Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Bristol Freighter makes its last flight

Bristol Freighter C-GYQS has made its last flight, which also happened to be the last flight of a Bristol airliner. The Freighter left Prince George, on the last stage of its delivery flight from Terrace, BC, Canada to Wetaskiwin, Alberta, on 6th September at 1:30pm local, and arrived at its new home three hours later. As with the earlier stages, the Captain was Scott Swanson, co-pilot was Lori Skinner and engineer was Paul Hawkins.


Freighter C-GYQS on its last flight, taken by Richard de Boer

Not only was the aircraft the last airworthy Bristol Freighter, it was the last airworthy example of any Bristol airliner. It will now be put on display at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum. The choice of this museum was due to its relative close proximity to Terrace, making the delivery flight much easier than for other parts of Canada. The donation of the aircraft to a Canadian museum has resulted in a federal tax credit worth 300,000 USD to Hawkair.