#buffaloairways

[dcthreepainter]

Mikey's Dakota.

Have no fear, I did not disappear …just spent several days reorganizing my reference images databank (now containing 15,410 items).

Back to art development, today's subject is the recently restored-to-flying-condition Douglas DC-3C owned by Mikey McBryan, the General Manager of Buffalo Airways and producer of the YouTube series Plane Savers that documented the entire resurrection over 156 episodes. She performed her first re-flight on June 6th, 2019, to coincide with the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. She had been previously owned by Avialogs Aéronautique (2017), the Air and Space Museum of Quebec (1996), Fondation Aerovision Quebec (1993), the Canadian Department of Transport (1958) and Trans-Canada Air Lines (1947). She was converted by Canadair to carry passengers from her initial build as a C-47A (Dakota III). The U.S. Army Air Forces received her as Douglas serial 12253 in 1944 and immediately loaned her to the Royal Air Force. C-FDTD currently resides at Buffalo's facility at Hay River, Northwest Territories, Canada.

[aviatrixlife]

How about this little piece of amazing? How did our silly little t-shirt with a big message make it all the way to Yellowknife??? 🤔 Stella, thank you. We are blessed to have your support. Truly so. 🛫🙏 RepostBy @stellaheidorn: "To the best Airline in the world @buffaloairways & the coolest aviation clothing for females @aviatrixlife. Thank you for letting me be a part of your amazing journey! I'm truly blessed! ♥️" • • • 🚁🛩🎈🌅 Check out our friends: @boseaviation @stephanh_flightsuits @flightflix @whirly_girls_intl @bccoast99s @limitlessaviation @gardenstatehelicopters • • • #🛩 #Pilot #FemalePilot #GirlPilot #womenwhofly #Aviation #InstagramAviation #pilotlife #kissmebeforeflight #icepilots #Aviator #Aviatrix #AviatrixLife #RaiseThe6 #airline #Instaplane #gopro #Spotter #Follow #buffaloairways #dreamscometrue #sunset #dc3 #zen #Inspiration #lovelife #dreams #girl (at Buffalo Airways)

[driftingfast17-blog]

#buffaloairways #vintageplanes #planes #plane

[mikeymcbryan]

C-46 Curtiss Commando on the @buffaloairways ramp ready to taxi (at Yellowknife, Northwest Territories)

[lifefrom2020]

#Yellowknife #NorthWestTerritories #BuffaloAirways (at Yellowknife, Northwest Territories)

[dcthreepainter]

An Aluminum Ending.

The Douglas C-47A with MSN 12741 was delivered to the U.S. Air Forces in 1944 and identified as 42-92890. She served in the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces mostly transporting troops. She returned to the U.S. in 1945 and was sold as surplus in 1947 to the Sperry Gyroscope company of Great Neck, New York, registered as NC60777. In 1962 she moved on to Mobil Oil of Canada, being re-registered as N2614. 12741 was transferred to Mobil Oil of Libya in 1966, and on to Mobil Oil Canada just a year later. She was assigned the Canadian registration of CF-MOC. By 1967 Bradley Air Services of Ottawa, Ontario had acquired her and updated her registration to C-FMOC in 1979. Bradley rebranded to First Air in 1980, but 12741 was soon sidelined and became a parts source. She was sold in 1988 to St. Felicien Air Services, who did little with her until her final sale to Buffalo Airways in 2001. She was presumably stripped for remaining parts of value and broken up for scrap in 2002.

[driftingfast17-blog]

#buffalo #buffaloairways #vintageplanes #planes

[gobcanada]

Hanging with Mikey McBryan from History Channel's Ice Pilots NWT "Buffalo Airways" in Vancouver. #icepilotsnwt #buffaloairways #gobband

[mikeymcbryan]

The test flights are done and she spend a couple days in the @buffaloairways Hangar. Will this coming week be TPO’s first chance to do a revenue trip? (at Buffalo Airways)

[dcthreepainter]

Unhappy Ending.

MSN 12475 had a long 56-year career with the Royal Air Force, numerous Canadian private companies and air carriers with a brief period of ownership by Buffalo Airways as depicted by this composition. Very sadly, she later succumbed to the dreaded engine-failure-on-takeoff situation that has taken so many aircraft (regardless of type), their crews and sometimes passengers. A fully loaded aircraft is at its most vulnerable during the early stages of takeoff, when the lack of altitude equates to a lack of time in which to react to a debilitating event.

[dcthreepainter]

Fleet of Fancy Number 1: Buffalo Airways, Plan A.

It took longer than I expected, but I am happy with the results. With some adjusting of the camera's position, I was able to enlarge the aircraft. I added a "wobble factor" to each plane so that they were not perfectly equidistant. An additional challenge was deciding how to prioritize the members of the group, which I accomplished by determining which airframes were in service the longest. So, the longer-tenured are up front and the parts-planes are in the rear.

