Early History
United States Navy. TBM-3S. Construction #: 3396.
Royal Canadian Navy. Delivered to RCN as #349. BOC: Oct. 17, 1950. SOC: Apr. 22, 1958.
Airspray Ltd, Wetaskiwin, Alberta
CF-KPJ – #702 – 1958-1959
We do not have any record of FKPJ coming to New Brunswick as an Airspray Avenger. In 1963 FKPJ was sold to Klamath Aircraft Inc, Klamath Falls, Oregon, and registered as N68663 (1963-1966), and later to Sis-Q. Its sister aircraft, FKYA, crashed in New Brunswick in 1960 and was destroyed.
Airspray TBMs FKYA and FKPJ at an air show in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, 1958 (Gordon Hunter, Flickr)
Airspray TBM #702 FKPJ at an air show in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, 1958 (Gordon Hunter, Flickr)
Sis-Q Flying Service, Santa Rosa, CA
#E28 / #E25 N68663 1969-1974
Aerial Spray Program – NB, Quebec
1971 – Flew as #E28. Pilot Poteet. 1972 – Flew in Quebec as #E25. Pilot Fagan. 1973-1974 – Did not fly in NB. 1974 – Sis-Q Flying Service sold N68663 to Forest Protection Limited in 1974, one of 5 in total.
Note: This aircraft, #E25 N68663, should not be confused with Miramichi Air Services Avenger #A25, which was registered in the US as N68683 before coming to Canada as CF-BEF.
Note on #E28 vs. #E25: Jay Sherlock’s photo clearly shows Sis-Q N68663 as #E25 in 1969, assuming the year on the caption is correct. However, the McBride photo below clearly shows it as #E28 in 1971. FPL working pilot/team lists from 1971 designate N68663 as #E28, but one list shows the #E28 amended to #E25.
Sis-Q TBM at Santa Rosa, CA, clearly numbered E25. (Jay Sherlock, Scalefirebombers)
Sis-Q #E28 on runway at (probably) Dunphy, 1971. (Merrill McBride collection)
At the Sis-Q hangar as E25.
A Martin Kyburz photo from 1974 showing N68663 #E25. The tail in the background numbered E24 belongs to N7961C, which became FPL’s #24, GLEJ.
Forest Protection Limited, Fredericton, NB
#E25 C-GLEG 1974-1975
Aerial Spray Program – NB
1974 – FPL purchased #E25 in 1974 from Sis-Q Flying Service Inc., Santa Rosa, California. 1975 – Dry leased from Evergreen Air Services, Roxboro, Quebec. Note: The number E25 was assigned to FIMR in 1976 after the crash of GLEG. Pilots Darran and Archer.
Crashed 4 July 1975 p.m. TBM #E25 C-GLEG piloted by Bert Archer and owned by FPL crashed from fuel starvation on the shoulder of Highway 8 approx. 1 mile north (1 mile east says Don Henry) of the Dunphy Airstrip while on a routine flight check out of Dunphy Airstrip while being readied for a post-larval experimental spray of adult budworm. Archer was unhurt but the aircraft was a write-off and was later stripped and junked.
GLEG #E25 probably in 1975, somewhere in NB. #A12 GLEK is behind GLEG.
TBM #E25 on shoulder of Highway 8, 1 mile north of Dunphy Airstrip, 4 July 1975.
GLEG accident report summary received by Fredericton Airport control tower. (courtesy Barrie MacLeod)
