RolandDeschain
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Back from the Bush
- Thread starter RolandDeschain
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OP
RolandDeschain
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OP
RolandDeschain
Blackhawk
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OP
RolandDeschain
Blackhawk
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OP
RolandDeschain
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OP
RolandDeschain
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OP
RolandDeschain
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Thanks for sharing. It’s nice to know someone is living the dream.
WOW You flew in a Beechcraft D-18 on floats. There are not many of those around fer sure.
The fishing looks great even if you didn't catch any Dories which is probably the best eating fish out there.
:wink:
The fishing looks great even if you didn't catch any Dories which is probably the best eating fish out there.
:wink:
pete44ru
Hunter
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An excellent adventure - Thanks for posting about it, and the pics !
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An excellent adventure - Thanks for posting about it, and the pics !
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Those are some wonderful pictures and looks like a great time, thanks for sharing!
I believe the D-18 was called the Bamboo Bomber. Interesting to see one on floats anyway. Looks like you all had a good time. I wonder what happened to the Walleye? Over fishing?Wyandot Jim said:
gramps
Roland, very good write up and pics. I am looking foward to my fly-in in August. We have no bass in the lakes we fish. I do love catching those smallies though. I know what you mean about the plane leaving. I have gone an entire week and not seen another person besides the ones fishing with me. And yes, the stars are amazing along with the occasional northern lights. Good to hear you all had a good time. If you don't mind me asking, what area do you fish? I might have ask you this before.
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RolandDeschain
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gramps said:
Great Pictures and story.
Yea I wouldn't mind spending a week catching Bronze Backs and Lake Trout. Yea I saw the Indians at work on the Salmon while I was in WA. Screw the Indians.
Gramps,
The Cessna T-50 or military UC-78 was the Bamboo Bomber since it had wood wings and a steel tube fuselage and was fabric covered, If you remember the old Sky King TV series that is what he flew the first Song Bird.
The Beechcraft was metal and went by several names . SNB-2, AT-11, C-45 and many more.
exavid
Hunter
I got to fly (right seat) in a T50 Bamboo Bomber on floats at Kotzebue, AK. It was owned by Leon Shellabarger who owned an air taxi service. Definitely a Cessna. For a couple of summers in Juneau at the float pond on the airport I tied down my little Avid Flyer on floats next to a Beech 18 on floats. It was a fairly rare model that came from the factory with floats, it never had conventional landing gear.
That old Bamboo Bomber of Leon's wasn't in very good shape. The fabric had a lot of patches and the old floats which were wood leaked like sieves. When you pushed it off the beach you had to get it going and onto the step before too much water leaked into the floats and they got too heavy. It took a couple miles after takeoff to lighten things up so it would fly as it should have. Which wasn't all that great any way when those thing were on floats.
That old Bamboo Bomber of Leon's wasn't in very good shape. The fabric had a lot of patches and the old floats which were wood leaked like sieves. When you pushed it off the beach you had to get it going and onto the step before too much water leaked into the floats and they got too heavy. It took a couple miles after takeoff to lighten things up so it would fly as it should have. Which wasn't all that great any way when those thing were on floats.
Roland, thanks for the great pictures and report. I can relate to the quiet when the plane flies off. I've experienced that several times and I enjoy it, outside of the nagging question of what happens if the pilot crashes on the way back??? I'm sure that is pretty rare. But many of the times I've flown out (especially for hunting) they are anywhere from 2 days to 4 days late frequently. One time if I could have flown I'd have left the pilot buried in the tundra, I was so angry. I was there several days by myself with plenty of brown bears. (But I digress) Anyway, I'm not familiar with the Beachcraft, is that about the same size as a Beaver? Those are really nice planes. What kind of aluminum boats do they provide? Are there 2 boats for the 4 people or does everyone share one boat. When I ran a business in Anchorage we brought in Aluminum boats from Canada called Princecraft. Loved those boats.