Plan A is not for sale yet, pending review of a paper print for errors followed by a metal print. I'm still waiting for the proof print of Plan B.

In the meantime, I'm working on a companion to the Plan A design that will have tagged silhouettes mimicking the first piece and an associated caption for each airframe.

[dcthreepainter]

The Last Buffalo.

The 27th and final livery for the Buffalo Airways fleet. MSN 12419's rendering is nearly identical to her sistership, which was created a few back. Like her sister "NWU", "NWS" was only briefly possessed by Buffalo before being resold.

I will now begin developing my first group poster design, in which I envision all 27 birds flying in a loose formation. I have no idea if I can fit that many planes in a single composition and still have each with reasonable visibility.

[dcthreepainter]

The Buffalos Just Keep Coming.

Two days ago, I thought that I had only one more livery to complete for the Buffalo Airways fleet. Then, I discovered two more …one that I knew of earlier but dismissed since I could not find any images of it (but now have), plus another revealed by a last-minute round of research.

Anxious to get them all done, I've been working hard to push the necessary pixels around and have gotten two more completed with today's submission.

dcthreepainter.com/douglas-vc-47-with-msn-34385

So, I'm back to needing just one more to finish the fleet, right?

Nope! There's another one! It is not part of the Buffalo Airways fleet but belongs to family member (and General Manager) Mikey McBryan. C-FDTD was the subject of his entertaining and informative YouTube series called Plane Savers.

youtube.com/watch?v=GXKR822cfzI

So, I better have "DTD" ready before I commit to the Buffalo Airways group poster that now still needs two more liveries developed first.

Better to be busy than bored.

[dcthreepainter]

Fleet of Fancy Number 1: Buffalo Airways, Plan B.

I've spent the last week designing/developing the first of my third-generation posters depicting an entire fleet of DC-3s, this one for Buffalo Airways.

Plan A was to show all 27 aircraft in a formation flying over Buffalo's main airport in Yellowknife. But the resulting small size of each plane was very disappointing.

So, I came up with an updated version of my second-gen design that showed the fleet in profile, which isn't a bad look but negates all my recent efforts in creating the individual customized 3D models. So, Plan B's perspective is the now-familiar rear-quarter left-side view which I feel is the best at showing the most livery goodness.

The result has cheered me up so much that I will be returning to complete the Plan A design, which will take some time as I need to render each airframe again, each from a slightly different position to create the small but necessary camera angle differences.

Plan B is not for sale yet, pending review of a paper print for errors followed by a metal print. These group designs will be my largest, offered only as 24" by 36", so they will cost a Pretty Penny.

Also, I have become a devoted advocate of the metal print, so (except for the test poster) I no longer offer framed or unframed posters.

[dcthreepainter]

An Ocala Ending.

The Douglas C-47 with MSN 6095 was delivered to the U.S. Air Forces in 1942 and identified as 41-18689. She served the Air Transport Commands in India, China, and Africa. Declared surplus after the war, she was sold in 1945 at Cairo, Egypt to the Turkish airline Devlet Havayollari Idaresi and registered as TC-AKA. She flew Turkish routes until 1954, when she was brought back to the United States and outfitted as an VIP transport for the General Mills food company, registered as N54F. Famous aviator Bob Pond purchased 6095 in 1970 but held on to her for just a year, selling to NWT Air based in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Registered initially as CF-NWU which after five years was updated to C-FNWU. A rebranding as Northwest Territorial along with the striking red cheatline and tail paint job also occurred in 1976. As the last DC-3 in the NWT fleet, C-FNWU was primarily used by the company's owner to fly to his remote lodge. Buffalo Airways acquired 6095 in 1991 as depicted here, but it was only a brief three-month ownership. MSN 6095 was brought back stateside when purchased by Bergen Aviation, registered as N62BA, sporting a fresh coat of paint and christened "The Spirit of Adventure". The Spirit only lasted a year, having been damaged beyond repair by the Storm of the Century while she was parked in Ocala, Florida. She was scrapped shortly thereafter.

[dcthreepainter]

Not Junk.

I got sidetracked Monday researching Dakotas in service with the Royal Canadian Air Force …they had many and flew them for many years. I had created a few post-RCAF liveries in the past and intended to re-use prior work for this airframe, but the lack of finding addition reference images for the prior work had me doubting its provenance. Yesterday it dawned on me that I had recently updated a former RCAF paint job for the Buffalo Airways fleet, which was nearly identical to the need for this one. So, that became the basis for this speculative restoration, since MSN 13149 was purchased by Buffalo as a parts-liberated hulk. I "repaired" her with the shiny new parts she would need to fly. Sadly, the real aircraft has been sitting for 48 years, slowly giving up more parts to keep others flying.