During the boom years of Australian aerial topdressing in the 1960's, two Canadian aircraft types, both designed for "bush" flying in the remote areas of Canada, were in service with the local aerial agricultural industry.
The first of these to fly here in its agricultural role was the DHC2 Beaver VH-AAI in July 1957. The Beaver then went on to become one of the most widely used types engaged in the aerial spreading of superphosphate in Australia. One operator, Aerial Agriculture Pty. Ltd. of Bankstown, NSW counted more than sixty examples on its books - the world's largest civil Beaver fleet.
The second Canadian type used for agricultural work in Australia was the Noorduyn Norseman Mk. 6, which had originally started out with the RAAF.
From late 1943 onwards at the height of World War Two, the RAAF acquired 14 Canadian-built Norseman Mk. 6 aircraft for light transport and communications duties. For a single-engined type the Norseman was a very large aeroplane with a cavernous cabin, able to carry both personnel and cargo. The type was to serve in its RAAF role until 1950, although some examples had already been sold off to Australian civil operators from 1948.
The Norseman is also remembered as being the aircraft type in which the famous American bandleader Glenn Miller was to lose his life over the English Channel in December 1944.
In the late forties, former RAAF wartime flying ace, Wing Commander Bobby Gibbes, was operating Gibbes Sepik Airways, a small New Guinea airline based at Wewak, using British Austers. The RAAF Norsemans were becoming available from government disposals at this time, and Gibbes' first of type commenced operations in December 1948. G.S.A. eventually acquired a total of ten Norseman aircraft, the largest civil operator of the type in Australian markings.
The first of three former Gibbes Sepik Airways Norsemans to be delivered to Bankstown Aerodrome for conversion to agricultural configuration arrived in November 1963. These three Norsemans were c/n 249 VH-GSE, c/n 269 VH-GSG and c/n 270 VH-GSF, all registered to Pay & Williamson of Scone, NSW. They were to serve in the superspreading role until 1970 when the surviving pair ('GSF & 'GSG) was sold off to a Camden-based operator. The third ('GSE) had already been written off in a crash at Armidale in 1966, after hitting a tractor on takeoff.
In agricultural operations, the Norseman did a good job, although the direct running costs including 24 gallons per hour avgas fuel consumption, were somewhat higher than that of its Canadian-built contemporary, the De Havilland Beaver, which consumed 16 gph. Both types carried the same 1-ton disposable fertiliser payload at similar speeds, but as the purchase price of a second-hand Norseman was only a fraction of that for a new Beaver, it was more than cost-effective, in the short term.
Comparing the Norseman with the contemporary nearest local equivalent agricultural type, the Australian-built Commonwealth Aircraft CA28 Ceres (developed from the wartime RAAF Wirraway), the Norseman had a disposable load of 2,180 lb. at an all-up weight of 7,400 lb. The Ceres could carry a maximum of 2,500 lb. payload in its hopper at an all-up weight of 7,410 lb. Both aircraft had the same engine type fitted, although the Norseman could cruise at up to 120 Knots, somewhat faster than the stately 95 Knots TAS of the Ceres.
In all fairness, the Ceres had been specifically designed for agricultural work more than twenty years after the Norseman completed its maiden flight, and was tailored for its role by the use of much simplified systems.
The Norseman had been designed in the mid-thirties for flying under the quite different conditions experienced in the outback areas of Canada, and was planned from the outset as a multi-role aircraft able to operate on wheels, floats or skis. It actually completed its maiden flight as a floatplane, and its sole modification for agricultural work in Australia was the fitment of the hopper and associated controls and plumbing.
All three agplanes mentioned above had the same excellent short take-off and landing characteristics, essential when operating at maximum gross weight from short and rough bush strips.
Brief technical data for the Norseman Mk. 6 topdressing version is as follows:
Span: 51 ft 6 in
Length: 32 ft 4 in
Height: 10 ft 1 in
Weights: Empty 4,420 lb.
All Up Weight 7,400 lb.
Engine: 600 h.p. supercharged 9-cylinder Pratt & Whitney
R-1340 S1H1-G Wasp driving 3-bladed Hamilton
Standard 3D40 variable-pitch propeller.
