Bush plane

An American Champion Scout. Note the oversized tundra tires, for use on rough surfaces.

A bush airplane is a general aviation aircraft used to provide unscheduled passenger and freight services to remote, undeveloped areas of a country, such as the Canadian north (or bush), Alaskan tundra, the African bush, or the Australian Outback. They are used where ground transportation infrastructure is inadequate or doesn't exist.^[1]

Common traits

Since a bush plane is defined by how it's used, a wide variety of different aircraft with different configurations have been used over the years as such, however experience has shown certain traits to be desirable, and so appear frequently, especially on aircraft specifically designed as bush planes. None of these traits are mandatory - merely that they are commonly seen features of bush planes.

• The undercarriage is designed to be fitted with floats, skis or wheel/skis to permit operation from water or snow (primarily for Canadian, Alaskan and Russian use).
• High wings ease loading and unloading, particularly from docks, as well as improve downward visibility during flight and increase clearance to reduce the potential for damage during landing or take-off. A high wing is less likely to be damaged during loading or unloading than a low wing.
• Conventional or "taildragger" landing gear—two large main wheels and a small rear wheel reduce both weight and drag, increasing the load the aircraft can carry and its speed and it reduces excessive stresses on the airframe compared to a nosewheel. A failure is also less critical as a broken tailwheel is easily repaired and won't prevent the aircraft from flying, unlike a broken nosewheel.
• Short runway requirements, typically gained through high aspect ratio wings and high-lift devices such as flaps, slots and slats to improve low speed flight characteristics, allowing shorter ground rolls on landing or takeoff.
• Very large, low-pressure tundra tires may be fitted to enable the pilot to operate from broken ground. It's not uncommon for a bush pilot to land (and take off) from unprepared surfaces.

Current and historical bush planes

Years in brackets are of first flight.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• AAC Angel (1984)
• Aermacchi AL-60 (1959)
• Antonov An-2 (1947)
• Antonov An-14 (1958)
• Antonov An-28 (1968)
• Antonov An-38 (1994)
• Auster Autocrat (1945)
• Aviat Husky (1986)
• Avro Avian (1926)^[2][3]
• Avro Anson (1935)^[4]
• Avro York (1942)
• Bach T-11P (1927)
• Barkley-Grow T8P-1 (1937)
• Barrows Bearhawk (1995)
• Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing (1932)^[5]
• Beechcraft Model 18 (1937)^[6]
• Bellanca Pacemaker (1929)^[7][8]
• Bellanca Skyrocket (1930)
• Bellanca Aircruiser (1930)^[9]
• Bellanca Senior Pacemaker (1935)
• Bellanca Senior Skyrocket (1935)
• Boeing B1E (1928)^[10]
• Bristol Freighter (1945)
• Britten-Norman Islander (1965)
• Buhl Airsedan (1928)
• Bushcaddy L-162 Max (1995)
• Bushcaddy L-164 (2007)
• Canadian Vickers Vedette (1924)
• Cessna Crane (1939)
• Cessna 172 (1956)
• Cessna 180 (1952)
• Cessna 182 (1956)
• Cessna 185 (1960)
• Cessna 206 Stationair (1962)
• Cessna 208 Caravan (1982)
• Champion Citabria (1964)
• Consolidated Catalina/Canso (1935)^[11]
• Curtiss HS (1917)^[12]
• Curtiss Lark (1925)^[13]
• Curtiss Robin (1928)
• Curtiss Thrush (1929)
• Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando (1940)
• de Havilland DH.60 Moth (1925)^[14][15]
• de Havilland DH.61 Giant Moth (1927)^[16]
• de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth (1931)
• de Havilland DH.83 Fox Moth (1932)^[17]
• de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide (1934)^[18]
• de Havilland DH.90 Dragonfly (1935)
• de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover (1948)
• de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver (1947)^[19]
• de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter (1951)^[20]
• de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou (1958)
• de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter (1965)^[21]
• Dornier Do 27 (1955)
• Douglas Dolphin (1930)
• Douglas DC-3/Douglas C-47 (1935)^[22]
• Douglas DC-4^[23]
• Eastman E-2 Sea Rover (1928)^[24]
• Evangel 4500 (1964)
• Fairchild FC-2/51 (1926)^[25]
• Fairchild 71 (1926)^[26]
• Fairchild Super 71 (1934)^[27]
• Fairchild 100 (1930)^[28]
• Fairchild 82 (1935)
• Fairchild F-11 Husky (1946)
• Fieseler Fi 156 (1936)
• Fleet Freighter (1938)
• Fokker Universal (1926)^[29][30]
• Fokker Super Universal (1928)^[31]
• Fokker F.11 (1928)^[32]
• Ford Trimotor (1926)^[33]
• Found FBA-2 (1960)
• GAF Nomad (1971)
• Gippsland GA8 (1995)
• Gippsland GA10 (2012)
• Grumman Goose (1937)^[34]
• Grumman Widgeon (1940)^[35]
• Grumman Mallard (1946)^[36]
• Halpin Flamingo (1929)
• Hamilton H-47 (1928)
• Helio Courier (1954)
• Howard DGA-8/9/11/12 (1936)
• Howard DGA-15 (1939)
• Junkers F.13 (1919)^[37]
• Junkers G 31 (1926)
• Junkers W 33 (1926)^[38]
• Junkers W 34 (1926)^[39]
• Junkers Ju 52/1m (1930)^[40]
• Kitfox (1984)
• Lake Buccaneer (1960)
• Lockheed Vega (1927)^[41]
• Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar (1939)
• Max Holste Broussard (1952)
• Maule M-7 (1984)
• Murphy Rebel (1990)
• Murphy Moose (1995)
• Murphy Elite (1996)
• Noorduyn Norseman (1935)^[42]
• Northrop N-23 Pioneer (1946)
• Northwest Ranger (1968)
• PAC P-750 XSTOL (2001)
• Piper J-3 Cub (1938)
• Piper PA-18 Super Cub (1949)^[43]
• Piper PA-22 Bushmaster
• Piper PA-23 (1952)
• Pilatus PC-6 Porter/Turbo Porter (1959)
• Polikarpov Po-2 (1927)
• PZL-104 Wilga (1962)
• Quest Kodiak (2004)
• Rans S-7 Courier (1985)
• Republic RC-3 Seabee (1945)^[35]
• Ryan Brougham (1927)
• Shavrov Sh-2 (1930)
• Short SC.7 Skyvan (1963)
• Sikorsky S-38 (1928)
• Sikorsky S-39 (1929)
• Stearman C3 (1927)
• Stearman M-2 (1929)
• Stearman 4 (1930)
• Stinson Detroiter (1926)
• Stinson Junior (1928)^[44]
• Stinson Model A (1934)
• Stinson Reliant (1933)
• Stinson Voyager (1939)
• Stinson 108 (1946)
• Supermarine Sea Otter (converted after 2nd World War)
• Technoavia SM92 Finist (1993)
• Travel Air 6000 (1928)
• Vickers Viking (1919)^[45]
• Waco 10 (1927)
• Waco Standard Cabin series (1931)
• Waco AQC-6/Waco ZQC-6 Freighter (1936)^[46]
• Westland Limousine (1919)
• Yakovlev Yak-12 (1947)
• Zenith STOL CH 701 (1986)

