A Local Enterprise for 86 Years

June 16, 2020

This article was done in partnership with the Lac du Bonnet & District Historical Society. It appeared in the July 16, 2020 edition of the Lac du Bonnet Clipper.

Bush planes are a fixture in Lac du Bonnet. It’s officially summer and fire season, when CL-415 water bombers circle low over the town doing practice runs on the river. Up until two years ago, the Manitoba Conservation De Havilland Otter would often taxi out past the Town Dock and take off to the backcountry. Both were courtesy of the Manitoba Government Air Service (MGAS).

Fire detection patrols were conducted by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) until 1932 when negotiations between the federal and provincial governments resulted in the establishment of the MGAS as a branch of the Forest Service. The RCAF provided five Vickers Vedette aircraft and released five pilots, J.C. Uhlman, L.H. Phinney, C.H. Travers, M.H. Kennedy and M.B. Barclay, from service to operate them. They flew their first patrol flight on May 3, 1932.

Lac du Bonnet became the MGAS main base of operations due to its proximity to populated and remote areas of the province. The RCAF shared their facilities (located where the Adventure Air base is today) until late 1933 when a workshop was built on the edge of town, near Park Ave. and First St. An aircraft storage hanger was completed the next year.

The aging Vedettes faced slow retirement, as these wooden “flying boats” were uneconomical to repair. By 1938, the MGAS fleet included a Fairchild 51, two Fairchild 82s and a Stinson Reliant.

Bush flying into uncharted territories was challenging and dangerous. Pilots often relied on hand drawn maps and dead reckoning. Before radios were reliable, homing pigeons were constant passengers in the event of an emergency landing.

Local pioneer aviator, H.P. Smith started with the MGAS in 1940 when, due to WWII, the flight staff was reduced to only Smith and Uhlman during one of the worst fire seasons they could remember. Fire detection and suppression were still the main duties of the MGAS, but search and rescue or medical evacuation flights were not uncommon. Smith also recalled transporting survey crews, Forestry personnel and RCMP into remote areas.

By 1949, now part of the Department of Mines and Natural Resources, the MGAS demolished their former hangers upon completion of a new brick building at their base of operations (which remains as the current Conservation office). Their pilots continued to transport people and supplies to remote areas using the next generation of bush planes: De Havilland Beavers and Otters, and Noorduyn Norseman, and by the late 1970s, the MGAS acquired their first CL-215 water bombers for aerial firefighting.

In November 2018, the Manitoba government privatized the air service. Water bombers were leased to private corporations and all other aircraft were sold. The MGAS left an eighty-six year legacy to Lac du Bonnet. In its wake, the skies are now quieter and a trip to Town Dock is a lot less exciting.

References:

Ray V. Fetterly, Mighty Men of the Forest (Selkirk, MB: R.P.F. Enterprises, 1995), 150-52.

Aileen Oder, ed., Logs and Lines from the Winnipeg River: A History of the Lac du Bonnet Area (Steinbach, MB: Derksen Printers, 1980), 70-72.

“Gordon Watt & the Manitoba Water Bombers.” Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada, Aug. 10, 2015. http://royalaviationmuseum.com/gordon-watt-and-the-manitoba-water-bombers/

“Manitoba Officially Privatizes Wildfire-fighting Service.” CBC News (Winnipeg, MB), Nov. 29, 2018.