Built as U-1A US Army s/n 58-1715. This a/c saw action in the Vietnam War, being assigned to the 18th Aviation Company based at Nha Trang, SVN. Transferred to the Civil Air Patrol in June 1977. It is still active, now registered as N336AK, and has been upgraded with a Garret TPE 331-1 turboprop engine.

This U-1 was assigned to VX-6 in Antarctica and participated in Operation Deep Freeze II and III. After returning to the U.S., it was assigned to the US Navy Test Pilot School at NAS Patuxent River, where it was redesignated NU-1B. Its last assignment was NAS Pensacola, attached to the Naval Air Training Command for general utility use. To the museum in 1975 in flyable condition. Heavily damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, it has been restored and now is on display inside the Hangar Bay One building.

Ex-Ethiopian Army. One of four ex-Ethiopian Army Otters (c/n 132 ex-EA51, c/n 347 ex-EA50, c/n 349 ex-EA52 & c/n 350 ex-EA53) bought by Newcal Aviation and shipped to its Safi maintenance facility in 1991. Stored at Safi until 1994 when they were shipped to the USA.

Ex-Ethiopian Army. One of four ex-Ethiopian Army Otters (c/n 132 ex-EA51, c/n 347 ex-EA50, c/n 349 ex-EA52 & c/n 350 ex-EA53) bought by Newcal Aviation and shipped to its Safi maintenance facility in 1991. Stored at Safi until 1994 when they were shipped to the USA.

Taxiing in as the sun sets, C-FBEO has a full load of hunters and a moose.

The prototype of the DHC-3 Otter, first flown in 1951 as CF-DYK-X, received an 'experimental' military serial but remained with the DHC factory and was used as a flying wind tunnel in 1957-58, carrying a DHC-4 Caribou model with an enormous vertical tail. It also tested the external carrying of a canoe by the Otter. Note the traditional wheel covers with DH logo. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

First use of the registration on a Viking Turbine Otter. The customer was Maldivian Airways, but the deal fell through so it was converted to Vazar Turbine Otter for Sri Lankan Air Taxi instead. Eventually it found its way to Harbour Airways of Vancouver where it still flies in 2022 as C-FJHA. [Photo by David Manchip.]

This DHC-3 Otter has spent most of its commercial life flying in Quebec since 1971. It was seen in April 2016 at Montréal / Laval - Saint-François airport and seaplane base, which is a private facility owned by Clement Contant and his son Simon. It doesn't appear on any aviation charts, probably because of the high voltage electric power lines crossing the property! In early 2000, C-FAZX was converted to an Orenda Orenda V8 piston engine, in 2012 to a TRACE piston engine and in March 2018 back to a R-1340 radial engine for Air Tunilik. See http://www.dhc-3archive.com/DHC-3_458.html

This Otter was originally shipped by sea to De Havilland Australia at Bankerstown in April 1958. Assembled and delivered to Qantas Empire Airways August 21st, it remained in Australia until sold 10 years later. Ferried back to Canada for AirWest August 17, 1968, C-FXRI is flying in Saskatchewan with a turbine engine at the time of uploading.

Charles Gimpel was an English photographer who travelled in the Canadian Arctic to capture Inuit life. The Otter was based here in then Frobisher Bay on a military contract to support a DEW Line radar site on Resolution Island. Photo by: Charles Gimpel / Library and Archives Canada

The shot was taken in July 1994, in Sept-Îles, Quebec. At Sept-Îles / Lac des Rapides Water Aerodrome, CSM8, Alexandair's base.

This spectacular Otter was the first that I shot on our July 1990 trip to Alaska, having arrived very late the previous evening. It was taken at 07.00 on the brightest and stillest of mornings at Lake Hood, Anchorage, Alaska. I can hear it yet, chugging round the corner towards us from the Bush Pilots Air Service base, where I also shot one of their silver Beavers in similar light. The background, as you can see, is dominated by the adjacent Anchorage International Airport control tower which, unusually, also regulates traffic on the very busy Lake Hood / Lake Spennard

Looking like a quite time in front of West Coast Air Services hangar, there were a lot of things happening behind the scenes for this Otter. In previous owner Trans North Turbo Air colors, the aircraft was registered to Tyee Airways in April 1979. Pictured after West Coast took over Tyee, Air BC would take over West Coast before the year was out. Tyee's owner sued to keep his airline operating separately, but C-FSUB would be sold to Air North in June 1980 to fly in the Yukon.

This DHC-3 Otter was delivered in May 1960 to the US Army and flew in the US and Vietnam as 59-2224 until damaged in May 1969. Shipped back to the US, it was rebuilt by Harold J. Hansen in Seattle (BFI) in the early 1970s. After flying in Alaska, Canada and Alaska again, it rebuilt as a Vazar DHC-3T Turbo Otter and sold to Whistler Air in 1999. Mike Quinn founded the airline in 1985 and established a floating base on Green Lake in the resort town of Whistler in 1994. In Dec. 2002-Jan 2003 it flew tourists to the South Pole in Antarctica. Harbour Air bought Whistler Air and C-GEND in May 2012.

For once without floats, awaiting a propeller also!

Sold to de Havilland Canada as ZK-CFH before being exported to Canada as CF-PNV. Photo from: RNZAF/Air Force Museum of New Zealand

This U-1A is painted in high visibility markings. This was one of the last Otters operated by the US Army.