To see all the pictures I took on Monday, CLICK HERE.
If you were in at the Gatineau Executive Airport this week, you would have seen and heard a bit of history. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, a C-47 Dakota from The Warplane Heritage Museum was in town giving flights (not free) over the Ottawa-Gatineau area. They provided three flights per day and didn’t do any aerobatics, touch and goes, or low passes, only take-offs and landings. This aircraft actually flew with the RCAF during WWII but rather than go into a lot of detail, I’ll just steal the last couple of paragraphs from the Museum’s website (https://www.warplane.com/aircraft/collection/details.aspx?aircraftId=54)
“The Museum’s Dakota was built for the USAAF and was delivered to the Royal Air Force in February 1944 as FZ692 and the Royal Canadian Air Force 437 Squadron in September 1944. It was later renumbered as 12945 as part of the Canadian Armed Forces where it served with No. 424 Squadron for Search & Rescue at CFB Trenton. It performed JATO ignition in flight at the 1970 Canadian International Air Show on the Toronto waterfront.
After it was struck off strength by the Canadian Armed Forces in 1973, the aircraft ended up with Environment Canada, where it was used for mineral and environmental surveys. C-GRSB was donated to the Museum in May 2014.
FZ692 has been restored to the paint scheme it would have worn at the end of World War II with 437 Squadron RCAF. FZ692 flew 208 operational trips with 437 Squadron and 16 with 233 Squadron for a total of 224. It ended up flying hundreds of individual legs between airfields in Europe. FZ692 participated in two major airborne operations, Normandy and the Rhine Crossing. It carried 298 casualties to medical aid and repatriated 456 prisoners of war. It carried over 5,100 passengers to destinations around Europe and carried over two hundred tons of freight (414,368 lbs).”
My second day shooting the C-47 Dakota provided mixed results. It was cloudy for the first flight so pictures are dull and gray. It was sunny for the second flight EXCEPT for the moment that the C-47 took-off, a large cloud came by and covered the runway putting the entire aircraft in deep shadow with a bright background. The third flight should have been good with the afternoon sun and runway 27 but all the take-off pictures lost their sharpness due to the heat waves coming up off the runway and making everything look like a mirage.
The saving grace was some of the other aircraft that I decided to shoot in between flights. The highlights were the arrival of one of the new CT-157 Siskin IIs and a Dash –Q400AT fitted out for aerial firefighting. It’s a big plane. Both will be at the airshow.
On the civilian side I got lots of Cessenas, and a Cirrus SR22, along with various others. However, the prettiest plane I’ve seen in a long time was a brand new two-engine Diamond DA62 in burgundy/gray paint. This thing screams sex just looking at it. It’s really pretty. I also got to catch a couple of Robertson R44 helicopters which was both a treat and a challenge because of the slow shutter speed required to get a blurry rotor.
Lastly, the Snowbirds were in house for the airshow this weekend so a few pictures of them in their last year is always good. If you see them, take a note of the special logo on the tail that is a stylized “55” designating the 1971 – 2026 years that the team has been in existence.
This C-47 will be in town for the Areo-Gatineau Airshow this weekend, along with the Snowbirds and others (https://aerogatineauottawa.com/performers/ ) so maybe take in the airshow this weekend and see them all.
My thanks to the Gatineau Executive Airport and Mr. Pierre Carpentier for helping me get access for pictures.
