Window on Our Past

Flying with the Canada Goose

December 9, 2020

This article was done in partnership with the Lac du Bonnet & District Historical Society. It appeared in the December 10, 2020 edition of the Lac du Bonnet Clipper.

For nearly a century, the Lac du Bonnet dock has been a town landmark. Viewed now as merely a place to swim, this pier was once home to the fearless trailblazing bush pilots opening up the North and securing Lac du Bonnet’s place in Canada’s aviation history.

Western Canada Airways, Ltd. (WCA), the first commercial airline to operate out of Lac du Bonnet, arrived in early 1927 and soon made provincial aviation history. Having begun in Sioux Lookout, Ont. in December 1926, James A. Richardson’s WCA expanded rapidly in response to the growing need to service prospectors and mines. Richardson hired only the best pilots and purchased the most suitable aircraft for the work: Fokker Standard Universals, which were easily converted from wheels to pontoons or skis. Lac du Bonnet was WCA’s first base in Manitoba, outside of Winnipeg, chosen for its access to the North and to fill the gap to Sioux Lookout.

On June 1, 1927, WCA’s first scheduled flight from the Lac du Bonnet dock, Capt. F.J. Stevenson flew the province’s first semi-official airmail to Bissett, Long Lake and Slate Lake (in Nopiming Provincial Park). The post office hadn’t issued airmail stamps, and wouldn’t for another year, so WCA was allowed to issue their own. These “sticker stamps” (or “semi-official airmail stamps” as they are now known) were not to resemble any existing postage stamp and were sold for ten cents each. Manitoba’s first official airmail was flown out of Lac du Bonnet on October 4, 1927 by WCA pilot, W.L. Britnell, to Long Lake and Bissett.

Based on their success at Lac du Bonnet, WCA established bases throughout Northern Manitoba, including at The Pas and Ilford. They also became the first national carrier to fly out of Winnipeg’s Stevenson Field (what is now the international airport).

By 1929, WCA was the second largest airline in the entire British Empire. Their fifty-one aircraft, marked by their Canada goose logo, were flown by war veterans and skilled bush pilots transporting cargo throughout Canada’s Northwest.

Richardson, concerned with Canada’s aviation sovereignty, wanted expansion to the national level. In 1930, he created Canadian Airways, Ltd. (CA) by bringing together WCA and the Aviation Corporation of Canada (a syndicate of five Eastern Canadian aviation companies), and also gathered cooperation from the CN and CP railways. This new company was awarded airmail contracts across Canada and transported 8,000 passengers between nine provinces per year.

Operations out of Lac du Bonnet continued to grow with regularly scheduled mail and passenger service to mines throughout Eastern and Central Manitoba and constant movement of prospectors, mining officials, fishermen bound for otherwise inaccessible lakes and bales of furs for the HBC and other free traders.

Maintenance engineer, Allan Hunt, was assigned to pilot, Roy Brown’s Fairchild. Shaw’s Drug Store, just up the hill from the dock on the corner of Third St., provided an excellent vantage from which Hunt would await Brown’s return.

Brown, and his wife, Diana, opened their home to CA customers. Some believe it was this friendly hospitality that contributed to CA’s success in Lac du Bonnet. In 1934, business was so good that Brown and three other CA senior pilots left to form Wings, Ltd., which started a considerable rivalry though rapport between the companies remained friendly.

Richardson’s sudden death in 1939, and the outbreak of WWII put a strain on CA. In 1942, CA was absorbed into Canadian Pacific Airlines, joining other Lac du Bonnet airlines Wings, Ltd. and Starratt Airways. Lac du Bonnet’s aviation heyday was coming to a close, leaving the rumble and roar of early bush planes at the town dock only to memory.

Window on Our Past

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