just merged and bought each other out. If anyone knows anything about their water bombing activities, I'd really like to hear from you.

I made contact with Gerry Connor, one of the owners of G&M Aircraft Ltd. the last of the B-25 operators. He was quite forthcoming with information, and I'm sure I'll be making good progress on that story.

My wife's family had a reunion and memorial service in Lac la Biche, AB, in July, and while the trip wasn't productive from stand point of my book, it did allow me to get a couple action shots of Air Spray's CL-215s taking off. I've gathered phone numbers, and will hopefully return next summer with my camera, notepad and a bunch of questions for the rapid-attack crews based there.

In mid-August, after years of saying I was heading there, I finally made it to Saskatchewan to visit the bases at Prince Albert and La Ronge. In both cases the crews were friendly and accommodating; we took photos, asked questions, and even managed to arrange an air-to-air photo shoot with two Trackers. It was perfect.

All in all, I'm happy to say that I've make a lot of progress. Easily more than I'd made in the last two years. It's a good feeling and I hope your interest, like mine, has been renewed.

Trevor McTavish

Update #16 - 2007

Once again, I find myself tardy; failing to send out the quarterly updates I originally said that I would. I must apologize, but its nice to see people asking about my progress. Apparently people are actually interested in what I'm doing.

Some of you may recall that I have been working on another major writing project, a family biography. The first half is nearing completion and will chronicle my grandparent's activities from 1937 through to 1965. There's some pre-war barnstorming, the BCATP, founding Alberta's largest flying school and charter company, and many of the adventures that entailed. It will be available through my website as individually downloadable chapters.

Progress has been made with Flying Fire Trucks, primarily with two companies in Calgary in the early 1960s, Canspec Air Transport Ltd., and Cascade Drilling Co. These companies only existed for a short time so finding reliable information has been a challenge.

Several years ago, the Province of Manitoba started contracting agricultural spray planes as air tankers. As a result, I've had to add two more companies to my research. Being new, their activities should be reasonably easy to document.

I decided to organize my manuscript, cleaning up my notes and getting it closer to submission to a professional editor. I was surprised just how far along I've gotten with some of the chapters. The data was there, I just needed to organize it. As of March, my manuscript for Flying Fire Trucks stands at 103,619 words, on 163 pages, and in 43 chapters. Not bad for someone who was challenged assembling enough thoughts for a 400 word essay back my school days.

My plan for 2008 is to finish the nearly complete chapters, head to the North for some interviews, and to Saskatchewan where I plan on catching the province's Trackers before they disappear.

Trevor McTavish

Update #15 - 2006 & 2007

Recently several of you have contacted me asking about how "Flying Fire Trucks" has been progressing. Looking back, my last update was posted just before Christmas 2005. Maybe it's time for another.

2006 was spent on a number of projects not related to fire bombing. My wife and I were expecting our first child so a good portion of the year was spent preparing for this (including painting a nursery). We took a couple vacations before the responsibility of a child slowed us down. There's very little Canadian fire bombing information available on the beaches of Cuba, so I had to content myself by laying in the sun and drinking beer. I know, it sounds so tough.

The time I did spend writing in 2006 was devoted to a biography about my family's past in aviation. 2007 marks the 70th anniversary of my late-grandfather's private pilot license, and this story chronicles our involvement since. When this is complete, it'll be available on my website (www.TrevorMcTavish.com). I also took overhauled the appearance and content of my father's website, which is devoted to the Twin Navion airplane (www.TwinNavion.com).

In July I was able to take a week off and fly to Ontario for the Red Lake Norseman Festival - an event I've wanted to attend for years. Since I knew we'd be in the same general area, I took a couple days and visited Dryden where I met with Hicks & Lawrence and became familiar with their bird dogging operation. Unfortunately the fire season was in full swing so I wasn't able to meet up with some of my contacts in the MNR who were based in Dryden. I learned years ago that's the nature of this beast, and why I mostly perform off-season meetings and interviews by emails.

Our daughter arrived in October, a full month early. Because of some health issues she was in the hospital for the first two months. She's recovered from her surgery and behaving like any other 'normal' baby. This of course means very little free time for mommy and daddy, but we're surviving. Now she occupies herself with toys, so I've been able to start working on "Flying Fire Trucks" once again.

