John Lalonde in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario sent us information on the Ontario Provincial Air Services (OPAS). The original maintenance and aircraft build site was building around 1920 on the short of the St Mary's river. Sault Michigan is on the other side of the river. The OPAS site is now preserved as the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center.
The Ryan test cell came from the Ryan company. OPAS used to send rebuilt radials to Ryan for testing, but they were not satisfied with the turnaround time to California, so they approached Ryan who offered the OPAS a seldom used test cell. OPAS sent a truck out to San Diego, disassembled the test cell, and trucked it back to the Sault. It had all the standards installed to certify radials up to 1000 HP.
John and fellow volunteers have been working on a Canadian Fox Moth for 10 years. The left door is stretched for medivac stretcher. Right door is a standard. People in 1932 were typically 5 ft tall, 120 lbs.
No off the shelf parts, many, many little metal pieces. No metal frame. It's all plywood.
The Fox was made for wheels, floats or ski's, but Transport Canada wants it flown off on wheels.
Our wings fold back also. Easy to store. Engine is a Gypsy Major 1C of 140 Hp. Fairey Reed prop, 7 ft dia. all metal, with CCW rotation. Tires are 7.5 inch rims - very hard to buy tires.
If you want to visit give John a call!
