De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver

Fred Brown, e-mail, 01.02.2015 03:39 I was crew chief on the L-20 Beaver #18787 with the 24th Division's air section at Lanier Field near Sendai, Japan in 1952 and 1953. It was brand new and replaced my L-20. Great machine, built like a tank, worked like a truck and flew like a Super Cub. Later heard that it went missing on a trip to Korea. reply

Doug Constantine, e-mail, 01.02.2015 01:53 I accidently stumbled on to this sight. It really got me laughing out loud. I was a USAF pilot-forward air controller-air liaison officer. I have a couple thousand hours in B-52D,F and Hs. In 1968 I was sent to RVN as an O-2A FAC. A bunch of us were diverted to the Korean DMZ shortly after the Pueblo was captured. I was really disappointed but when you have lemons make lemonade. Most of us set up house at Camp Casey where at that time the 7th Division was housed. I became the ROK 25th division ALO. The Air Force had no planes to fly and we were given jeeps with about 6 different frequencies to cover. We were told to call in air strikes if the North sent tanks down the well used invasion route. Soon we became good friends with the commander of the 7th Aviation Battalion. He had a couple of Beavers and a Cessna O-1. We spent more than a few nights at the Aviation Officers club drinking with the good colonel. He liked us and as he had no fixed wing pilots offered to check us out in his fixed wings planes, and teach to fly his H-13s. We started logging a lot of time and I particularly liked the Beaver and started ferrying generals and politicians along the DMZ. This went on for about 6 months when the USAF found out and had a conniption. They sent up a Major to talk to us and check us out. I remember the flight well as he was very concerned that I could navigate along the DMV without flying into North Korea and causing an incident. He apparently decided I was qualified and he spotted a very short dirt strip in the mouth of an old volcano. He asked me to do a full flap landing there. I asked if he was sure and he said yes. So I pumped the flaps down, mind you, I had never down a full flap landing as it just wasn't necessary. So I gauged that I was going to come down like and elevator and we did. Just prior to touchdown I pulled the nose up a little and applied power at we made contact. It was a perfect three point landing and I swear to God that we must have rolled all of about 5 plane lengths. I was amazed. I looked at him, and in total innocence asked him how I did. He said fine. I inquired a little more, very gently, and asked him compared to others how did I do? He smiled at me and said he had never seen anybody do a full flap landing in a Beaver before. This is a true story. We had a lot of fun with the Beaver and we did a lot of very strange things with it. I agree with all the prior remarks, and although this was only the second tail dragger I had flown, I never had an issues landing the plane. One time we had flown down to Osan AFB on a 3000' overcast day and turned final behind a C-130. The tower called us with the mandatory beware of wake turbulence. I was flying in the left seat with a good buddy who was a Major. I told John that there is no wind so I will carry 6 or 7 knots more on final. As we passed over the threshold we got caught in the wake turbulence and it rolled us upside down, such that I could see the guys in the F-4 that was number 1 looking up at us. John yelled at me "Jesus Doug" and slammed the rudder pedal which I already had hit the firewall. I kept the power stable and released the back pressure and we rolled up right, make a closed pattern and landed. As we did we had forgotten that we had taken John's enlisted radio operator with us and he was "clearing" for us. He took a beating bouncing around the cabin. We went immediately to the O club for a drink. Yep, the Beaver was tough. reply

J.L.Jones, e-mail, 17.01.2015 17:40 My uncle Henry was a test pilot and salesperson for DH Canada reply

