become sole owner. Many bush operators
of that time used the location of their
business in their company names; Buffalo
Airways wanted to be different. It began life
as a small operation using Beech 18s, de
Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beavers and Piper
PA-31 Navajo aircraft. “Modest stuff,” said
Mikey McBryan, Joe’s son and the airline’s
general manager. It wasn’t until 1978 that
the rst Douglas DC-3 was acquired.
Mikey added: “It was not just Joe wanting
to buy bigger aircraft; the customers droveforward a demand of a certain standard of
service, and greater capacity. When Joe
bought that rst DC-3 there were plenty
around – now he’s the last [operator] in
Canada. It just happened that way. These
days it’s rather the Jurassic Park of aviation.”
Joe feels there will never be a complete
replacement for the DC-3, and when it is
retired its work will be taken on by such
aircraft as the Dash 7/Dash 8 series and the
BAe 146, all of which are now working in the
NWT.Mikey continued, “The NWT is the size
of Texas, but with only a population of some
40,000, it is difficult to justify bringing in a
C$2m aircraft for so few customers, so old
aircraft are the answer.”CHALLENGES
A problem for Buffalo is the shortage of
avgas. Chuck Adams, the carrier’s chief
engineer explained another challenge:
“Additives to enable the older engines to
operate are getting increasingly rare,http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 31Above: Buffalo’s C-GZWS took part in the D-Day landings and Operation Varsity during World War Two.
Main photo: Buffalo Airways is well known for its eet of classic aircraft and is one of the few remaining users of the Curtiss C-46 Commando.
Tony Storck30-34_buffaloDC.mfDC.mfDC.indd 31 08/04/2016 12:25