Beginning
Aboriginal History
The Fur Trade
Exploration
The Gold Rush
The Waterways
Aviation History
Medical History
Education
Gold Mines
Highway 105
Red Lake
Balmertown
Ear Falls
Other Communities
Acknowledgements

Return Home
Where are we?



A Visitor's Guide to the Red Lake/Ear Falls District
 
Back                                                                                        Next

Commercial Aviation is Born in Canada

When gold was discovered in Red Lake, the only planes flying in the area were the Curtiss HS-2L Flying Boats.  Operated by the Ontario Provincial Air Service, the planes were used for mapping and fire detection.  In the fall of 1925, Jack Hammell, promoter for the Howey Gold Syndicate, chartered five Flying Boats to fly supplies to the Red Lake mining camp.



Young pilots and mechanics aboard “Flying Boat” at Goldpines, mid-20s.
This was the beginning of both winter and summer aviation in Canada.  The highly skilled pilots, who  were working seasonally for the government, were now in great demand by the budding commercial aviation industry.

Lured by the romance and adventure of bush flying, young men and women flocked to the area.  Many of these aviation pioneers, such as Doc Oaks and Punch Dickins, went on to become some of Canada's best known and respected airmen.


Red Lake pays tribute to its aviation history at Norseman Heritage Park.  Pictured above is Norseman aircraft CF-DRD.
Posing in front of CF-BAU, the second Norseman aircraft to fly into Red Lake (1935).

During the depression, businesses around the world were struggling to survive.  However, for Starratt Transportation Company and Western Canada Airways, two transportation companies operating in the area, business was booming.  Based in Hudson, at the jumping off point to the mining camps, both companies competed to fill the need to supply the mines and their growing communities.

In 1934, the price of gold rose from $20.00 to $35.00/oz, resulting in increased mining activity in Red Lake.  By the mid 30s, the bush plane was dominating travel to the goldfields, and in the summer of 1936, with aircraft landing at fifteen minute intervals, Red Lake, Gold Pines, and Hudson had become the busiest airports in the world.

The formation of Western Canada Airways in Hudson in 1926, as a result of the Red Lake Gold Rush, made a lasting impact on air travel in Canada.  From it evolved Canadian Airways and later CP Air and Canadian Airlines.





Western Canada Airways Fokker Universal G-CAFU.
Go to the:
 Western Canada Aviation Museum

Western Canada Airways' first aircraft was an open cockpit Fokker Universal Standard, bearing the Canadian registration G-CAFU.  The first Fokker plane to fly in Canada, it was capable of operating on wheels, skis or floats, and could carry four passengers, or one thousand pounds of freight.

On March 3rd, 1926, pilots Jack Elliott and Harold Farrington, each carrying one passenger, flew two Curtiss Canucks from Hudson to Red Lake. With only a compass to chart their course, they landed on Howey Bay in several feet of deep snow.  Taking off from Howey Bay posed a major challenge. A crew of Native people were hired to pack a runway about a mile long, until a hard crust made it possible for the planes to take off. The men then "lifted" the planes onto the strip and the pilots began the return flight.
Jack V. Elliott - Pilot
When the planes did not arrive in Hudson at the expected time, a crew marked the runway with gasoline soaked rags, and the two planes landed safely after dark.
Mr. Elliot later commented that had it not been for the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the people in Red Lake and Hudson, there might have been a very different ending to Red Lake's first commercial flight.

Pilots Stan Comber and Ron Bell.  On March 3, 1995, dressed in period costumes, a group of Red Lake aviation enthusiasts flew their bush planes to Hudson, retracing the heritage route to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Red Lake's first air mail delivery.


Back                                                                                        Next

The Red Lake Regional Heritage Centre is a charitable organization, funded by the Municipality of Red Lake and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.   Reg # 87315 2714 RR001