RON DUPAS COLLECTION
No. 4855. Fairchild 34-42 Niska (CF-AXO c/n 64)
Photographed ca. 1937, courtesy The Fairchild Corporation

Fairchild 34-42 Niska

12/31/2005. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The 34-42 was a special version of the Model 82, fitted with a 420 hp Ranger SVG 770-A-3 engine, and with enlarged fin and rudder. Niska was named after an Indian tribe living on the Nass River in British Colombia, Canada. To the end of March 1937, test pilot Alex Schneider took the ski-equipped Niska on its first flight from Longueuil, Quebec, Canada. The following May airworthiness tests were conducted at Ottawa, Ontario, however, due to unsatisfying rate of climb the CofA was refused. In August 1937, the CF-AXO was taken to the USA for tests, subsequently returning to Canada where the Ranger engine was removed and a 600 hp Pratt & Whitney S3H1 Wasp was fitted.

Fairchild 34-42 Niska
Fairchild 82D (CF-MAK) (Ron Dupas Collection)

Reregistered CF-MAK, the aircraft was sold in 1938 as a Fairchild 82D and was the sole model 82D staying in Canada where it was operated equipped with either wheels, skis, or floats as landing gear."

In 2002 Tony Jarvis stated: "In 1964 CF-MAK, its pilot and owner Chuck McAvoy and the two passengers aboard went missing in the Northwest Territories, Canada, while en route to Yellowknife. Three lakes in the area where named in memory of these men and the SAR people still list them as missing. In the picture the aircraft is overall Grey with Red speed-lines and cowling."

Fairchild 34-42 Niska
Fairchild 82D (CF-MAK) (Tracy Perry Collection)

In 2004 Tracy Perry stated: "This image of the aircraft on pontoons probably shows exactly how it appeared on the day it went down on June 9, 1964 about 100 miles (161 km) southwest of Bathurst Inlet near Lupin Lake in what is now the Northwest Territories/Nunavut border. The aircraft is overall grey with forest-green lateral speed lines bearing the inscription "McAVOY AIR SERVICE LTD.". The wing and rudder tips are red. Although difficult to see in this photograph, the original 35mm transparency, when projected, clearly shows Chuck sitting in the pilot's seat with his arms on the cowling."

On August 7, 2003, the Edmonton Sun newspaper wrote: "Wreckage believed to be the remains of McAvoy's plane was found Sunday (August 3, 2003) near the border between the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, about 364 mls (585 km) north of Yellowknife... ... McAvoy planned to land near Yellowknife, but the ice wasn't stable. Instead, he headed for Itchen Lake, east of Great Bear Lake. It was the last anyone heard from him."

08/05/2009. Remarks by Chuck Tolley: "Indeed CF-MAK was located and the bodies of McAvoy and his two passengers were recovered. The wreckage was recovered and is now with Joe MacBryan of Buffalo Airways in Yellowknife."


Created December 31, 2005