Ed Zaruk's Archives

When Pete Lazarenko phoned Rollie Hammerstdt at OCA’s Redditt hangar and mentioned he had some Norseman stuff for sale, Rollie said he wasn’t interested as they had a yard full of Norseman spares.  Pete persisted and Rollie agreed to buy the lot for $6000.  Barney figured he could do better and, in bargaining with his old nemesis,  ended up paying $10,000.  Included in the deal was CF-OBE, all in pieces.

After KVB, with its metal belly and sides was in service, the carcass of OBE was dragged into the hangar and work started on rebuilding it.  By now Barney had acquired CF-UUD. (See article below)  Rollie and Ed Hanratty found some issues with this airplane and decided to keep only the wings and stabiliser, incorporating them in a full metalization of OBE. 

With the experience gained in sheeting both SAN, and KVB, Sid Green took on the task of covering the compound curvature of the fuselage.  OBE also benefited from the narrow pilot’s doors and light one-piece cargo doors, which were beginning to become industry standard.  When complete, the only wood remaining in the fuselage was the birch plywood floor.  After the metal wings and stabilizer were installed, all the control surfaces, as well as the vertical stabilizer were installed and covered with new fabric.  Before the interior could be finished, Barney had shut down the Redditt operation because of mercury pollution in the English River, and the airplane was ferried to Gimli, Manitoba to be completed.

It remained in service with OCA, operating out of Red Lake until it was bought by Green Airways in 1986. It was the end of a dream, but not the last of the breed as at least two more Norseman were to be skinned with aluminium.  OBE, however, remained the only Norseman to have metal wings.

(Just a note- OBE never, ever had the big door installed.  The installation was only done on CF-UUD by Charlie Ursell in Texas when he skinned UUD and built the metal wings.)

In the spring of 1962, Fred Chuipka bought CF-KVB from Northalnds.  On the morning of October 9^th it caught fire at his fish plant dock.  The fire was put out but not before enough damage was done to put the aircraft out of commission.

Rollie Hammerstadt was asked by the insurance company to do an  appraisal of the damage.  Shortly after that Fred received a cheque for the airplane and it was put up for salvage.

Rollie got to talking with Barney about this wreck and after some discussion it was decided they’d buy it.  SAN was out of the hangar and Rollie wanted another airplane to rebuild.  He and Sid had some ideas about meatalizing they wanted to try.

Barney made an offer to the insurance company and the wreck was theirs. 

Rollie and Vic Sarapau went up to Lynn Lake and took the airplane apart, then loaded it into a boxcar and for shipment to Redditt.

When they redid this air plane, Rollie and Sid Green decided to replace the fabric back of the cabin doors a couple of feet where it was often punctured loading cargo.  It only seemed natural that while they were working that area, they skin the section between the front and rear doors as well.  Rollie left Sid to install a modified and slightly enlarged cabin window that followed the tube structure in the air plane. 

With new fabric and all painted in yellow with red trim, KVB on floats was rolled out on a dolly and hauled to the ramp on Black Lake.  Barney had it photographed for a new Ball Lake Lodge brochure he was making for the 1969 season.  The picture was also made into a postcard.  In the coming years KVB would see service out of Red Lake for ten years until Austin bought the base.  A month later it would go to a United States Air Force museum in Dayton, Ohio.

Dead in the winter of 1957, Northwestern Ontario camp owners, Barney Lamm and Dr. Clifford Eisentrout, took off from Kenora, Ontario for Alaska.  Overloaded with survival gear and an extra 47 US gallons of gas in a belly tank, they flew non-stop to Edmonton where the plane, a 150 Super Cub, was immediately grounded by the DOT.  Barney's mechanics at Ontario Central Airlines had installed unauthorized pods on CF-JFO made from agricultural tanks in the wing struts for baggage storage. Four days later they took off, the plane having been re-certified as experimental, their destination, Point Barrow.  (Only Barney could have pulled something like this off.) 

Snubbed by professional guides at Point Barrow who charged $10,000 for a hunt, the pair struck out on their own for the Arctic Ocean.  Landing at Kotzebue, a village of 350, on the Chukchi Sea, they secured lodging and next day set out on the hunt.   

''Worst part of flying over the ice was trying to land," said Barney, ''the ice was constantly changing and we'd be anywhere from 75 to 125 miles out from land."Temperature was 30 to 40 below (F) with constant winds."  Three days they flew before spotting their first sizable polar bear.  Barney took the opportunity to fly over Russia a bit, just to say he'd done it.  Pack ice is constantly shifting as sea and wind push it into a jumble of pressure ridges.  Herding the bear toward an area of flat ice where they could land was old hat as they'd done it many times with wolves back in Ontario.  Barney no sooner had the plane down than Doc was out and after the bear in the ridges.  It took two shots to bring the 900 pound beast down. 

Bad weather held them up for three days before they found Barney's bear in the pressure ridges.  This time it took some skilful flying, to herd the bear for several miles toward a narrow band of flat ice.  ''This is the most treacherous part of all,” Doc Eisentrout said.  ''There's no way to test the ice until you land on it."

