On October 21, 2017, Blair and Merle Nelson hosted a fly-in event at their private strip in the Whitecourt area. I had not met them in person but was given Blair’s phone number earlier in the year regarding flying to some of the backcountry strips up that way. We were looking at flying to places like Wolf Lake and camping under the wing. There are supposed to be a few old bush strips in the West country and some of us flyers are interested in another experience as we had at the Red Deer Forestry strip this summer.

Sometime in July Blair had phoned me about attending his fly-in and did I know of anyone else who might be interested. I said “sure!” especially since he mentioned that there would be at a lot of meat on site! Officially it would be the Whitecourt Flying club’s COPA meeting. Unofficially it was to celebrate Merle Nelson being cancer free for the last 6 months.

Three planes answered the call from CEM-4 and bright and early Saturday AM on Oct 21 we headed out. Myself and Sheldon Kulaway in the 701. Sheldon’s Eurcoupe was out of action for it’s annual, so he rode with me. Next was Sheldon Piecowye in his Challenger. Last was Rob Jaap in his Cessna. Apparently, Rob had slept in so he got a later start. The weather could have been an issue as it was kinda miserable the day before and Blair was aware that our flight was subject to weather woes.

The air was cool, and we did have about 3-5 knot headwind. Sheldon was off first and the 701 was off and quickly passed the Challenger; next stop was Drayton Valley. Rob quickly caught up to and passed us and landed on runway 14 and was in the Drayton terminal as we arrived. Sheldon K and I hustled into the terminal to warm up (did I mention that it was kinda chilly that day!) My muffler shroud heater did provide some warmth, and we knew to dress warmly but that warmth of the building was sure appreciated.

Sheldon P appreciated it even more as he could have worn another coat that day. I did happen to have a Hoodie in the plane that someone had left in there. I guess passengers leaving personal possessions on planes even happens in the small stuff. Rob actually flew in a Tshirt that day as his heater works very well!

My logbook shows the 701 took 1.3 hrs. to Drayton and 0.9 hrs from there to Blair’s place at an average air speed 90- 97 mph. This does include initial warmup time as well in Innisfail. Foreflight also showed the distance as 138 nm from CEM-4 to D.V. to Blair Field.

Back in the air Rob pulled ahead, and Sheldon P was tailed Charlie. Another Challenger joined the flight at this time. Sheldon’s friend Dwayne lived and flew out of his own strip just outside of D.V. and he kept Sheldon company the rest of the way. I had met Dwayne the previous summer when we had flown to Ram Falls one fine summer morning.

Blair’s strip is located approx 9 miles ESE of Whitecourt and about 1/2 mile from the DME. On Foreflight it shows as the junction of Airway 280 and 90. It is about 1 1/8 miles north of Highway 43 and lies east to west (70 and 250 I think). It is a 2200 ft long grass strip, 75 feet wide at elev. 3120. I do believe that it is on the COPA website’s airfield directory.

Of interest to all potential visitors is that it slopes down from the west. Another pilot there described it as the “little toe” of the Rocky Mountain’s Foothills. As a result, most if not all approaches and takeoffs are done from the East and to the East, no matter the wind direction!

As we approached the general vicinity from the east at about 6500 ft we did hear Blair doing ground control and guiding Rob in. We then spotted Rob on final and voila! there was the field.

Since there was no other known traffic in the area, we did a descending spiral and came straight in on final. There was a bit of a wind burble as we dropped below the tree line that borders the north side of the field and minimal rollout, requiring power to taxi to the west end for parking.

There to greet us was Ryan who had come in from Peace River in his new-tohim Pelican. Readers may remember Ryan who had the Sonex that had the vapor lock (we think) on our first attempt to overnite at RDForestry strip in the summer of 2016. Changing planes meant getting “wherever” a little slower but enjoying the view better in a highwing craft.

Blair, meanwhile, continued to provide ground control to incoming flights. Sheldon and Dwayne came in shortly afterwards and parked. In all 17 planes came in that day. They came from Edson, Villeneuve, Cooking Lake, Peace River, Drayton Valley, Barrhead and locally from Whitecourt, and our flight from Innisfail.