I've been able to meet with people from Avalon Aviation, Air Spray and Conair. Last month in fact, I was able to meet the President and VP of Conair out in Abbotsford. As I expected, it began raining when it came time to break out the camera, but I did get some nice pre-season maintenance shots. Conair welcomed me back, which is fortunate as they have a huge archive that will take days to search through. This summer I'd like to get out to Saskatchewan to see the Trackers in operation, so plans are in place to find contacts in that province's Air Service.

I'm also searching for contacts to interview from the following companies; Forest Patrol Ltd., G&M Aircraft, Norcanair Ltd. and Norfolk Aerial Spraying. I'm also seeking confirmation that Quebec-based Conifair DID NOT fire bomb in Canada. I know they had an agreement with Bombardier for foreign contracts with the CL-215. If you know someone who worked with any of these companies please pass along their name and contact information. I'd really appreciate it.

Trevor McTavish

Update #14 - 2005

Summer, Fall and Winter 2005
Well I must confess that work on Flying Fire Trucks dropped off quite a bit this year. A good portion of my year was spent with my wedding and doing home improvement projects both for myself and lending a helping hand to my brother. At least I managed to get back onto a number of small projects with the book, including rewriting a bunch of the beginning chapters. I think they read a lot better.

I'd like to thank everyone for another year of support. I look forward to an even more productive 2006.

April 2005
Well, this too has prove to be another slow month for Flying Fire Trucks. Between work, family, home renovations and my model club responsibilities, the book has taken a back burner. But with the summer fire season approaching, I know I'll be heading out to some tanker bases and doing my best to gather more interviews and photographs.

March 2005
Unfortunately this month was far less active than I'd hoped. For two weeks I was out of the country on a work-related training course. I did however manage to turn my weekend off into a collection of valuable photos from Russ Lougheed. Russ's father was a key member of the Canspec Air Transport company that's been so elusive.

February 2005
I'm pleased to say that a bunch of work has been done this month, namely through a weekend interview and visit with George Plawski and Linc Alexander in Vancouver. Because of these two gentlemen, I was able to finally track down and create a decent record of Air Spray's early years and the role Kenting Aviation had in fire fighting. George did a wonderful job in fixing all of my mistakes and setting me on track.

I also performed two telephone interviews. One with Bill Nash, who was Kenting's Tracker pilot at the start of the OMNR project, while the other was Knox Hawkshaw. Knox was the engineer responsible for the fire bomber conversions done by Field Aviation in Toronto.

January 2005
Happy New Year everybody. This month, I really didn't manage to do much on Flying Fire Trucks, focusing my attention instead on a number of household issues. Isn't home ownership great?

Trevor McTavish

Update #13 - 2004

October 2004
This month my fire bombing book was put on the back burner as I used the month to give my local plastic model club's website a complete facelift. I guess it was due, since I hadn't updated it in nearly a year. I've also been busy creating a webpage for myself that includes information on my hobbies, projects (like this book) and flying. It should be up and running for the new year.

November 2004
My fiance and I took two weeks off for a Caribbean cruise, which of course, disrupted my work yet again. I did however make contact with some people from Air Spray and the Flying Firemen while incorporating several editorial changes to my manuscript.

Trevor McTavish

Update #12 - 2004

July 2004
Progress on my book this month has been slowed, as I expected due to wedding plans. However, I was able to expand on the history of Northwestern Air Lease and their B-25s, Avalon Aviation with PBYs and obtain permission for the use of many of the photographs I've collected over the years.

August 2004
Sadly on August 18, Tom Cooke, the Ontario Air Service pilot that's been credited with creating the first successful water bombing system (the Otter roll-tanks) passed away. Earlier this year Tom had been inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame for his years of service with the OPAS. I also discovered that Sheldon Luck, a legend in Western Canadian aviation and an early member of the Flying Fireman passed away in May.

At the end of the month, I was given some terrific information about the first fire fighting conversions used by the Quebec Government Air Service from Mr. Paul Gagnon. Paul was the QAS's first Director and the authority to talk about the Air Service's early days.

September 2004
This month, I didn't work on the project. Most of the month was spent with family issues, including the death of my grandfather. What free time I had was spent working on my family biography which will soon be available as a webpage I've been busy creating.