Again both men left the airplane to hunt down their quarry.  Barney was using a .35 calibre automatic rifle. After two shots, the gun jammed.  The wounded bear turned and charged. Hammering furiously on the breech, Barney managed to clear it just in time to drop the 1200 pound animal.

The Alaska guides began talking to them again after their success, but they were to find out how reckless they'd been.  The flat ice they'd landed on was last night's new ice which had not yet broken up on the relentless currents.  The Alaskan pros always flew with two planes as it was not unheard of for one to break through the ice.  They also never left the airplane without a rubber inflatable.  Flat ice was known to break away, leaving stranded hunters watching their airplane drift away on another ice flow.

To fill out their month long hunt, Doc Eisentrout, who was also an American, made application to the US Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service for a wolf permit.  Issued on February 27, 1957, permit # A-FAI-57-9 allowed the two men to hunt wolves from the air as long as the, ''permittee shall be accompanied on all hunting flights by, Barney Lamm." 

Hunting along the north slope of the Brooks Range, the pair of ardent hunters managed to bring down 30 wolves with a $50 bounty on each, and the hides sold for $30 a piece.  Nice way to pay for their trip.  Not that expenses weren't high.  If you listen to an interview they gave to radio station CJRL in Kenora, there are some surprising cost for hamburgers, even by today's prices.

 Barney and Doc's interview

     (Remember, this is radio that is over 50 years old)

 (I'd recommend opening or printing the PDF file so you can follow the four and a half minute interview) 

Click here for a transcript of the interview

 With only enough room for Doc's pelt, Barney's, which weighed over 160 pounds, had to be shipped back home.  By April 11^thBarney was at the Northwest Sportsmen's show in the Auditorium at Minneapolis, Wisconsin, promoting Ball Lake Lodge.  After an 18,000 mile journey with no radio, flying over barren ice and snow, often in whiteout conditions, it must have seemed pretty tame. 

In 1935-36 Fairchild Aircraft Ltd in Canada continued development of the Super 71, leading to the larger-capacity Fairchild 82. Following the same general lines as its predecessors, it was a braced high-wing monoplane of mixed construction with a braced tail unit, tail-wheel landing gear (optionally replaceable by floats or skis) and power provided by a Pratt & Whitney Wasp radial engine. The fuselage of the Fairchild 82 incorporated a separate passenger cabin capable of seating a maximum of 10. &ampampnbspFairchild built large doors on each side to make easy loading of large and bulky cargo as analternative. In the Super 71 the pilot was accommodated in a separate cockpit, behind and above the passenger cabin, a far from ideal situation. This was resolved in the Fairchild 82 by providing a flight deck forward of the cabin to seat two, side-by-side, with its windscreen on top of the fuselage, forward of the wing, providing an excellent forward view. Only about 12 Fairchild 82s were built, four being exported and the remainder operated by Canadian airlines.

Ontario Central Airlines owned two Fairchild 82's. Pictured here is CF-AXL. This air plane saw service with Canadian Pacific Airlines before it was sold, along with the Kenora and Red Lake bases to Rex Kiteley and Gordie Hollinsworth, who started Ontario Central Airlines. During the winter of 1948/49 OCA engineers at the Lakeside maintenance facilities upgraded the engine to a Pratt and Whitney 985 Wasp Jr. This airplane is now in the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa.

AXM, her sister ship, crashed on take off in Kenora in 1948.

 Barney and Marion Lamm flew into Canada in June of 1946 on a flight that would see them eventually build and operate the most prestigious fly-in fishing lodge in Northwestern Ontario. Barney's Ball Lake Lodge&ampampampampampnbspbecame the destination for America's elite, from movie stars to Mafia bosses, and all manner of politicians and businessmen in between.

Situated on Ball Lake, some 50 miles north of Kenora, Ontario, it was accessible only by air. In 1952 Barney bought out Gordie Hollinsworth, one of the principles of Ontario Central Airlines. Soon a fleet of yellow Norseman aircraft were ferrying guests and supplies not only to Ball Lake but also to many of the other fly-in lodges that were springing up throughout the English River system. Later he would add two Grumman Gooses and a Canso to the fleet to bring guest directly from the States to Ball Lake.

Tiffany lamps and brand new Evinrude outboard engines set the standard both&ampampnbspMarion and Barney wanted for their guests. A well stocked bar in the main lodge served drinks that could be enjoyed in front of a huge stone fireplace after&nbspa day's fishing. Guides from the local Indian reservations made sure their clients never came home empty handed. At night, all the boats would be pulled up on shore and lined up to make a picture perfect row along the beach. One of Barney's rules was that if a guest got his guide drunk, then he was assigned to him the next day. For all the booze the lodge went through, air plane loads of it, there were very few problems.

A guest had only to set his fishing gear outside the door before going to breakfast in the main dining room. He would find it in the boat, along with his guide at the start of the day's fishing. Trophy fish were sent to the taxidermist and any fish the guest wanted to keep were filleted and packed in dry ice before being flown toKenora and sent on by express to their destinations across the continent.