Sounds like you had a great trip, except for the snorky border guard. Sounds like you handled it like a professional. I've only run into one of them, a French Canadian. He drove everyone nuts. Even the people he worked with.
I have to say after 8 days it sounds good to hear the plane coming in to get you. Thanks for sharing.
Sounds like you had a great trip, except for the snorky border guard. Sounds like you handled it like a professional. I've only run into one of them, a French Canadian. He drove everyone nuts. Even the people he worked with.
I have to say after 8 days it sounds good to hear the plane coming in to get you. Thanks for sharing.
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RolandDeschain
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bogus bill
Hunter
One of my adventure`s was owing a C-45 for a couple days. Christmas of 1976 two buddy's talked me into a outing that was to just get away from their wives in the boonies on a fun expedition that involved exploring the Old woman mountains south of Las Vegas by plane, 4WD , camping, gambling and shooting. Both worked with me at Lockheed. Dan was a inspector and Doug was a guard with me. I owned a metalized Piper Tri Pacer (PA-22). Doug also owned one prior to me but now nothing. The plan was for me to work Christmas eve graveyard for triple time, and fly out and join them out of Searchlight Nev Christmas day. They had a 1965 Ford 4WD with a cab-over camper.
The original plan was to find a place in the boonies and talk me in as both my plane and Dan`s ford had CB`s. Christmas eve before I went on shift they called me and said to fly to Searchlight as the desert was all cut up from heavy rains. I did. We played BJ and I won something like $350`s. They didn't know anything about gambling and pooled about $40 and had me play for them. I won about another $300 for them. That did it so now we drove to Vegas. We all lost our winnings. The next couple days we just flew, shot some etc. I had to go back to work. We were still talking on the CB`s and I spotted a cracked up C-45! Checked my map and it showed "Hart Mine" strip. It was nothing more than a pice of dirt road that serviced a abandoned mine. I immediately correctly guessed it a druggie bad landing. I dragged the strip, nothing in many miles and decided to land by the plane.
Before I landed I contacted the boys and told them to come and get me if I didn't contact them in 45 minutes. I had seen where the pilot had landed long as there was a rain made gully about a third way down his run-out. He had to hop the ditch and ran out of strip. He had to make a ground loop and knocked down a Joshua tree just in front of the emporage.
I landed okay. I was armed, checked the door and it was unlocked and entered. The plane was registered to a Vickie Miller with a PO box number in Burbank CA. The passenger seats were taken out to haul cargo. (drugs). I took off, contacted my friends with what I had.
I landed at Fox in Lancaster and went into the FAA. They had no word of the ground loop.
I am in rehab as I broke my hip two weeks ago. Wife is due for visit and I will finish this when she leaves.
The original plan was to find a place in the boonies and talk me in as both my plane and Dan`s ford had CB`s. Christmas eve before I went on shift they called me and said to fly to Searchlight as the desert was all cut up from heavy rains. I did. We played BJ and I won something like $350`s. They didn't know anything about gambling and pooled about $40 and had me play for them. I won about another $300 for them. That did it so now we drove to Vegas. We all lost our winnings. The next couple days we just flew, shot some etc. I had to go back to work. We were still talking on the CB`s and I spotted a cracked up C-45! Checked my map and it showed "Hart Mine" strip. It was nothing more than a pice of dirt road that serviced a abandoned mine. I immediately correctly guessed it a druggie bad landing. I dragged the strip, nothing in many miles and decided to land by the plane.
Before I landed I contacted the boys and told them to come and get me if I didn't contact them in 45 minutes. I had seen where the pilot had landed long as there was a rain made gully about a third way down his run-out. He had to hop the ditch and ran out of strip. He had to make a ground loop and knocked down a Joshua tree just in front of the emporage.
I landed okay. I was armed, checked the door and it was unlocked and entered. The plane was registered to a Vickie Miller with a PO box number in Burbank CA. The passenger seats were taken out to haul cargo. (drugs). I took off, contacted my friends with what I had.
