It was the first of two times that Norseman went to Papua.  14 Norseman/UC-64As were given to the Royal Australian Air Force, some of which were sold to Bobby Gibbes for the airline he formed after the war for operation in Papua New Guinea.

The civilian Norseman and the US Military versions, the UC-64 and JA-1s, are ten place, single engine utility transports manufactured by the Noorduyn Aviation Ltd., Carterville, Montreal, Canada.  It is a mixed metal/fabric aircraft, most commonly with a single 600hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN1 radial engine (with both two and three blade metal props) and easily carries 9 jumpers to 12,000 feet.  (Note: the commercial configuration was 8 passengers and two crew)

"PI" found and bought 2 of them from Alaska in 1959/60.  They modified the doors and steps (photo left) for jumping as well as making metal special benches with depressions for your butt so the jumpers would not slide around on the seats. (Click to see photo)  They also added a control panel to tell the pilot what final corrections to make on jump run and put photos of the DZ )in grids) over the door.  It may have been a slow, noisy, fabric (it is canvas not linen) covered AC with a big radial engine but it was the only available aircraft that could fit the bill in that day.  The Fairchild Model 71 had the same engine and jumper capacity but they were not that numerous that a "fleet" could be assembled.

After a few good opening years, PI used N13340 (now repainted to white with blue trim) at Orange and sent N69795 to open it's new Center at Ryan Field in Hemet, California.  795 was brought back to Orange for the 62 World Meet leaving only a rented Cessna 180 to run the DZ.

When PI won the bid for the 6th World Meet, it bought 2 more Norseman (N61853 and N1207) from Wein Alaska Airlines (a Bush Flying Service that operated out of Anchorage).  Wien operated 7 single engine aircraft by 1958 (Norseman and Vegas) and was about to upgrade its fleet of DC-3's and  C-46's with F-27's

Along with the aircraft came a boatload of spare parts, skis, engines and engine containers for the R1340's.   PI had an old red storage hanger in the North corner of the airport and stored the parts there till needed.  They had to clean out the building in the mid-70's when it was converted into a really rough, self service, honor system lounge called "The Out".  This red hangar was one of the original hangars when the old airport was by the road side in the 30's before the airport as we know it was built up during WWII.

Once all 4 aircraft were ready for the World Meet they did a mass flyover which was quite impressive to town folk and people at the airport alike.

After the meet PI decided not to maintain Hemet and instead opened Lakewood Sport Parachute Center and flew N69795  and N1207 there in April 1963.

When PI opened another DZ in Indiana and flew N69795 there to open the Center.

In the 70's, N69795 and N61853 were sent to Elsinore, California to open that Center and they returned to Orange after being replaced by the DC-3's.  853 eventually returned to Elsinore and stayed there till the company closed it's doors in 1984.

1207 was written off after a crash at Lakewood in 1970 and N69795 crashed and burned near Orange in 1979.  A fifth Norseman (N7990K, formally N79902)) was found to replace 1207 but it also had a landing accident in 1974 and returned to Canada to be restored by collectors.  It eventually ended up back in Alaska.

PI had good reason to believe in the Norseman as a jump plane.  It saw considerable post war service in Canada and America with the "Smoke Jumpers".  It was economical to fly, could use short grass strips and carried a good load of (smoke) jumpers and their equipment especially for its size.  It's door (which by the way was designed to pass a 55 gallon drum) was large enough for a fully equipped smoke jumper carrying a wide and bulky load to exit the aircraft. (Mouse-Over on the photo to enlarge it).  The largest USFS Norseman concentration was at Deming, NM in 1953 with another in Missoula, MT.  plus a third one in Boise. Id..  They were phased out by the introduction of the Twin-Beech (C-45).

The Norseman was produced between 1935 and 1959 and was the only design of Dutch born, Robert B.C. Noorduyn F.R.Ae.D., A.I.F.Ae.Sc..  Robert was the son of British and Dutch parents and as such could move freely between the two countries.  He spoke both Dutch and English well. 

He began his career at the Sopwith factory in England in 1913 and emigrated to the USA in the Early 20's.  By 1933 he had become interested in  "Bush Flying" and started work designing the ultimate aircraft for the Canadian bush. 

