Noorduyn Norseman

Norseman
Viking Outposts Noorduyn Norseman CF-FQI at Red Lake, Ontario, 2009
Role	general aviation aircraft
Manufacturer	Noorduyn Aircraft Ltd
Designer	Robert B.C. Noorduyn
First flight	November 14, 1935
Status	Around 18 remain in service
Primary user	Bush plane operators worldwide
Number built	904, including prototypes

The Noorduyn Norseman is a Canadian single-engine bush plane designed to operate from unimproved surfaces. Norseman aircraft are known to have been registered and/or operated in 68 countries throughout the world and also have been based and flown in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

Design and development

Designed by Robert B.C. Noorduyn, the Noorduyn Norseman was produced from 1935 to 1959, originally by Noorduyn Aircraft Ltd. and later by the Canada Car and Foundry company.

With the experience of working on many ground-breaking designs at Fokker, Bellanca and Pitcairn-Cierva, Noorduyn decided to create his own design in 1934, the Noorduyn Norseman. Along with his colleague, Walter Clayton, Noorduyn created his original company, Noorduyn Aircraft Limited in early 1933 at Montreal while a successor company bearing the name, Noorduyn Aviation, was established in 1935.

Noorduyn Norseman "CF–BSB" still operating in 2006, Edmund Lakes Lodge, Manitoba.

Noorduyn's vision of a bush plane revolved around a few basic criteria: it should be an aircraft with which a Canadian operator utilizing existing talents, equipment and facilities could make money, it should be a high-wing monoplane to facilitate loading and unloading of passengers and cargo at seaplane docks and airports and, finally, it should be an all-around superior aircraft to those in use in Canada. From the outset, Noorduyn designed the transport to have interchangeable wheel, ski or twin-float landing gear. Unlike most aircraft designs, the Norseman was first fitted with floats, then skis and, finally, fixed landing gear.

The final design layout looked much like Noorduyn's earlier Fokker designs, it was a high-wing braced monoplane with an all-welded steel tubing fuselage structure and wood stringers applied to it for the attachment of a fabric skin. The Norseman's wing had an all wood construction and was fabric covered, except for the flaps and ailerons, which were made of welded steel tubing. It had a divided type landing gear fitted to fuselage stubs, the legs were secured with two bolts each to allow the alternate arrangement of floats or skis. The tail wheel strut could be fitted with a wheel or tail skid.

Operational history

"Spirit of the Kenai", landing on Kenai Lake, in Alaska, August 2003.

The first Norseman, powered by a Wright R-975-E3 Whirlwind, was flight tested on floats on November 14, 1935 and was sold and delivered to Dominion Skyways Ltd. on January 18, 1936, registered as "CF-AYO" and named “Arcturus." In summer 1941, Warner Brothers leased CF-AYO for the filming of "Captains of the Clouds" starring James Cagney. Principal aerial photography took place near North Bay, Ontario with CF-AYO carrying temporary registration "CF-HGO." CF-AYO was lost in a crash in Algonquin Park in 1952. Its wreckage currently is on display at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre.

Almost immediately, the Norseman proved itself to be a rugged, reliable workhorse with steady sales. The first aircraft, CF-AYO, was designated the Norseman Mk I. The next aircraft, "CF-BAU," having some minor changes required after the certification tests, and a new Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp SC-1 engine up-rated from 420 to 450 hp, was designated Norseman Mk II while the next three aircraft were Norseman Mk IIIs: "CF-AZA" going to MacKenzie Air Service, Edmonton, Alberta, "CF-AZE" to Prospector Airways, Clarkson, Ontario and "CF-AZS" to Starrat Airways, Hudson, Ontario. "CF-BAU" would be modified on June 26, 1937 to became the prototype Norseman Mk IV, powered by a Pratt & Whitney Wasp S3H-1. The Mk IV become the "definitive" model but the production run might have ended at a few hundred examples if not for the advent of the Second World War.

Second World War

Noorduyn C-64 Norseman, Flygvapenmuseum (The Official Museum of the Swedish Air Force)

Until 1940, the Noorduyn company had sold only 17 aircraft in total, primarily to commercial operators in Canada's north and to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. With the outbreak of war in Europe, demand for a utility transport led to major military orders. The Royal Canadian Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces became the two largest operators; the RCAF ordered 38 Norseman Mk IVWs for radio and navigational training for the Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

USAAF Colonel Bernt Balchen had been involved in establishing a staging route across Greenland to facilitate the ferrying of aircraft from North America to Europe. He required a bush plane rugged enough to survive in the harsh conditions of the Arctic. After evaluating six Norsemans diverted from a previous RCAF order, late in 1941, he recommended the purchase of the Norseman Mk IV specially modified to USAAF requirements as the YC-64A. After the US entry into the Second World War, the USAAF placed the first of several orders for a production version C-64A Norseman. The principal differences involved fitting two fuselage belly tanks bringing the standard fuel capacity to 201 Imp. gal (914 l); an additional cabin fuel tank of 32 Imp. gal (145 l) could also be installed. These changes resulted in an increase of 950 lb (431 kg) in the loaded weight of the standard Mk IV. Deliveries began in mid-1942, with the American military eventually placing orders for 749 Norseman Mk IVs as the C-64A (later UC-64A).

A USAAF 3rd Air Commando Group UC-64A in the Philippines, 1945

Throughout the Second World War, the USAAF Norseman aircraft were used in North America (primarily Alaska) as well as other in theaters of war, including Europe. Three UC-64As were used by the US Navy under the designation JA-1. Six C-64B floatplanes were used by the US Army Corps of Engineers, as well as by other Allied air forces, who placed orders for 43 Norseman Mk IVs. The RCAF ordered an additional 34 aircraft as Norseman Mk VI. Noorduyn was the sole manufacturer, but when the USAAF considered ordering a larger number of C-64As, license production of 600 by Aeronca Aircraft Corp. (Middletown, Ohio) was contemplated before the contract was cancelled in 1943.