I landed at Fox in Lancaster and went into the FAA. They had no word of the ground loop.
I am in rehab as I broke my hip two weeks ago. Wife is due for visit and I will finish this when she leaves.
exavid
Hunter
Hey Bogus Bill! I was just wondering how much weight difference was there with the metalized covering on the Tri Pacer compared to the original fabric? I saw one once and thought it looked pretty good.
I considered doing a metal cover on my last PA20 Pacer but decided it would get pretty dented up under the belly operating off river bars as we did so much in Northwestern Alaska. Easy to patch up the occasional gravel holes in the belly with fabric.
I considered doing a metal cover on my last PA20 Pacer but decided it would get pretty dented up under the belly operating off river bars as we did so much in Northwestern Alaska. Easy to patch up the occasional gravel holes in the belly with fabric.
A funny thing happened to us as we were on our trip.
The lake we were on had a cabin on an island,and another farther down the lake,but there was no one else there at the time.
I was fishing one day by myself,and looked up and saw,not heard,a plane coming in.It glided down to the lake,and the pilot got out on one of the floats and started paddling.I started the boat motor and went to him,and he said he ran out of gas,and wanted to know if we had any extra.
I told him we did,but it was all pre-mix and he said it didn't matter,his Otter would run on kerosene if it had to!
I towed him over to our dock,and he pumped a 55 gallon barrel of gas in his plane,said thanks,and took off.
The next day he flew back in,under power,and dropped off another drum of gas.
Northern Wilderness Outfitters was who we used,went across at International Falls to Rainey?Lake.
The lake we were on had a cabin on an island,and another farther down the lake,but there was no one else there at the time.
I was fishing one day by myself,and looked up and saw,not heard,a plane coming in.It glided down to the lake,and the pilot got out on one of the floats and started paddling.I started the boat motor and went to him,and he said he ran out of gas,and wanted to know if we had any extra.
I told him we did,but it was all pre-mix and he said it didn't matter,his Otter would run on kerosene if it had to!
I towed him over to our dock,and he pumped a 55 gallon barrel of gas in his plane,said thanks,and took off.
The next day he flew back in,under power,and dropped off another drum of gas.
Northern Wilderness Outfitters was who we used,went across at International Falls to Rainey?Lake.
exavid
Hunter
If that was a DeHavilland Otter it would be an amazing thing to see it run on Kerosene. Maybe with luck, it might start but I doubt it would even get up on the step.
One time in Kotezubue after a pretty heavy storm had passed and we had big drifts around our houses and road I went tried to start the pony on our D6 Cat. I'd crank the thing and it would start and barely run without enough power to turn the diesel over. After several attempts I drained a bit of fuel out of the pony tank and found it was full of kerosene. I never did find out who put that stuff in the Cat.
One time in Kotezubue after a pretty heavy storm had passed and we had big drifts around our houses and road I went tried to start the pony on our D6 Cat. I'd crank the thing and it would start and barely run without enough power to turn the diesel over. After several attempts I drained a bit of fuel out of the pony tank and found it was full of kerosene. I never did find out who put that stuff in the Cat.
bogus bill
Hunter
exavid. It`s been 42 years since I owned the PA-22. Going by faulty memory I believe the useful load was cut by about seventy pounds. It was metalized before I bought it. I think it was a better plane than I had realized when I bought it. Were I to live that part of my life again I would have had the gear converted to conventional. I crashed that plane and bought a Citabria GCBC with the same 0320 lyc 150 HP. The Tri pacer could haul about 400 #s lbs more useful useful and was about 15 mph faster! I heard I could have gained another 11 mph or so had I went conventional! The plane could seat 4 as opposed to the Citabria`s 2 and was far more roomy.