Trevor McTavish

Update #11 - 2004

April 2004
Thanks to my manager, I was able to meet his father, who was one of the first PBY fire bomber pilots in Newfoundland. While the month wasn't too productive, I was able to use this meeting to gather a lot of information on early fire fighting efforts on the East Coast.

May 2004
This month I was able to meet with Cyril Jones and Royal Cooper when I took my project on the road, this time to Newfoundland. For a week I interviewed people from the Air Service and two of the first fire bombing pilots with Eastern Provincial Airways back in the 1950s. Because of these interviews and meetings with others in the Gander region, I've learned a lot about the beginning of fire bombing in Newfoundland. A list of contacts is also being created so I can call on several other important members of Newfoundland's fire bombing history. Photos were also taken and I'm happy to announce I've learnt quite a bit more about fire bombing on 'The Rock.'

June 2004
This has been a big month for me. First, I finished all of my schooling, and secondly, my girlfriend and I are now engaged.

I met Dan Dempsey, a former Snowbird pilot and author of the book, 'A Tradition of Excellence,' a massive book about the aerobatic performers in Canada. Dan was very open and helpful in sharing his experiences with publishing his book. Besides offering whatever assistance he may, Dan also gave me a great deal of encouragement for the work I've done so far.

For the book I was finally able to get scanning some of the backlog of photos that have been lent to me. I've managed to scan, sort and return several packages of photos. Those of you who've lent me materials and are waiting for their return - they're in the mail.

Trevor McTavish

Update #10 - 2004

January, 2004
This has been a quite month, spent mostly returning materials to the people who've lent them to me and copying photos and articles sent to me by others.

February, 2004
I was warned about a television program called 'Land and Sea' (on CBC) this month that featured a 30-minute episode on FPL's spraying and fire bombing operations. I thought it was quite good, and it was neat to see some of the people I'd met back in 2002, when I visited New Brunswick.

Most of this month was spent editing and revising the material I'd written on the Newfoundland and Ontario Air Services, Avalon Aviation, Conair and Forest Protection Ltd.

Towards the end of the month I met Leo Lejuene, from Quebec City at a local CAAA convention. Leo and I talked for several hours about his experiences with the Quebec Government Air Service and as the Canadian distributor for the Thrush agricultural/fire fighting aircraft. It'll be interesting to see how sales of the Thrush 660 go over the next few years.

March, 2004
This month, I talked to Tim Garrish, who spent three years with Avalon Aviation, flying PBYs in the NWT, Alberta and Ontario. He then moved to Conair, where he flew CL-215s out of Yellowknife, and Air Tractors out of BC. Tim also flew the Fire Boss this past season. Thanks to Tim, I now have some great Avalon PBY photos and stories.

Following some dental surgery, I was finally able to sit down and watch some movies sent to me from Tom Wilson in BC. These three movies were made by/for Skyway back in the 1960s for training and one, included tanker evaluations at Kamloops, with the Stearman, TBM and B-17 in colour!

Contacts have been made in Manitoba, research into Buffalo Airways has begun and I'm looking at traveling to Newfoundland. Hopefully my schedule permits it.

Trevor McTavish

Update #9 - 2003

October, 2003
October has proven to be another slow month on my project. I did manage to clean up several hundred photographs of Air Spray and Forest Protection Limited aircraft.

One project I started was creating a webpage to outline my book project and how I'm going about it. Hopefully this helps draw more interest from people in the fire fighting and publication industries. I've noticed that none of the people I talked with this summer have chosen to reestablish contact after the fire season. Hopefully this will make it easier.

November, 2003
At the start of the month, I emailed off drafts of several chapters to certain people to have them fact check what I'd written. I think everyone will agree when I say it's no use writing something if it isn't correct.

I've received the corrected material back I was happy to see that all three people though what I'd done was, "accurate and interesting reading." I'm happy to see that three years of work is actually paying off. They also didn't have too many corrections to make, mainly just the fine tuning of minor points.

December, 2003
This month, I've had telephone interviews with pilots from Skyway and Conair. Tom Wilson in Abbotsford sent me a package of Conair memorabilia that will greatly increase the accuracy of Conair's history.

Speaking about Conair, I contacted their senior staff and was redirected to their check pilot.

