Ed Zaruk's Archives

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.