Early Aerial Shots Western Canada

Woodwidow and Myself flew for a hobby when we were first married and would like to share some of these early memories with pictures!

Rugged Mountain & glacier on Vancouver island 5 minutes from the Woss airport - our base of operations at this time 1973

Knights Inlet Coast Mountain Range

Leaving the Coast range and the start of the Cariboo Plateau


Selkirk Range lots of snow even in July


Above Rogers glacier which I believe is the Continental divide in Canada. We are at 10,500 above sea level.

The Rocky Mountains - much less snow.

Frank slide. This slide buried an entire town April 29, 1903. This picture was taken in 1973.

The end of the Bad lands, Alberta, beginning of the Canadian Prairies.

 

Cool pics.

 

Luv em! Got any more?

Gary

 

Wow those are some amazing photos!

 

I thought you might have a few awesome pics... wow... Would love to see more. Got any of remote strips you 2 flew into? Planes?

 

They were scouting for wood supply! Wow you two are serious wood hoarders.

Got more?

 

Campinspector-thanks for the pics! I bet when you took them, you never thought you'd be sharing them with millions of people??
I had to google Franks slide and next will be the badlands/prairie of alberta. Good stuff.

 

It worth sharing with friends especially when it really brings back good memories!

 

Landing on beaches Became a favorite outing.
Some very unique spots. Nootka Island

A good runway at low tide. The tide at this point too high for a takeoff or landing , the sand is too soft.

Parked above the high tide mark for an overnight camp out.

Near Cape Scott. This is now a park and would be off limits.

Nice landing strip.

One prerequisite for beach hopping is to be proficient in slow flight. A small stream across the beach in the sand can soon make a ditch a foot deep and a foot wide - just perfect for removing landing gear when landing, so every time you land at a location even if you are familiar with it, a pass over the landing area at slow speed is advised.

Another favorite spot, Rugged Beach.

Our two young Daughters having fun with scrounged toys.

 

Fantastic pictures , looks like a lot of fun

 

Great stuff Allan. Were these beaches quite a ways from the closest town, in case you found a sand "trap" landing? Is that a Cherokee 180? Thanks for finding these pics... I can easily imagine being right there with you. Someone ought to write a book about you two...

 

The beeches were very much isolated miles from any roads ,and could very much be a sand trap if you did not know what you were doing . The aircraft is very similar to a Cherokee 180 . Its a Beechcraft 23 with the same 180HP Lycoming but the airframe was much different ,with a Laminar flow wing ,with lots of dihedral and a massive cantilever spare ,this wing gave a very comfortable ride in heavy air that you sometimes find in mountain flying.

Whenever I flew the plane usually was at full gross but if Woodwidow was of to go shopping or go visiting it was often lite and would really climb with just her in the plane , she would sometimes do a flypast of a mountainside logging setting were I would be working!

 

Yup... "The Adventures of The Camp Inspector and His Wood Widow" ... what a book! Of course, it would have to have lots n' lots of photos too cause I can't read...

 

Definitely would need lots of pictures as I don't write, and I am much a believer that a picture is worth 1,000 words
Actually my family has been after me to write a book!!

 

"Actually my family has been after me to write a book!!" ... you might have thought I was kidding... ... There are writers out there who do the actual writing about people's lives. The good ones do a great job of keeping the reader's interest while telling great life stories. If you could find an interested writer, all you and your wife would have to do is tell him/her your tales. As an example... Jean Aspen, writer and author of Arctic Son (really liked their story), wrote a book about their adventure back when their son was very young. You'll find her on a Google search. She has a website too so... if you wanted to know more about how to go about the really great idea of doing a book... contact her...

 

Great photos man! Ahhh, 1973, graduated HS that year, a lot of good memories from back then!

 

Found a large beach with a stream/falls in the middle of it, on the southwest coast of Nootka Island... on Google maps. That where the top pic was? Nice.