Bush aviation

Bush flying refers to aircraft operations carried out in the bush. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormally large tires, floats or skis.

This term bush has been used since the 19th century to describe remote wilderness area beyond clearings and settlements hence bush flying denotes flight operations carried out in such remote regions.

Bush flying is the primary method of access across Northern Canada,Western Canada, Alaska, and the Australian Outback.

In Canada, the first real use of bush flying was for exploration and development, while in Alaska, transportation was the main purpose. Later, bush flying became important during rescue operations. Bush pilots are well needed in rescues and are very important for many different things.

After the 1918 Armistice with Germany, Ellwood Wilson, a Canadian forester employed by the Laurentide Company in Quebec, realized that airplanes could be used to spot forest fires and to map forested areas. Early next year, when Wilson discovered that the U.S. Navy was giving Canada several war-surplus Curtiss HS-2L flying boats, he asked to borrow two. He then hired Captain Stuart Graham to fly the planes. Graham and his engineer, Walter Kahre, then started to fly the first HS-2L to Lac-à-la-Tortue on 4 June 1919, arriving on 8 June 1919. The flight had covered 645 miles, the longest cross-country flight executed in Canada at the time. He then delivered the other HS-2L to Lac-à-la-Tortue.

Equipped with the aircraft, the first bush flights occurred when fire patrol and aerial photography began in the summer of 1919 in the St. Maurice River valley. Graham and Kahre continued this service for two more seasons, but it became so expensive that the Laurentide Company underwrote the operation. In response, it was split into a separate company called Laurentide Air Services Ltd. with Wilson as president and former Royal Naval Air Service instructor and barnstormer William Roy Maxwell as vice president. These were the first bush flights in Eastern Canada.

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