▲ Alf Stringer dismantles Bell 47 CF-FZX for shipment to Yakima, Washington. Photo courtesy of the Kelowna Public Archives
▲ Bell 47 CF-FZX on a truck on Penticton’s Main Street. Photo courtesy of the Okanagan Archives Trust Society
In the meantime Alf had loaded a truck with all the bits and pieces of CF-FZX and headed down to Yakima where he spent the winter rebuilding the machine. During that period Carl and Andy Duncan continued to train pilots on the two Cessnas at the Rutland airstrip, but winter brought the operation to a close and with it went their remaining source of revenue. Due to the accident, their first year of operation, from July 15 to December 31, had resulted in a loss of $13,650. To obtain financing to cover the deficit and the next year’s operation, they approached the Royal Bank of Canada for a loan, backing it with the personal guarantees of all the directors.
▲ In the spring of 1948, the Fraser River flooded, leaving large parts of the valley under water. This photo shows the area of Chadley and Sumas roads, Chilliwack. The water level peaked on June 10, leaving 16,000 people evacuated and 200 homes destroyed. Okanagan Air Services was hired by the provincial government to spray for mosquitoes. It was their first big break. Chilliwack Museum Archives
1948
In the spring of 1948 Alf returned to Penticton with the rebuilt CF-FZX, and it was put straight to work on new spray tests for the Summerland Research Station. However, in a very discouraging start to the season, problems again arose with corrosion and clogging, resulting in frequent changes of the hose nozzles. April, May and half of June passed while they struggled to complete all the sprays that had to be applied before and during blossom time. At one point they decided to abandon sprays and try dusting again, but when the winds increased to 10 mph (15 km/h), the operation had to stop due to excessive drift. The dust got into their eyes and mouths and covered their clothes. Thorough cleaning of the helicopter at the end of each day was difficult because the dust stuck to the machine and the process left their hands raw. The growers were not impressed, and Carl and Alf had to admit that, with the equipment that was available and the nature of the area, neither spraying nor dusting could be done effectively with a helicopter. The company directors, remembering the crash scene, were also uneasy about spraying, and so the hunt for other work began.
It was the disastrous flood of May 1948 in the Fraser Valley that gave OAS a fresh opportunity. On the weekend of May 24 the mighty Fraser River broke its banks, flooding the area around Chilliwack and Mission to a depth of about 25 feet (7.5 metres), leaving over 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of farmland under water and providing ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes. That was when the BC government contacted Pat Aitken in Kelowna to see if the helicopter could be sent to Chilliwack to be used in a mosquito control program.
On June 17 Carl and Alf left Penticton for Chilliwack, a distance of 177 miles (285 kilometres) through rugged mountain terrain. Keeping to the river valleys and following the route that would become Highway 3 from Princeton to Hope, they heeded Carl Brady’s words and flew low and slow. Their arrival in Chilliwack attracted a lot of attention. This spraying was a much simpler operation than in the Okanagan orchards because the terrain was wide and flat, leaving the helicopter plenty of room to manoeuvre, and the spray, which was a mixture of a small amount of DDT and light diesel, was less corrosive, easier to clean up, and did not plug up the spray nozzles.
▲ Okanagan Air Services’ Bell 47 CF-FZX being refuelled while on a contract to spray for a false hemlock looper infestation near Windermere in the Kootenays. Photo courtesy of the Royal BC Museum and Archives, Fonds PR-1842
▲ Carl Agar learns the techniques of mountain flying in the Windermere area, where he would attain altitudes of between 2,500 feet (760 metres) to 4,500 feet (1,370 metres). Photo courtesy of the Royal BC Museum and Archives, Fonds PR-1842
The free publicity gained with this job drew the attention of provincial Department of Lands and Forests officials who offered OAS a contract to spray an infestation of the false hemlock looper insect that was damaging a crop of commercially grown Christmas trees near the BC-Alberta border. Carl and Alf left Chilliwack heading east for the Windermere area on a long flight path that took them across almost every mountain range in southern BC and gave Carl more experience in the art of mountain flying. It also made them realize how vast and remote the BC Interior was. When they arrived at Invermere in the Windermere Valley, Carl met with the Forestry people while Alf serviced the helicopter. The area to be sprayed was 11,000 acres (4,450 hectares) at altitudes varying from 2,500–4,000 feet (760–1,220 metres) and required the application of one gallon per acre (four litres per half hectare) to be sprayed in 60-foot-wide (18-metre-wide) strips. Carl devised a marker system using helium balloons attached to fishing line. The ground crew placed one of these markers at the end of a strip and, once that row had been sprayed, moved the marker to the next strip. When Carl stopped for refuelling, the markers showed him where he had left off. Spraying started on July 1 and was completed by July 24 with a total of 466 flights. The operation achieved a 100 percent kill rate of the insect and more good publicity for OAS.
Carl had now flown at higher altitudes and had learned the idiosyncrasies of handling the helicopter in a wide range of terrains, and with two very successful operations to their credit the company had the confidence to tackle fresh challenges. Before they could take on any more work, however, the helicopter had to return to Penticton for routine maintenance. The early Bell 47 was underpowered with a Franklin 178-horsepower engine mounted horizontally rather than vertically as in fixed-wing aircraft. Since grease boots had not yet been invented, it was necessary to take the helicopter apart after every 25 hours flying time for lubrication. In addition, the transmission bearings had to be replaced every 25 hours, and the high-tension cables on the engine ignition were prone to failure. This left Alf with responsibility for a great deal of maintenance plus assembling and cleaning the spraying equipment as well as organizing the refuelling, but because of his training under Joe Beebe at Central Aircraft and rebuilding CF-FZX, he had already become an experienced field engineer.
In Chilliwack on August 2, 1948, Carl met with provincial surveyors Norman Stewart and Gerry Emerson who explained that only 2 percent of the province had been adequately surveyed and that better topographical information was required. These two surveyors could see the efficiency of flying in men and equipment compared to long, exhausting treks on horseback and/or foot, and they quizzed Carl on the possibility of delivering them and their equipment safely to high altitudes and remote valleys via helicopter. Carl and Alf were confident that the machine was more than capable as long as they did not overstep its limitations. As a test project, the topographical survey department offered OAS a contract to transport men and equipment from a base in Chilliwack at $85 per hour plus living expenses for the pilot, an engineer and a helper. On the first day Carl took Stewart and Emerson on a familiarization flight into the rugged and forbidding Mount Cheam area of the Skagit Range. The actual spot had been selected by aerial photography and maps and was at the 5,300-foot (1,615-metre) level. Both surveyors were very impressed with the helicopter and became enthusiastic about its possible uses, but as Carl was rather quiet during the flight, deep in concentration, neither of them fully appreciated the machine’s limitations at such a high altitude. They looked over the area carefully from the air, paying special attention to the proposed landing site, but Carl explained that for safety reasons he would have to make the first landing by himself. They returned to Chilliwack and signed a handwritten agreement on BC government letterhead:
I, Carl Agar representing Okanagan Air Services Ltd of Kelowna, BC, agree to provide a helicopter for transporting men on a topographical survey under G.C. Emerson, BCLS, from an air base at Chilliwack to their work on mountains south and east of Chilliwack insofar as it is practicable, at an hourly rate of eight-five dollars ($85) plus living