It was a Norseman in which Glenn Miller was flying as a passenger when he disappeared over the English Channel on December 15, 1944.

Postwar

Noorduyn Norseman "CF–HPY,"
Alberta Aviation Museum, Edmonton, Alberta

In postwar production, the Canada Car and Foundry in Fort William, Ontario acquired rights to the Norseman design, producing a version known as the Norseman Mk V, a civilian version of the wartime Mk IV. In order to exploit the market further, the "Can Car" factory designed and built the Norseman Mk VII. This version had a bigger engine, a new all-metal wing and greater cargo capacity but was fated never to go into production. With large Korean War commitments at that time, the company put it into temporary storage where it was destroyed in a hangar fire in September 1951.

In 1953, Noorduyn headed a group of investors who bought back the jigs and equipment from Canada Car and Foundry and started a new company called Noorduyn Norseman Aircraft Ltd. Bob Noorduyn became ill and died at his home in South Burlington, Vermont on 22 February 1959 but the company he had created, provided support for operating Norseman aircraft and even built three new Mk Vs before selling its assets in 1982 to Norco Associates. Norco provided support services only, as the manufacture of a new Norseman aircraft, being labor intensive, was very expensive.

Huron Air Noorduyn Norseman CF-GSR at Red Lake, Ontario, 2007

The last Noorduyn Norseman to be built was sold and delivered to a commercial customer on January 19, 1959. A total of 903 Norseman aircraft (Mk I - Mk V) were produced and delivered to various commercial and military customers. There are currently 30 Norseman aircraft on the active Canadian aircraft registry. The number in use worldwide is not known.

In recognition of the Norseman's role in serving the remote villages of northern Canada, the town of Red Lake, Ontario, a jumping-off point for remote communities in Northwestern Ontario, promotes itself as The Norseman Capital of the World. Each summer in July, the "Norseman Floatplane Festival" brings Norseman aircraft to Red Lake as the centrepiece of a community based weekend festival ranging from stage entertainment, children's games and rides, contests, cultural and historical displays and street vendors with craft and specialty booths.

The Canadian Second World War "ace-of-aces" George Beurling died in a Norseman while landing at Urbe Airport in Rome, Italy, in 1948.

Norseman aircraft have appeared in the films Grey Owl (1999) and The Snow Walker (2003).

Operators

Airliners

 Argentina

Aviación del Litoral Fluvial Argentino A.L.F.A. (Aviación del Litoral Fluvial Argentino)

Military operators

 Australia

• Royal Australian Air Force - 14 aircraft were in service with the RAAF from 1943 to 1946.
• No. 1 Communications Unit RAAF
• No. 3 Communications Unit RAAF
• No. 4 Communications Unit RAAF
• No. 5 Communications Unit RAAF
• No. 7 Communications Unit RAAF

 Canada

• Royal Canadian Air Force

 Israel

• Israeli Air Force

 Netherlands

• Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force

 Norway

• Royal Norwegian Air Force

 Sweden

• Swedish Air Force

 United Kingdom

• Royal Air Force

 United States

• United States Air Force

Specifications (Norseman Mark V)

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Capacity: 10
• Length: 32 ft 4 in (9.86 m)
• Wingspan: 51 ft 6 in (15.70 m)
• Height: 10 ft 1 in (3.07 m)
• Wing area: 325 sq ft (30.2 m²)
• Airfoil: NACA 2412
• Empty weight: 4,240 lb (1,923 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 7,400 lb (3,357 kg) 7,540 with floats
• Fuel capacity: 242
• Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN1 9 cyl.air cooled radial piston engine, 600 hp (450 kW) Power Loading 12.3 lb/hp
• Propellers: 3-bladed Hamilton Standard, 9 ft 0.75 in (2.7623 m) diameterPower Loading 12.3 lb/hp

Performance

• Cruising speed: 150 mph; 240 km/h (130 kn) KTAS @ 10,000ft
• Stall speed: 68 mph; 109 km/h (59 kn)
• Range: 932 mi; 1,500 km (810 nmi) @ 10,000ft
• Service ceiling: 17,000 ft (5,182 m)
• Rate of climb: 591 ft/min (3.00 m/s)
• Wing loading: 22.8 lb/sq ft (111 kg/m²)
• Best rate of climb (V_y) 87 knots (161 km/h)
• Maximum - Flaps extended (V_fe) 94 knots (174 km/h)
• Maximum - operating (V_mo) 130 knots (241 km/h)/141 mph (wheels), 138 mph (skis), 134 mph (floats)
• Stall, clean (V_s1) 65 knots (120 km/h)
• Stall, landing configuration (V_so) 59 knots (109 km/h)

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Grant, Robert S. Noorduyn Norseman: Red Lake, Ontario, Canada, Norseman Capital of the World. Red Lake, Ontario: Norseman Floatplane Festival, 2007. (booklet)
• Mathisrud, Nils. Norwegian Wings #1: Noorduyn Norseman Mk. IV & Mk. VI. Oslo: FlyGloster Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-82-92822-00-5.
• Milberry, Larry. Aviation in Canada. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1979. ISBN 0-07-082778-8.
• Munson, Kenneth. Bombers, Patrol and Transport Aircraft 1939-1945. London: Blandford Press, 1969. ISBN 0-7537-0919-8.

External links

• Official Noorduyn Norseman web site
• Unofficial Noorduyn Norseman web site