Aviation museums with large collections of bush planes

• Alberta Aviation Museum
• Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum
• Canada Aviation and Space Museum
• Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre
• Western Canada Aviation Museum

Appearances in the media

• Ice Pilots NWT
• Flying Wild Alaska
• Alaska Wing Men
• Captains of the Clouds

See also

• List of STOL aircraft
• Floatplane
• Ontario Provincial Air Service - played major role in the development of bush flying and bushplanes.
• Bush flying

References

1. "Bush planes used in areas where roads do not exist".
2. Anderson, 2004, p.82
3. Foster, 1990, p.74-79
4. Foster, 1990, p.189-191
5. Foster, 1990, p.174, 190
6. Foster, 1990, p.191
7. Anderson, 2004, p.31
8. Foster, 1990, p.97, 102, 175
9. Foster, 1990, p.156
10. Foster, 1990, p.64-65, 156
11. Foster, 1990, p.191, 197
12. Foster, 1990, p.43-45
13. Foster, 1990, p.48
14. Cole, 1986, p.4
15. Foster, 1990, p.74, 131, 188
16. Foster, 1990, p.139
17. Foster, 1990, p.105, 200
18. Foster, 1990, p.173, 190
19. Foster, 1990, p.199
20. Foster, 1990, p.199, 201
21. Foster, 1990, p.202, 207, 210
22. Foster, 1990, p.177, 188
23. Foster, 1990, p.204
24. Cole, 1986, p.34-38
25. Foster, 1990, p.135
26. Foster, 1990, p.107, 115, 138
27. Foster, 1990, p.136, 138
28. Cole, 1986, p.49-55
29. Foster, 1990, p.4
30. Foster, 1990, p.53, 56-57
31. Foster, 1990, p.52-53, 56-57, 70-71
32. Cole, 1986, p.39-42
33. Foster, 1990, p.152, 155
34. Foster, 1990, p.207-208
35. Foster, 1990, p.197
36. Foster, 1990, p.204, 208
37. Foster, 1990, p.36-41
38. Foster, 1990, p.180
39. Foster, 1990, p.101-102, 158, 166, 188.
40. Foster, 1990, p.180-181
41. Foster, 1990, p.95-98
42. Foster, 1990, p.142-143, 174, 188
43. Foster, 1990, p.195, 198
44. Cole, 1986, p.45-48
45. Foster, 1990, p.47
46. Foster, 1990, p.194

Bibliography

• Anderson, Frank W.; Downs, Art (2004). The Death of Albert Johnson - Mad Trapper of Rat River. Surrey, BC: Heritage House Publishing Co. ISBN 1-894384-03-2.
• Boer, Peter (2004). Bush Pilots - Canada's Wilderness Daredevils. Canada: Folklore Publishing. ISBN 1-894864-12-3.
• Cole, Dermot (1986). Frank Barr - Bush pilot in Alaska and the Yukon. Edmonds, WA: Alaska Northwest Publishing Co. ISBN 0-88240-314-1.
• Foster, J.A. (1990). The Bush Pilots - A pictoral history of a Canadian phenomenon. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Inc. ISBN 0-7710-3245-5.
• Keith, Ronald A. (1972). Bush Pilot with a briefcase. Toronto, ON: Doubleday Canada. ISBN 0-385-07049-7.
• Matheson, Shirlee Smith (1994). Flying the Frontiers. Saskatoon, SK: Fifth House. ISBN 978-1895618518.
• Terpening, Rex (2006). Bent Props and Blow Pots - A Pioneer Remembers Northern Bush Flying. Madeira Park, BC: Harour Publishing. ISBN 1-55017-381-2.
• West, Bruce (1974). The Firebirds - How bush flying earned its wings. Ministry of Natural Resources (Ontario). ASIN B0089GQ3EE.
• Milberry, Larry (1985). Austin Airways - Canada's Oldest Airline. Toronto, ON: CANAV Books. ISBN 978-0969070337.

External links

• Bush-planes.com