Willie, e-mail, 14.06.2014 17:35 I'll add a little note to this as I spent 3 years at Downsview right at the peak of the Beaver and Otter Prime Manifacturing span I was in the adjacent hanger working on Vampire Jets and Harvard aircraft my trade was Aero Engine and I was certified on P /W radial engines Single Row R-985 and R-1340 s as well as R /R Goblin Turbines and GE J47s used in the Sabre I Have flown quite a few hrs in the Beaver as well as the Otter when they were doing experimental work on them They had a test pilot and if I remember correctly his last name was GIVENS e /x Rcaf Pilot We used to be appalled when foreign People would come and they would demo the beaver and the Otter it was hard to believe the stall speed of those aircraft as the demo would include a nose in the wind and flap down and reduce the engine speed till the aircraft would literally stand still I still have the Pratt & W engine overhaul and specs manuals in my possession same manual applied to both engines I'm 80 now and I still look back at what an achievement they were able to get without the aid of computers just good brain work reply

ted ward, e-mail, 01.05.2013 18:47 attached to 130 flight air tech, barrie davis was a sgt pilot, and was a gentleman. anyone remember earnie johnson. happy days, great bunch of blokes reply

ted ward, e-mail, 11.03.2013 19:10 worked on beavers while in the forces, magic plane,magic places,magic people.magic times. reply

Vit L, e-mail, 08.12.2012 23:56 Hello. Give answer to the question please. Where to find detailed drawings of the Beaver?? reply

Bob B, e-mail, 06.06.2012 23:23 I have been flying A Beaver commercially on the BC coast for 25 years. Although the practice is now rightfully frowned upon, I can verify from personnal experience that it can be flown off the water with water over the top of the floats almost to the rear spredder bar. I have taken off on floats with 25 kt+ 90 degree xwinds. And done a lot of things the Beaver is not supposed to do. reply

Bob Cadman, e-mail, 17.02.2012 05:01 I flew "Beavers" in Vietnam from 1968-70 as a log support bird for Birddog companies. It was a great plane to fly out of 800 ft. dirt strips. reply

Ian L. McQueen, e-mail, 13.02.2012 17:14 I've only seen a Beaver in the Canadian national air museum in Ottawa, but I do have a story from a pilot who flew them. I met Bud Voss, now deceased, through model airplanes. He bought a kit from me of the 8-foot span model made by Unionville Hobby of Markham, Ontario. Bud told me that as part of their military training they had to "land" a Beaver in a minimal distance. He did it in 13 feet! It was essentially a crash landing and the plane had to be rebuilt afterward, but that was standard procedure as part of their training. Anyway, that's what he told me and there is no way to question him about it. He had no reason to lie about it. IanM reply

Curt Bryan, e-mail, 12.02.2012 00:05 To Bob Pedigo comment...18.09.2010. No wonder you didn't like the 20k xwind component you were working with. I remember the Beaver as having a 10k xwind component, and at times wished it were rated at 20 or even 30. That plane had a way of making you look good in the worst of conditions. I am grateful to have had so many hours in it. reply

S Jordan, e-mail, 30.01.2012 19:25 Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources bought registration # 2 of the line as well as many others. This Beaver was restored and to my knowledge still flies. It is equiped with Roll tanks for forest fire suppression mounted on the floats. While the original beaver was before my time with MNR it was a pleasure to hear many good stories from thos old firefighter about this fantastic aircraft. reply

Scott Boyd, e-mail, 23.01.2012 06:40 I flew a Beaver on floats to Anchorage with a friend that owned it, he signed off my rating and I flew his other airplane back to Seattle. Nothing better then a round engine and like the 185 if you could get it in it would fly. reply

Terry Davis, e-mail, 22.01.2012 22:50 I am a plastic modeler that has been building kits for many years and would > now like to add a Beaver to my collection. Some time ago I obtained two > kits of a 1 /24 scale Beaver on floats. The kits are very basic, about 25 > pieces total. What I would like to do is build one of the kits with fixed > gear. My problem is that in the many sites that I have visited on the > Internet, I have not been able to find any information regarding the > dimensions /measurements for the fixed gear. I will be scratchbuilding the > gear so it is very important that I have the correct measurements. If you > could provide any information such as drawings, schematics, etc., I would > appreciated the effort. > > Also, the aircraft that I intend on representing is 50-26105 USAF Alaska > Air > Command, Elmendorf AFB Alaska, 1964. > If by chance you have some information on this bird, I would be interested > in that, too. Thank you for your time. reply

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