Actor Harrison Ford flies one. Department store mogul John Nils Nordstrom has one, and astronaut Bill Anders does, too. Sir Edmund Hillary got to the South Pole in one. If you’re flying in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Seattle, you’re probably in one, owned by Kenmore Air. It starred in the movie Six Days, Seven Nights and had a gruesome scene-stealer in an Indiana Jones movie. During the Korean and Vietnam wars, the Canadian-built de Havilland DHC–2 Beaver was called an L–20A and was a liaison aircraft that delivered personnel and supplies, and performed ambulance duties in support of the war efforts. It took its first test flight in August 1947, flown by Russell Bannock, chief test pilot and a member of the Canadian Royal Air Force.
You don’t just see a Beaver arrive; it roars into view. The favorite of bush pilots in Alaska and beyond, this single-engine, high-wing, propeller-driven short takeoff and landing (STOL), conventional-gear (taildragger) airplane can be flown with or without floats and/or skis; it can get in there and land just about anywhere. More than 1,600 of these aerial trucks were made between 1947 and 1967. They seat up to eight and/or carry a significant haul. The roar comes from a nine-cylinder Pratt & Whitney radial engine, which gives the airplane its signature pug nose. It dwarfs its pilots, standing nine feet tall—and taller on floats or skis.
The website bush-planes.com says it best: “The Beaver is not a dainty little airplane that appeals to ne’er-do-wells. It is a large barrel-chested plane that looks quite capable of eating Cessnas and Super Cubs as mere snacks.”
SPEC SHEET
De Havilland DHC–2 Beaver
Powerplant: 450-horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior
Length: 32 feet, 9 inches
Height: 10 feet, 5 inches
Wingspan: 48 feet
Useful load: 2,150 pounds
Max gross weight: 5,600 pounds
Fuel capacity: 138 gallons
Performance
Cruise speed: 127 mph
Max range: 405 nm
Service ceiling: 18,000 feet
