Warbird Registry
Aerial Visuals
Early History
United States Navy. TBM-3S. Construction number 2416.
Royal Canadian Navy. Avenger AS 3. Flew as #381. BOC: June 23, 1952. SOC: Jan. 17, 1958. Military Service in Canada: Squadron VS 881 and ?, Shearwater, NS.
Skyway Air Services, Langley, BC
#602 CF-IMK 1958-1969
Aerial Spray Program – NB, Newfoundland
1958 – Converted to tanker, Victoria, BC, 1958. Firebombing as part of a fleet of 6 Wheeler and 6 Skyway TBMs. 1959 – No operations. 1961 – Tallied by Larry Milberry while en route to NB. 1960-1965 – No records, but very likely flew in NB for these years. 1966, 1967 – Pilot Lebans. 1968 – Flew in NB and Newfoundland.
Conair Aviation Ltd., Abbotsford, BC
#602 CF-IMK 1969-1977
Aerial Spray Program – NB
1969 – Pilot Langeman. 1970 – Pilot Bolton. 1971 – Pilot Raun. 1972 – Pilot Robb. 1973 – Pilot Gossett. 1974 – Did not fly in NB. 1975 – Pilot Beecroft. 1976 – Pilot Atkins. 1977 – Pilot Tomecek. FIMK was one of 8 TBMs sold to Forest Protection Limited in August 1977.
Accident. In the early 1970s, the pilot lost control on takeoff and skidded off the runway at Juniper airstrip; the aircraft was not damaged.
Forest Protection Limited, Fredericton, NB
#602 / #2 CF-IMK / C-FIMK 1978-1994
1977 – FPL purchased FIMK from Conair Aviation Limited in 1 August 1977 for $27,000.
Aerial Spray Program / Fire Suppression – NB
1978 – Pilot Hopping. Repainted and renumbered to fleet standard after 4 July, 1978. Fire bombing after the spray season. 1979 – Pilot Gomany. Fire bombing after the spray season.
Aerial Spray Program – NB
1980, 1981 – Pilot Harrington. 1982 – Pilot Garon. 1983 – Pilot McIlwaine. 1984 – Pilot Koerfgen.
Inactive/Sold – NB
1985-1993 – Inactive, in storage at FPL. 1994 – Sold to Jeff Thomas/Vintage Wings, Seattle, WA.
Transporting FIMK to the USA
Post-spray History
Jeff Thomas/Vintage Wings, Seattle, WA, 1994.
Byron D. Neely, Austin, TX, July 22, 1994-2002. Registered as N704QZ.
American Airpower Heritage Flying Museum, Midland, TX, Jan. 2003-2007.
Good morning my name is Justin hamel my father Dave hamel use to fly FPL with skyways and I was wondering if it possible it was up for sale or possible too discuss some possible trade
Hello
My name is Dave O’Malley and I am manager of the website at Vintage Wings of Canada. We operate 18 vintage aircrfat in flying condition. We also run a website that puts out a remarkable number of stories about warbirds and aviation history. To see what we are about, visit http://www.vintagewings.ca
I am presently putting together a story written by one of our volunteers about a Grumman Avenger (former CFIMK) being restored in Florida. I would love to be able to illustrate its history with your company and would love to be able to use the photos from your site of C-FIMK. Would you consider letting us use these images? Being a not for profit public charity, we are on a zero budget and can only pay you in gratitude and a proper photo credit as well as links to your site.
Please let me know if this is possible and I will take the photos from the site. This will be a very positive story of its illustrious career.
Dave O’Malley
By all means use the images. And sorry for the late reply.