I went to a lawyer to see what PW was needed to file salvage on the C-45. She pulled out a law book on shipwreck laws and said basically there was none! We could recover the plane and if the owners came for it we could charge them storage fee`s! Four of us went in to check it out exactly at 12:00 Jan 1st 1976. We had built a boom on Dans truck with a block and tackle hoping to get one of the P&W 950`s engine. I walked in myself the last half mile with my AR-15 but no one was there. The gang had been there. Both engines were gone, the gear gone and the plane was sitting on its belly. I should back up. I already was cleared by the FAA and put in touch with a Vegas cop that worked with the FAA. He knew the gang, they had killed, told me to go in armed (unofficially) and even told me the pilot had been having trouble with one of the engines!
Dan and Doug got to the plane late that night that I found it. They fired up one engine but couldnt get the bad one started. Some drinking was involved and dan told me doug had fell into a cactus and he was a good friend and worked on pulling spines out of his butt.
They were driving out that morning and met two guys and a woman driving a truck towards the wreck, about eight miles back. They gave them time, turned around and followed them. The crew was pulling off the nose cone, likely to retrieve more drugs. Dan and Doug yelled over that I had reported the plane to the FAA. It got to the well, FU too point and since both sides were armed dan and doug retreated. They came out near Essex, called for the cavalry which took a couple hours to show from I think Needles and they drove home. A few years later at a FBO in California city I spotted a similar plane and wise cracked I had owned one for a day. Dennis, the FBO, said he got stung on the same deal. A group out of San Diego had him trailer out the remainder and wouldn't pay up!
I went to a lawyer to see what PW was needed to file salvage on the C-45. She pulled out a law book on shipwreck laws and said basically there was none! We could recover the plane and if the owners came for it we could charge them storage fee`s! Four of us went in to check it out exactly at 12:00 Jan 1st 1976. We had built a boom on Dans truck with a block and tackle hoping to get one of the P&W 950`s engine. I walked in myself the last half mile with my AR-15 but no one was there. The gang had been there. Both engines were gone, the gear gone and the plane was sitting on its belly. I should back up. I already was cleared by the FAA and put in touch with a Vegas cop that worked with the FAA. He knew the gang, they had killed, told me to go in armed (unofficially) and even told me the pilot had been having trouble with one of the engines!
Dan and Doug got to the plane late that night that I found it. They fired up one engine but couldnt get the bad one started. Some drinking was involved and dan told me doug had fell into a cactus and he was a good friend and worked on pulling spines out of his butt.
They were driving out that morning and met two guys and a woman driving a truck towards the wreck, about eight miles back. They gave them time, turned around and followed them. The crew was pulling off the nose cone, likely to retrieve more drugs. Dan and Doug yelled over that I had reported the plane to the FAA. It got to the well, FU too point and since both sides were armed dan and doug retreated. They came out near Essex, called for the cavalry which took a couple hours to show from I think Needles and they drove home. A few years later at a FBO in California city I spotted a similar plane and wise cracked I had owned one for a day. Dennis, the FBO, said he got stung on the same deal. A group out of San Diego had him trailer out the remainder and wouldn't pay up!
exavid
Hunter
I had three PA20s. First one I learned to fly in and got my private. It was destroyed when a Wein Airline bush plane crashed on top of it on a river bar in NW AK. Second one was in poor shape, Wein gave it to me to satisfy any claim I had against them. I should have held out but it was July in the North and I'd just got my ticket.
I took that one South and left if with my BIL (A&P, Commercial) It blew a jug and he sold for me while I was in the Army. The third one was one I bought when I got tired of doing cross country work for my job with a Super Cup. That one I had until I got married. I took possession of a real nice C170B on our wedding day. Both of those deals panned out very well.
I took that one South and left if with my BIL (A&P, Commercial) It blew a jug and he sold for me while I was in the Army. The third one was one I bought when I got tired of doing cross country work for my job with a Super Cup. That one I had until I got married. I took possession of a real nice C170B on our wedding day. Both of those deals panned out very well.
OP
RolandDeschain
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