My boss, whose father was one of the first EPA PBY pilots, lent me some books with information on EPA and the Newfoundland Government's fire bombing activities. The information was useful in getting a good understanding of what's gone on on Canada's 'other' coast. At the same time, we're trying to arrange an interview with his father, who lives on the rock.

I'd like to wish everyone and their families the Best for the holidays and all the best over the next year.

Trevor McTavish

Update #8 - 2003

July, 2003
Thanks to a long distance calling plan, I've been able to start calling many of the out-of-province people who's names have been passed on to me. One such person was Terry Harrold, who owned Northwestern Air Lease in the 1970s. I also spoke to his son, Brian, who is a partner in NWAL and B-25 pilot for many years. It was interesting learning about the B-25 being used as fire bombers. I've also contacted pilots who'd flown Turbo Beavers, Twin Otters and CL-215s with the OMNR, A-26s with Air Spray, PBYs with the Newfoundland and Saskatchewan Governments.

Some of you might also be interested to know that my project has started to gather some exposure. My work was mentioned briefly in the summer newsletter of the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center, which you might recall I visited in April.

August, 2003
Once again, I spent a good portion of time copied photos that have been lent to me. The biggest of these were from an Air Spray Invader pilot and a FPL TBM pilot who each lent me twenty years of photographs.

September, 2003
The beginning of September was taken with a road trip to Revelstoke and Kamloops BC. How better to get action photos and interviews than during the province's worst fire season? I talked to a number of Conair Firecat and Air Tractor pilots and the base manager in Revelstoke.

The rest of the month has been quite as I've been fighting a cold and an increase in work.

Trevor McTavish

Update #7 - 2003

April, 2003
Just before Easter I spent a week in Sault Ste. Marie to find material for the Ontario Provincial Air Service. With the help of Jack and Heilene Minor and Bob Thomas I met a number of people; pilots and mechanics and Tom Cooke, the inventor of the first successful water bombing system in Canada. A good chunk of my time was spent in the archives of the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center finding photos and reading reports.

During my Ontario trip I was welcomed at the OMNR facility at the airport and was given a tour, able to talk with some pilots and take as many photos as I wished - thanks OMNR.

May, 2003
During one of my weekend flights, I dropped by Red Deer on weekend and caught Air Spray performing a couple of training water drops. Luckily I always bring my camera with my when I go flying and I was able to take some nice pictures.

June, 2003
This month, I spent a lot of time creating captions for many of the photographs I've collected. This is important as it keeps track of what each picture is showing and who supplied the photo. I've attempted to make contact with a number of people across the country, to discuss their fire fighting experiences; some of these people were in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, one was in France. Included in the group is a PBY pilot from Norcanair, and the Managing Director of Avalon Aviation.

At the end of the month, my girlfriend and I made a long weekend trip out to Vancouver Island and made sure to drop by Flying Tankers for a couple hours. I managed to copy all of the company's slides and would like to thank everyone at FTI once again.

Trevor McTavish

Update #6 - 2003

January, 2003
This month I met with John Gomany, who's been flying TBM Avengers for Forest Protection for the past twenty-five years. Not only did he have some interesting stories of his work in New Brunswick. He lent me a huge collection of photographs. I also met with a mechanic from The Flying Firemen who literally lives 'just down the block' from me.

February, 2003
This month I arranged several meetings in both British Columbia and Alberta.

Early in the month, I finally managed to meet Mr. Dan McIvor in Vancouver. Since I started this project back in August 2001 I've been trying to schedule a trip to meet the father of the Martin Mars. While there, we discussed not only the Mars (for which he's famous) but also his fire fighting experiments with a Grumman Goose.

Two weeks later another meeting was held, this time with Perry Dancause, Operations Manager of Air Spray. While we met in Red Deer, Perry answered questions, toured me through the new hangar facility and allowed me to take photos of the planes undergoing winter maintenance. I must say that Air Spray's new facility is quite impressive.

Finally, on the last day of the month I met with Linc Alexander and George Plawski in Langley. Some of you may know Linc's books from the mid-1960s. "Air Attack on Forest Fires" was (and still is) the most comprehensive book on fire bombing. Both he and George had flown for several companies in Canada and the USA and shared a wealth of information on their experiences.

