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EDITOR’S NOTE: Virtually single-handedly, Ralph M. Pettersen is recording the Everts Converts history of our last remaining Propliners. It is not an easy task. This type of history Former Conair DC-6A is disappearing on virtually a daily basis and that is why Air Classics is trying to to Fuel Tanker record as much as possible. So, if readers can assist Ralph in any way regarding Everts acquired three retired Conair DC-6s in November 2013 and ferried them from Abbotsford these historic aircraft, please contact him at [email protected]. to the company’s maintenance base in Fairbanks. Former C-GHLY/#46 was registered N501ZS and ALASKA/CANADA UPDATES was the last of the trio to be ferried to Fairbanks, Alaska Loses an Aviation Icon where it arrived on 10 August 2014. Engines had Former Conair Tanker 46 was acquired by Everts in November 2013 and converted to a Everts family patriarch Cliff Everts passed away on 7 December 2017 at age 95 in his Fairbanks, already been removed from one of the trio when I fuel hauler at their Fairbanks maintenance base. Photographed at Fairbanks in June 2018 Alaska home. Born on 27 July 1922 in Yonkers, New York, Cliff learned how to fly at Reynolds Field in visited Fairbanks in May 2015 so I surmised that it with basic Conair colors and EAF titles on the tail. (Antti Hyvarinen) Valhalla, New York, where he soloed in 1938 at the age of 16. He moved to Alaska in 1943 to fly Ford and wouldn’t be long before all three were stripped of their valuable parts. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a report saying that the airplane was being convert- Stinson tri-motors for Alaska Star Airlines, where he worked for 18-months before joining Wien Alaskan ed to a fuel tanker and would be going into service with Everts Air Fuel. A June 2018 photo of the aircraft shows it in basic Conair colors with “EAF” titles on the Airways in February 1945. He began his career at Wien flying Boeing 247s and Lockheed Lodestars and tail. This hybrid color scheme is a first for an Everts airplane. • retired 35-years later flying Fokker F-27 turboprops. After retirement from Wien, he founded Everts Air Fuel, which received its Part 125 operating certificate on 1 February 1983. Everts C-46 Damaged at I had the pleasure of spending some time with Cliff during a visit to Everts’ Fairbanks headquarters in Manley Hot Springs August 2009. At the time, he was 87 and still checked in at Everts headquarters on most days. His wife Betty was also very While on a routine flight from Fairbanks to Kenai on 16 July 2018 Everts Air Fuel much involved in the company as she was the secretary for her son Rob! Cliff gave me a tour of his office, which was full of mementos from his 66-year avia- Curtiss C-46F N1822M Salmon Ella experienced a problem with its #2 engine. Following tion career, including the original framed Everts Air Fuel Part 125 certifi- a precautionary engine shutdown, the Commando diverted to Manley Hot Springs cate. During his flying career, Cliff amassed 30,000 flying hours and was Airport where a downwind landing was executed. The pilot reported the aircraft inducted into the Alaska Aviation Hall of Fame in 2013. touched down a “little fast” and, with fading brakes from hard braking, it was unable to Cliff is survived by his wife Betty, five daughters, and son Rob, who stop and overran the runway. The nose was heavily damaged but neither pilot was followed him into the family business. The Everts family has been very injured. A week later, with the outer wings and tail removed, the aircraft was trans- accommodating to the enthusiast community over the years, offering tours ported by road to Tanana River and barged to Fairbanks. The C-46 will receive a new Looking at the nose of C-46 N1822M, it’s hard to believe of its Fairbanks headquarters, the Anchorage freight terminal, and the nose section and returned to service. • that neither pilot was injured. (NTSB) Kenai fuel operation. While there has been a slow evolution to jet equip- ment in the form of DC-9 and MD-83 freighters, Everts is still the world’s Former Everts C-46F largest operator of piston-engine aircraft with a fair amount of the compa- N23AC on Display at ny’s freight and all of the fuel still carried in vintage DC-6/C-118s and Israeli Museum Cliff Everts with C-46s. While it’s obviously now a bit dated, more information about this Everts Air Fuel C-118 As reported in the January 2018 edition of “Propliner fascinating company can be found in my February 2010 Air Classics article. • N451CE. (RMP) Round-Up,” C-46F N23AC arrived by ship at the Port of Haifa in Israel on 21 February 2017. It had been stored for many years at the Everts Fairbanks boneyard and, after Everts Boneyard Reorganization arriving in Israel, it was transported by road to