Canada was ripe for aircraft advances.  During the First World War thousands of Canadians were trained as pilots, aircraft mechanics, designers and  builders.  The number of pilots alone exceeded 2000!  Unlike America, Canada was mostly unexplored in 1919 and this surplus military experience provided a spring board for bush flying and later for Canadian commercial airline services in the years between the wars.

At a time when Alcock and Brown flew non-stop across the Atlantic and Lindbergh made his famous solo Atlantic crossing, Canadian Bush Pilots were making quiet history opening up the Canadian Frontier in every area from Mineral exploration to settlement.  The sky became a Canadian highway and the thousands of lakes became ready made airports.

One of the main aircraft that was opening the way was the Curtis HS-2L sea plane.  Though efficient and with an enclosed cockpit to protect the pilots from the icy weather, the Curtis didn't have the capacity desired by bush pilots and operators.  Noorduyn saw the need and designed an aircraft to replace the Curtis.  He managed to get backing and moved to Montreal in 1933. 

His original company, Noorduyn Aircraft Limited, was formed in early 1933 and a successor company Noorduyn Aviation Limited, was later established in 1934. By that time Robert Noorduyn had been associated with six different aircraft manufacturers in Europe and the North American continent including Armstrong-Whitworth, British Aerial Transport Sopwith and Sopwith in England and then for Fokker USA (Atlantic Aviation division), where he worked on the F.VII/3Min Holland as well as Bellanca and Pitcarin in the US.

First flown on November 14, 1935 with a 420hp Wright engine, the Norseman was designed for rugged Canadian North Territory bush country operations and could be equipped with wheels, floats, or skis. Change over to any variation was only a matter of hours.  The prototype MK I, reg #CF-AYO  was in fact first flow on floats from the St. Lawrence River!  By the late 1930's Norseman began to appear in the NW Territories, Northern Quebec and Ontario, in the hands of pioneers who

were opening up the frontier by air. It soon proved itself to be a very excellent freighter and the Norseman first made its name doing the job for which it was expressly designed for, that of helping to open up and supply the Canadian North.  It was a Canadian design for an essentially Canadian job.  Click for construction details.

The project was totally Canadian funded and Noorduyn Aircraft (later renamed Noorduyn Aviation) used the old Curtiss-Reid Aircraft factory, built in 1929, on Carterville airport 8 miles northwest of Montreal.  Before WW II, the facility produced 69 Norseman for the Royal Canadian Air Force (who called them the Norseman Mark-IV) as navigational and radio trainers.  After the war, production continued with the improved Commercial Mark-V and Mark-VI models.

The RCAF kept about 100 Norseman on strength between 1940 and 1957, the largest concentration during the war was with No 13 Sqd. RCAF.  No 13  Squadron formed May 1940 as a Seaplane and Bomber Reconnaissance Training School at Sea Island, British Columbia. It also served as an Operational Training Unit from June 1942 and was ultimately disbanded Nov. 1942. The Squadron was re-formed as 13(P) Sqdn. attached to No.7 (Photographic) Wing in May 1944.

The Norseman was also operated by the 412th Transport Sqd. RCAF (formally the 412th Fighter Sqd).  (Click) here for short Sqd. history.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police operated the Norseman for search and rescue.  It acquired its first Norseman, CF-MPE, to replace one of it's Dreagonflies in 1938.  It was moved to the Arctic in 1939 and damaged that same year at Sioux Lookout, Ontario.  It was deregistered and stored but due to war time needs it was rebuilt over the winter of 1943-44 and reregistered as CF-MPF.  It was the only RCMP aircraft that wasn't transferred to the RCAF during the war and was used for internal security missions including flying around Hudson's Bay destroying civilian fuel caches fearing that German U-Boats or aircraft would use them.  It was retired from service in May 1949, sold on the civilian market and used till 1967 when it was destroyed by fire in Ignace, Ontario.

