Norcanair was the name of a Canadian airline that existed from 1947 to 1987, and again briefly in the early 1990s and from 2001 to 2005.

History

Norcanair traces its history back to M&C Aviation, founded in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, in 1930 by private pilots Richmond Mayson and Angus Campbell. Moving soon to

Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Albert, Prince Consort (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Albert I of Belgium ...

, this bush-flying firm survived the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

by concentrating on carrying prospectors and travelers into Saskatchewan's heavily forested north. When the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

broke out, the firm's technical expertise was put to work running an overhaul facility in Prince Albert that maintained aircraft used by the

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), or Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zea ...

M&C Aviation

Richmond (Dick) Mayson owned an aircraft in the late 1920s, a Stinson CF-AFF, when he met airframe engineer Angus Campbell, taught him to fly, and they became partners. Their first commercial activity was barnstorming, flying in to agricultural fairs ins Saskatchewan and taking people for airplane rides for "a penny a pound". Their small aircraft could take 3 passengers in addition to the pilot. Fairs were seasonal, usually late August through mid-October, and to keep the business growing they began flying fresh fish from Lac la Ronge and Big River. They incorporated the business as Mayson and Campbell Aviation in 1930, also known as M&C, which was originally based in Saskatoon. in 1935 they moved to Prince Albert, and set up offices in a building in the downtown area by the river, where they built a dock and installed a fueling station for the float aircraft. They also obtained a hangar at the airport across the river. Dick Mayson was the primary businessman, while Angus Campbell was the primary pilot. They built their bush pilot service to include up to seven aircraft, flying hunters, fishermen, prospectors, miners and surveyors, and were credited with opening up Saskatchewan's north. Mayson had a lake and Campbell an island named after them. Angus Campbell died in May 1943. Postwar, Dick Mayson accepted a 1947 offer from the province's new Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) government for the sale of the airline. The government's goal was to use aircraft to open the province's vast north. This airline was known as Saskatchewan Government Airways (SGA). Structured as a

Crown corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

, SGA operated from 1947 to 1965 from a main base at the

Prince Albert (Glass Field) Airport Prince Albert (Glass Field) Airport is located northeast of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. History RCAF Station Prince Albert The airport was originally opened near Prince Albert on 22 July 1940 under the British Commonwealth Air Tra ...

and a number of sub-bases in northern Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan's 1964 general election saw the NDP government defeated by the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

s. SGA was privatized into the hands of some Saskatchewan businessmen, who renamed it North Canada Air or Norcanair for short. The firm operated two sets of services for the next 16 years: charter flights in northern Saskatchewan, and a modest series of scheduled routes running north–south in Saskatchewan. Its major equipment included

Cessna 180 The Cessna 180 Skywagon is a four- or six-seat, fixed conventional gear general aviation airplane which was produced between 1953 and 1981. Though the design is no longer in production, many of these aircraft are still in use as personal aircr ...

s, Beavers and Otters. One of its Beavers, aircraft CF-FHB, is preserved in the Canada Aviation Museum in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, while one of its Model 170 Bristol Freighters, Freighter CF-WAE, is in the

Western Canada Aviation Museum The Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada (formerly the Western Canada Aviation Museum) is a museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The museum opened to the public in its new location on 21 May 2022. History The Western Canada Aviation Museum w ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. For its scheduled routes, it used five U.S.-built

Fairchild F-27 The Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227 were versions of the Fokker F27 Friendship twin-engined turboprop passenger aircraft manufactured under license by Fairchild Hiller in the United States. The Fairchild F-27 was similar to the standa ...

turboprop aircraft acquired from

Hughes Air West Hughes Airwest was a regional airline in the western United States, backed by Howard Hughes' Summa Corporation. Its original name in 1968 was Air West and the air carrier was owned by Nick Bez. Hughes Airwest flew routes in the wes ...

in 1976-77. Also flown was a wide array of other turboprop aircraft types including the

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...

, Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante, and

NAMC YS-11 The NAMC YS-11 is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (NAMC), a Japanese consortium. It was the only post-war airliner to be wholly designed and manufactured in Japan until the development of t ...

. The only jet aircraft type operated by Norcanair was the Fokker F28 Fellowship. In 1981, Norcanair president John B. "Jack" Lloyd announced he was selling the airline back to the provincial government, which by this point was in the hands of the social democratic New Democratic Party. A tentative deal was struck, but before it could be finalized, the NDP government fell and its replacement, the Progressive Conservative party, resold the firm to Saskatoon businessman Albert Ethier, who combined the airline with his own charter firm, Hi-Line Airways. During 1985, a scheduled nonstop passenger route to Minneapolis/St. Paul from Regina was initiated with the Fokker F28 Fellowship jet aircraft. By 1987 Norcanair was feeding passengers to CP Air and in March of the same year Norcanair was taken over by

Time Air Time Air was an airline in Canada founded in 1966 by businessman Walter “Stubb” Ross from Lethbridge in Alberta. It was called Lethbridge Air Service before becoming Time Airways Ltd. which was then shortened to Time Air Ltd. In 1993 it ...

Destinations

According to the October 26, 1986 Norcanair route system map, the airline was operating scheduled passenger service to the following destinations.

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada: *

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

* Lloydminster

, Canada: * La Ronge *

* Regina *

Stony Rapids Stony Rapids ( chp, Deschaghe, translation=settlement on the other side of the Rapids) is a northern hamlet in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located south of the border to the Northwest Territories, the community is astride the Fond du L ...

* Uranium City * Wollaston Lake

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, United States: *

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

/ St. Paul Following the acquisition of Norcanair by

in 1987, scheduled passenger service to all of the above destinations continued to be provided by Time Air.http://www.airtimes.com, Oct. 30, 1988 Time Air route map

Fleet

* Beechcraft Model 18 * BPY-5A Canso (version of the

PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wit ...

amphibious aircraft An amphibious aircraft or amphibian is an aircraft (typically fixed-wing) that can take off and land on both solid ground and water, though amphibious helicopters do exist as well. Fixed-wing amphibious aircraft are seaplanes ( flying boats ...

) * Bristol Freighter (Type 170) *

de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver is a single-engined high-wing propeller-driven short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft developed and manufactured by de Havilland Canada. It has been primarily operated as a bush plane and has been used ...

* de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter *

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

* Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante *

* Fokker F28 Fellowship - ''only jet aircraft type operated by Norcanair'' *

References

{{Saskcrowncorps Defunct airlines of Canada Airlines established in 1947 Airlines disestablished in 1987 Companies based in Saskatoon 1947 establishments in Saskatchewan Crown corporations of Saskatchewan Defunct seaplane operators

History

M&C Aviation

Destinations

Fleet

See also

References