March, 2003
A portion of this month's activities was spent copying materials lent to me over the past months. These included photographs, reports and some logbook entries.

Trevor McTavish

Update #5 - 2002

September, 2002
During September I made several contacts with new people; letters, emails and phone calls were all made. I managed to finally meet Chuck Ellsworth, a former pilot with Flying Firemen and Avalon Aviation. Probably the most experienced PBY pilot in the world, Mr. Ellsworth and his wife were very helpful and hospitable during my visit.

During a quick trip out to Vancouver Island, I dropped in at Flying Tankers Inc and spent a good portion of an afternoon discussing their fire season.

October, 2002
I'm happy to announce that my slide scanner is finally up and running. My own photos and photos lent to me can now be copied without expensive bills from photo shops.

Again I made another trip to Vancouver Island (I guess I really like it there). This time I met with several employees from The Flying Fireman and Fairey Aviation. Together we discussed their experiences, the history of Flying Fireman and the work involved in creating some of the early fire fighting aircraft.

November, 2002
I've purchased my first home and am pleased to pass on my new mailing address: REMOVED. Neither my email, nor my phone number change.

Early in the month, I managed to meet with Jack Minor from Ontario. Jack and his wife were in Calgary and I was quite lucky to meet up with them after a failed trip to Sault Ste. Marie during the summer. Jack's been doing research into the Ontario Government Air Service and has passed a lot of his work on to me for my project.

December, 2002
More interviews with pilots this month, including a B-25 pilot from Northwest Air Lease. A visit to the Alberta Aviation Museum in Edmonton lead to some interesting finds in their archives.

Best of the holiday season.

Trevor McTavish

Update #4 - 2002

June, 2002
This month I conducted several interviews via the telephone. First off was Mr. George Maude of Sidney BC. This gentleman is the current owner of the nameplate to the Caroline Mars, saved before it was scrapped in the mid-1960s.

Contact was also made with Mr. Paul Gagnon. He was the first Director of the Quebec Air Service and a strong supporter of the purpose-built fire fighter concept. He'll be a great asset for the early years at QAS.

July, 2002
I spent eleven days in New Brunswick visiting with Forest Protection Limited. General Manager Dave Davies and I talked about the company, its past, present and future, including the purchase of the new Air Tractor AT-802F. Also during this time, I met with the flight and maintenance crews in Miramichi and photographed the last remaining TBM Avenger fire bombers. I'd like to say a special thank you to FPL for all their help.

Many of the people I've talked to passed names of former co-workers to me as people I should try and contact. Over the summer I've managed to contact many of these gentlemen. As part of my efforts I spent a weekend in Victoria British Columbia interviewing an engineer who designed retardant / water tanks for the TBM, PBY and Mars and a retired TBM and DC-6 pilot from Conair.

August, 2002
In mid-August, I was able to meet with Mr. Donald Hamilton, owner of Air Spray to discuss his company. While our meeting was brief, Don supplied answers to many of my questions.

I have purchased a slide scanner, which will allow me to copy slides without the need for expensive bills at the film developers (I had one $200 bill from one gentleman's collection).

Trevor McTavish

Update #3 - 2002

March, 2002
A partner and I spent the weekend of March 16th and 17th visiting with our friend at Sproat Lake BC. During our visit, we discussed our project and remembered to drop by the Forest Industries base to take some photos. Luckily we were blessed with absolutely beautiful weather on Sunday morning, creating some spectacular photos of both the Mars out of water.

An interview was conducted with Ken McTavish. My father who flew with Norcanair in the late 1960s performing fire patrols in Cessna 180s and bombing in Beavers.

April 2002
Former TBM pilot, Ralph Langemann was interviewed about his experiences flying TBMs in British Columbia and New Brunswick.

Several in depth emails were received from Jack Minor, included was information on several early fire fighting systems by the Ontario Provincial Air Service, the history of CF-CRR a Canadian PBY that was credited with sinking a German U-boat. Jack's been doing a great job in recording information for use by the Museum and people such as our selves and I'd like to thank Jack for his efforts.

I now have a personal email account. I can now be contacted at photomctavish@hotmail.com

A partner visited the Saskatchewan Government at Prince Albert Saskatchewan and photographed both the Trackers and CL-215s that were being used for recurrent pilot training.