I cannot list all the planes that came in but included Cessna, Stinson, Pelican, CH701, Challenger and one very nice Pegasus built by a member of the Whitecort club. I do apologize to the other unnamed planes though.

The wind from the northwest was decidedly cooler than in Innisfail so we left Blair doing his thing with the radio and sought refuge in his huge hangar. And what a hanger it was! Any pictures we took do not do it justice. It was large, well-lit and warm! The centerpiece was Blair’s Stinson on skis. Next was tables and chairs for about 80-90 people. The hangar also doubled as the family museum. The rear wall under the Mezzanine was divided into alcoves that depicted different rooms of a turnof-the century house. One alcove was the kitchen complete with antique stove, table and chairs, including a wheeled wooden highchair that folded down into a child’s stroller. Next was a “Parlor” or sitting room with 2 pianos then a period bedroom after that.

My favorite was the alcove that was 3 walls of a backcountry trapper’s cabin. Slabs of logs were used to depict the actual log walls. On them were hung furs, traps, basically everything that you would have found in a real cabin of that era. One hangar side wall was lined with antique tools and farming equipment. The opposite wall kinda reminded me of a saloon or maybe a hardware store. Upstairs on the Mezzanine were more antiques but what stood out was large display of antique to present day ammunition. Beside it was a glass display case with many different flint arrowheads and axe heads. I never did get a chance to quiz the Nelson’s about those displays, but I intend to next time.

In all, the displays and the antiques were of museum quality, and it showed how much thought and planning went into organizing it all. Think I need another trip up there to get a second and closer look.

One other display of note was two of Blair’s antique rifles. One was a Winchester of a heavy calibre that was used by the NWMP and the other was a Peabody rifle which I never had heard of before. I also had never heard about the paramilitary organization that used the Peabody rifle as well. They were called the Legion of Frontiersman that was started in England in 1905 by Roger Pocock, former NWMP and Boer War veteran. The display described the origins of the Peabody and how the Legion came to acquire it; basically, the rifles were smuggled into Canada against the Government’s order not to use it.

Headquartered in London, the Legion had branches throughout the Commonwealth. Its purpose was to prepare Empire patriots for war and to foster vigilance in peacetime. It really never gained prominence in Canada as many members enlisted for WW1 which did decimate the ranks severely. The Princess Pats battalion and other units were built on many of these ex-Legion members.

Next was the meal itself, and it was not burgers, hotdogs and potato chips. This was a fully catered meal with hot veggies, potatoes and many kinds of salads. Plus, Meat! Lots of meat! I think there was 3 kinds of meat. Can’t have too much meat! Id’ druther have meat over veggies any day! Okay enough about the meat! So now let’s mention desert; still rather have desert over veggies any day! There were 2 cakes on display, one to honor the cancer survivors and one to celebrate aviation. Sadly, I never got get a piece of either cake as the focus was on eating and then gassing up for the trip home. Being the considerate host, Blair let us Innisfail guys serve up first as we had the furthest to go and who were we to contradict him? To top things off there was an actual band there to provide some “ambiance” to the meal.

Second helpings were taken once most of the crowd had gone through and so fully “f’ed up” we started thinking about the trip home. Our host had 100LL for sale at cost so those that needed to fuel up and prepared to take off. Goodbyes and thankyous said all around and Rob was off first. Downhill. With a tail wind and seemed to use up a lot of that runway! The 701 not needing as much runway was next followed by the 2 Challengers. Ryan in his Pelican was off shortly after that and headed home to Peace River.

The flight home uneventful with a pit stop for the 701 and Sheldon in his Challenger at Drayton. Rob chose to not land this time. Back at Innisfail the wind had picked up a bit; felt good to get out of that plane and work out the kinks and reflect back over the day. Thinking again how lucky we are to live and fly in this province.

To sum it all up; the flight was fantastic, the weather came through for us, new friendships made, and a great meal enjoyed. Hats off to the Nelson’s and their families and friends for making the fly-in a memorable occasion. There was talk overheard about making this an annual fundraising event for Cancer research, possibly turning it into an overnighter as there is plenty of room to camp. Outdoor PortaPotties are on site during the flying season.

Lastly, if any readers are interested in making the flight to Nelson’s field, please contact them first to see if they are going to be around.

Thanks again to Blair and Merle Bob McCully