
Island Air’s Fairchild Husky preparing for take-off circa 1960. Of the twelve made, only one Husky still exists.
Painting by Dave Nilson

If all else fails, write –
A Letter To The President
Forward by Dave Nilson
It’s hard to believe now, in these times of tight money and slow growth, just how busy it was around Campbell River in the early sixties. Island Airlines had up to twelve airplanes operating out of the dock—three Beavers, a Fairchild Husky and a mess of Cessnas, all flying from dawn until grounding time. BC Airlines was next door down the Spit and they were doing about the same. I was in charge of the maintenance and had a whole crew of mechanics and two shifts running flat out just to keep everything moving. We had a parts supply problem that became quite serious and after trying everything we could think of to get the needed parts, with little success, Frank Roberts wrote the following letter to the president of Cessna Aircraft. Some time after this letter was sent, I was in Wichita and everyone in Cessna knew about the letter—our supply of parts improved.