May 2002
I managed to accomplish many tasks during my visit to Sproat Lake. In addition to photographing the Martin Mars, I interviewed most of the Flying Tankers staff, including pilots, mechanics, flight engineers and managers. To everybody there - thanks.

An interview with Leo Lejeune of Quebec was performed via long-distance telephone. Mr. Lejeune has flown with the Provincial Air Service of Quebec in PBYs and CL-215s, been part of the CL-415 test program and is now marketing the Ayres-Thrush as a low-cost initial attack tanker.

Trevor McTavish

Update #2 - 2002

January, 2002
We're happy to announce our working title for this project - Flying Fire Trucks. This is only a temporary title, and we welcome any feedback or suggestions you might have.

Contact was made with Mr. Chuck Ellsworth of Nanimo, BC via the Internet. Mr. Ellsworth was the former Chief Pilot of both The Flying Firemen, and Avalon Aviation and he's still flying PBYs today.

Numerous packages were mailed out to companies and individuals. Included with these packages was a copy of Update #1.

A massive download from the Internet provided us with a large collection of information on the Ontario Provincial Air Service's history. With WestJet flying into Sault-Ste Marie in February, we'll definitely be visiting the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Museum.

Stephen has taken a new job in Regina, SK. While this spreads our team apart, because of email, the telephone and the airlines, we don't think it will hamper progress on the project.

In response to our information packages, sent earlier in the month we received several emails from across the country. Dave Davies, General Manager of Forest Protection Limited of New Brunswick. FPL is willing to help us, and we'll be trying to travel to New Brunswick this season. Don Hamilton of Airspray has also agreed to help.

February
Since Stephen's now in Regina, contact was made with the local chapter of the CAHS (Canadian Aviation Historical Society). Apparently many of their members are interested in helping.

An attempt to track down Mr. Dan McIvor of Richmond BC proved quite successful. A telephone interview of one hour yielded some great material. A face-to-face interview in Vancouver was arranged for later in the month.

Mr. Jack Minor of the Canadian Bushplane Museum has offered us his assistance in researching the museum's archives. Since this museum has a thorough history of the Ontario Provincial Air Service this will prove to be no small task.

Stephen has been in contact with a publisher. Talks were good, but we're continuing discussions with others at the moment.

A package from Mr. Minor arrived at the end of the month, with several valuable items regarding Ontario Provincial Air Service's history.

Trevor McTavish

Update #1 - 2001

August, 2001
Initial steps have been taken towards producing a book focusing on aerial fire-fighting in Canada. Stephen and I decided to try to combine both our planned book projects into a single, concentrated effort. Andy was asked to participate because of his extensive photo collection and knowledge of Canadian aviation history.

November 23, 2001
Stephen and I arrived in Comox BC, on a weekend tour of Forest Industries Flying Tankers. Before departing for Port Alberni, we quickly visited the Comox Air Museum and determined that the Museum's archives warrant a future visit. Hoping to take advantage of the broken cloud, and blue skies, we quickly headed for Sproat Lake. We were very lucky, in that we were treated to a sunny break, as we photographed both the Hawaii and Philippine Mars. It seems that the region had received some 10 inches of rain during the week prior to our visit.

Once we'd finished at Forest Industries, we visited Coulson Aircrane at the Port Alberni airport. We were treated to a computer slide-show by Rob Gornall, and a tour courtesy of John Coughlin. Both seemed interested in our project, and we look forward to setting up a future meeting with Coulson Aircrane.

November 24, 2001
Again, Stephen and I returned to Forest Industries for a meeting with General Manager, Terry Dixon. Terry was interested in our project, and we'll be returning early in the new-year to accomplish several tasks. During our meeting, we were shown some of the company's photo archive, and a video produced by a German television company. We'll be coming back to copy useful information from FIFT's records. We'll also be attempting to arrange an air-to-air photo shoot during spring training.

We'd like to thank everyone at Forest Industries and Coulson Aircrane, as well as John Melson for arranging the FIFT meeting.

December, 2001
Several packages from Mr. Leo Lejeune of Quebec have arrived in the mail. Included in the package were photos of Quebec Air Services' CL-415s, a sales brochure for the Ayres-Thrush and a magazine article on the CL-415.

Trevor McTavish