the Atlift With Everts continuing to buy DC-6s and C-118s, the company’s storage yard in Detention Camp Museum. C-46s were used in 1947 during Fairbanks had reached capacity with overflow aircraft being parked outside its north Curtiss Commandos were used in 1947 to transport thousands of Iraqi Jewish the illegal Aliya that brought thousands of Iraqi Jewish hangar. In an effort to alleviate the problem, Everts began cutting the outer wings and tails refugees to what is now Israel. C-46F N23AC will serve as an interactive exhibit at refugees to what was then the British Mandate for off DC-6/C-118s and, by the winter of 2017, had arranged seven aircraft along the fence line the Atlift Detention Camp Museum. (Meir Feder) Palestine. Jewish refugees seeking to immigrate were making for a very nice photo op for passing motorists and aviation enthusiasts. The lineup detained by the British at the Atlift Detention Camp during this period. The C-46 will serve as an interactive exhibit to educate Israelis about this clandestine operation.• consists of six former Northern Air Cargo aircraft, which had been sold to Everts in 2009 after the airline went all jet in October 2008, and a single former Conifair DC-6A. Stripped of Buffalo Airways to Restore Derelict DC-3 their useful components, the aircraft silently wait for the scrapman to claim them. • Bernoit de Mulder acquired D-Day veteran Douglas C-47 C-FDTD in April 2017 with the intent of restoring the aircraft. The vintage transport had been parked Lined up with their outer wings and tails cut off, six former Northern Air at Saint-Hubert Longueuil Airport near Montreal since the early 1990s and was in danger of being scrapped. Despite his efforts and the efforts of many volun- Cargo DC-6/C-118s await their date with the scrapman. (Antti Hyvarinen) teers, Bernoit was unable to garner the resources necessary to resurrect the C-47 and two-weeks before Christmas 2018 he placed an ad on eBay. Three-days later, he received a call from Mikey and Joe McBryan of Former Universal Airlines DC-6A Ferried Buffalo Airways saying they were interested in the air- to Fairbanks craft. A purchase deal was soon finalized. When Everts acquired former Universal Airlines DC-6A N170UA and C-118A N500UA in October 2015, the later aircraft was made airworthy in short order Recognizing the historical significance of the aircraft, the and ferried from Kenai to Everts’ maintenance base in Fairbanks for storage. While N500UA had flown as recently as the summer of 2011, N170UA hadn’t McBryans are determined to have it flying by 6 June 2019, flown for many years and took quite a bit longer to which is the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Considering the con- get ready for the relatively short ferry flight to dition of the aircraft and its location, this is a very ambitious Fairbanks. The DC-6A was parked on the Everts Air undertaking but who, with decades of DC-3 experience, Fuel ramp in Kenai for several years before finally would be better suited to pull it off than the McBryan family? being ferried to Fairbanks, where it was noted in Not wasting any time, Mikey headed to Buffalo’s mainte- June 2018. I’m guessing it will be used as a parts air- Although C-47 C-FDTD hasn’t flown since the early 1990s, the McBryan family plans nance base in Red Deer, Alberta, on 31 December 2018 to on restoring this down and out aircraft and having it airworthy by 6 June 2019. plane and has already shed at least two propellers. • meet with his uncle Ronnie McBryan and have a look at the (Pierre Gillard) two parts donor aircraft, C-FDTB and C-FDTH. Like C-FDTD, Acquired by Everts in 2015, former Universal both are former Transport Canada aircraft with C-FDTB’s engine firewall and wiring harness configuration identical to the Saint-Hubert DC-3. It’s interesting to note that Airlines DC-6A N170UA had been parked on C-FDTB has a full 1940/50s era three-across passenger interior from its days with Trans-Canada Air Lines. It has been sold to Basler for their turboprop conversion pro- the Everts Air Fuel ramp at Kenai for years gram and all of this history will be stripped out during the conversion. C-FDTH was damaged during a windstorm and, at this point, is best suited to being a parts donor. before finally being made airworthy for the ferry Mikey and Ronnie airlined to Montreal and got their first look at C-FDTD on 3 January. Their plan is to take inventory on exactly what is required for the flight to Fairbanks. Since then, it has shed a number of components and at least two props. restoration, gather the parts and pieces in Red Deer, and then transport them to Saint-Hubert, where the restoration will take place. This would be an extreme- (Antti Hyvarinen) ly ambitious project under the best of circumstances. • 50 AIR CLASSICS/April 2019 airclassicsnow.com 51