A second Norseman,  Mk V, CF-MPL, was purchased in February 1949 from Canadian Car and Foundry Co. Ltd. as part of the 1946 reactivation plans for the RCMP Air Division.  It was delivered in a very dark blue with yellow trim scheme as shown below.  It was traded into DeHavilland in May 1959 for a new (single engine) Otter (CF-MPY). Project PI originally thought that PI's N13440 was in fact MPL but it appears not to be the case. (CLICK for details) (Photo of CF-MPL in RCMP Air Division colors below)
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After service testing seven YC-64s (below), which were Mk IV's, the U.S. Army Air Force adopted the aircraft as a light transport in 1942 and placed an order for 749 Mk VI's as the C-64A Norseman.  Three of these were diverted to the U. S. Navy as JA-1s, and the Army Corps of Engineers bought an additional six UC-64Bs fitted with twin Edo floats.

The USAAF  assigned Noorduyn the following USAAF work numbers for the 1942 production runs of the Harvard and Norseman including 6 YC-64's and the first C-64A  production model:

YC-64 (USAAF-25046) awaits delivery to the USAAF on the Carterville flight line.  Note the sticky paper still on the windows.  The photo appears to have been shot with a red filter which makes the sky a dramatic dark shade but it also turned the red tail white.  Click on image to enlarge. ..

Designed for the worst of conditions, the Norseman was also employed in Europe and the Pacific as well as in the U.S. during the war. On Dec. 15, 1944, a UC-64A disappeared on a flight from England to France with the famous band leader Major Glenn Miller on board. The aircraft was only recently found.  Miller was on a flight from US Air Station 547 with a stop at RAF Cranfield/Twinwood Farm to Bordeaux to set up a show for military personnel in the area.  The band was to follow a day later in a C-47.  There is reason to believe it was accidentally blown out of the sky when a British Lancaster bomber returning to England from a scrubbed mission,  which jettisoned its' bombs right on top of the Norseman.  (Click for more info on the Miller flight)

At the end of the war, Norseman production ended and Candair took over the Cartierville Plant.  We are not sure when, but some time after WW2 the rights to the Norseman were sold to "Canadian Car and Foundry" who produced it in small numbers. 

In 1953, Bob Noorduyn, Austin Latremouille and several of their old associates, bought back the Norseman license from Canadian Car and Foundry with the intent of putting the Norseman into full production again.   Just about that time, however, the Department of Transport declared that any airplane design more than 10 years old was obsolete. The new company was restricted to completing the five new fuselages it had inherited from Canadian Car and provide maintenance and spare parts for the existing planes.  The last Norseman was produced in late 1959, SN 928. 

In the mid-sixties, with a change in market demands, the company made a transition to manufacturing aircraft interior components.  Their website is www.noorduyn.com 

The Swedish Air Force bought three Norseman with three blade props in 1949 and used them as ambulance planes till 1959.  Other Canadian and American surplused Norseman found their way to Sweden, especially on skies and floats.  (Click here for gallery of Swedish Norseman photos)

The Norseman continued it's military career in South East Asia during the Viet Nam War where it was seen in Thailand and Laos in the hands of Air America.  Some of them had more powerful engines installed.  Project PI is looking into this most  interesting historical foot note and will update the page as needed.  We are also looking into the use of the Norseman in Viet Nam by the French Military.  Unfortunately the documents we have obtained are in Swedish!

Over 70  Norseman, the vast majority being Mk II's and Mk V's, are still flying today, mostly in the caring hands of collectors.  37 of these are in Canada.  Float Norseman are still in commercial use in Canada, the largest concentration was once KayAir of Ear Falls, Ontario, though they now fly float Cessnas and a Float Beech 18 twin!  The City of Red Lake, Ontario, has a yearly Norseman festival including a huge fly in!  The city calls itself the "Norseman Capital of the World"!  Their website is www.red-lake.com or click here for a poster of the fly-in.  A Norseman flown by the Queen Charlotte Island Airlines is being rebuilt in British Columbia.

The only "fleet" of Norseman left in America is owned by Fleetway Inc, a Burbank, California Company which keeps it's 2 Norseman (N55444 and N61828) at the Hollywood-Burbank Airport.

The most recent accident involving a Norseman in commercial service occurred in March 1995!  Float Norseman, CF-KAS, was being used in regular passenger service to the Gulf Islands between Vancouver and Vancouver Island, Canada.  One of the float struts failed during landing and it cartwheeled and sank.  All on board escaped.  The hulk of the aircraft was raised and is currently in the back of the hanger at Pacific Aircraft Salvage Ltd.