Legendary fleet · still available
Douglas DC-3
The aircraft Buffalo Airways was built around — hauling freight and passengers into short gravel and ice strips since 1970, and still at it.
The DC-3 is where Buffalo began. Founded by Joe McBryan — Buffalo Joe — in 1970, the airline has operated the type continuously on scheduled passenger, charter and cargo work across the Northwest Territories, on wheels and wheel-skis, into strips as short as 2,500 feet.
Our C-GWZS “Ed Force 3” is the last commercially flying DC-3 that flew on D-Day. In 2012 Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of Iron Maiden, visited the Yellowknife hangar and flew it himself.
In 2018 and 2019, Mikey McBryan bought an abandoned DC-3 in St. Hubert, Quebec and restored it to flying condition in two months — finishing with a successful test flight on June 6th, 2019. D-Day. The whole story was captured on the YouTube show Plane Savers.
Registry
- C-FCUE “Mel Bryan”
- C-FLFR
- C-GPNR “Summer Wages”
- C-GWZS “Ed Force 3”
Specifications
| Cargo load | 6,000 lbs (2,721 kg) |
|---|---|
| Length | 64 ft 8 in (19.7 m) |
| Wingspan | 95 ft 2 in (29.0 m) |
| Height | 16 ft 11 in (5.16 m) |
| Block speed | 150 mph |
| Range | 1,200 statute miles |
| Fuel burn | 90 imp gal/hr |
| Undercarriage | Wheels / wheel skis |
| Navigation | Full IFR including GPS |
| Minimum strip | 2,500 ft |
| Minimum ice thickness | 20 in |
| Gross weight | 26,900 lbs |
| Empty weight (typical) | 17,500 lbs |
| Fuel capacity | 670 imp gallons |
On the ramp and in the air
