Commemoration of the pioneering bush pilots who helped open the way to the North. This title commemorates and honors the bushplanes and their pilots who helped to open the northland through wilderness transportation. Each chapter takes readers into a different airplane's high flying history. Real-life experiences interwoven with technical details ensure an enjoyable read for anyone with an interest in aircraft of the North. After my first book Bush Flying: Romance of the North went to bookstores, I was surprised that so few people knew of the airplanes that helped open the northland. Once the decision to write about these amazing flying machines had been made, it seemed the best way to describe them would be with the words of men and women who flew and worked on them. The selection of airplanes to feature in Great Northern Bushplanes became the primary task. In some cases, especially the pioneering types long vanished from Canada's air trails, decisions came easily. It didn't seem to matter where I looked a Bellanca landed here, a Noorduyn Norseman carried this or a Junkers delivered that. These workhorses certainly played important parts in wilderness transportation. The more modern types went on the list mainly because they brought back personal memories. As a pilot earning a living with several aviation companies across Canada, I recalled the pug-nosed Beavers, boxy FBA-2Cs and sleek Cessnas which carried me through highly exciting or scary times. Others, like twin-tailed Beechcraft or gull-winged Stinson SR-9s, I saw in action either during my days as an awestruck kid on a lakeside dock or later in life, when someone let me have a shot at the controls while writing for aviation magazines. Many of them, like the battered Bellancas and dimpled Fairchild Huskies, I heard described with reverence whenever veteran pilots clinked their glasses together in dimly lighted flight shacks or darkened corners of northern bars. Some types received little or no mention, but their absence does not imply they were unimportant in Canada's transportation picture. The movement of nearly any airplane influenced the lives of Canadians in some way. Even a few minutes in flimsy Cessna or Piper trainers counted as novices took the first steps to becoming professional pilots. While researching and interviewing, I always kept in mind that people fly and maintain airplanes. As readers explore Great Northern Bushplanes, I hope they understand my sincere efforts to get into the minds of these authentic Canadian heroes. Hopefully, readers will feel sweat upon their palms as shallow shorelines and high trees appear through oil-splattered windshields. Like the men and women named here, they will also experience the all-encompassing satisfaction when skill or luck allows them to fly another day. Many people cooperated in this book and showed an abundance of patience while answering my questions, drawing upon their memories and dipping into work-stained logbooks. Too numerous to mention, every one of them contributed greatly in this attempt to honor the mechanical marvels which enabled Canada's northern pilots to explore our wilderness.

Robert S. Grant is a familiar and well-respected name in Canadian aviation circles, having been in the industry for more than 35 years. Throughout his time in the cockpit, Grant has always kept a collection of notes and journals recording his adventures and misadventures, and has written for over forty magazines and publications. Grant, in his usual straightforward style, tells it the way he sees it, and makes no apologies for the way he describes the real world of bush piloting.

Robert Grant's profile page