Page 5 - March2020

The aircraft captain replied, “Wheels down and
welded!”
The tower controller then said to the captain:
“Where did you get that aircraft? Did you make it?”

Bristol Freighter, CF-WAE

Just a Little On the Ugly Side

The 170 MK 31 Freighter was designed and built in CF-WAE
England in the mid 1940s as a military transport. The first
flight of the prototype took place on December 2, 1945. CF-WAE was built in 1955 for the RCAF. It carried F86
Bristol built 214 of them and supplied them to the RCAF, Sabre Fighter Jets and Helicopters from bases in France
and Germany to overhaul facilities in the U.K. It was
RAAF and RNZAF, as well as various civil operators
throughout the world, including Trans-Canada Air Lines. purchased in 1967 by Wardair to carry freight around
northern Canada, mainly to the DEW Line of Radar
The cockpit is located above the cargo area, and is Stations. It was then sold to Norcanair in Saskatchewan
entered by means of a ladder on the right side of the where it operated until 1983. Norcanair then flew it to
cargo compartment. The crew usually consisted of pilot, Winnipeg and donated it to the Royal Aviation Museum
co-pilot, flight engineer and load master. The large of Western Canada.
unobstructed cargo area, with front-opening clam-shell
doors, was designed to carry large, heavy loads.

Numerous tie-down rings on the floor were used to
secure the cargo.
The Bristol Freighter was always considered to be just a
little on the ugly side.

In the latter part of the 50s, three Bristol Freighters were
operated as cargo carriers by Trans-Canada Air Lines
(now Air Canada). On one cargo flight to La Guardia, New
York, the aircraft was approaching and the tower
controller used the standard phrase, “Confirm wheels
down and locked.”