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By: - 5th October 2008 at 18:58 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Imagine the fuselage in flying attitude - then delete undercarriage and substitute a ski on each side of the fuselage held in position by two struts and thats pretty much how I imagine it.
By: - 5th October 2008 at 19:26 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Nice 'winged' widgeon video from the 80's at :-
By: - 7th October 2008 at 21:38 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
................I had thought that some of the Canadian forumites might have been able to assist on this one!
By: - 1st March 2019 at 18:26 Permalink
More than ten years on I still haven't found a photograph of the Widgeon snowmobile, CF-AIQ!
By: - 4th March 2019 at 22:50 Permalink
Come in Canada?
By: - 9th March 2019 at 15:17 Permalink
Was that the one at Flinflon?
By: - 9th March 2019 at 16:29 Permalink
Yes, that's the one. The photograph of CF-AIQ - with its wings - which features in 'British Civil Aircraft 1919 - 1972' bears the caption:
'Widgeon IIIA CF-AIQ, formerly G-AALB, after modernisation by A.S.Carson at Flin Flon, Manitoba in 1939. It also acquired a coupé top to the front seat.'
Are you aware of a photograph of her in her postwar 'Wingless Widgeon' state?
By: - 9th March 2019 at 20:08 Permalink
Hi AA,
Airhistory.org's CF- register gives your Widgeon's last owner as A. Ingham. From 1946 Ingham built snow-sleds leading on to the successful Ingham Motor Toboggan in 1950. There is a photo of one of their early designs which may or may not include all that remained of the Widgeon :( It possibly only used the cockpit area as, from what I have seen, adaptations of aircraft into snowmobiles tend to dispense with most of the airframe and render it unrecognisable. I doubt we are looking for anything vaguely resembling an aircraft!
Photo of the 1947 Ski-Bee - http://goodoutdoors.tripod.com/id1.html
On a happier note, there is some footage of CF-AIQ in better days on Youtube -
By: - 9th March 2019 at 20:24 Permalink
Thank you, MM. That offers a perspective that had not, hitherto, occurred to me. I'd been thinking more along the lines of remove all the flying surfaces, except the rudder, replace the wheels with skis, throttle up and disappear in a plume of snow!
I was delighted by the newsreel footage of CF-AIQ. It demonstrated that the front cockpit of a Widgeon clearly was not a place for a lady!
By: - 9th March 2019 at 21:16 Permalink
Not aware of a photo - I remembered it as my neighbour when I lived in South Woodford in the 1970s was from Flin Flon and I asked her, she knew nothing about it.
By: - 9th March 2019 at 21:22 Permalink
Michael, it is possible to order the book from Allister Ingham http://snowmobilehistory.com/index.html
but it's risky if the conversion of the Widgeon is reported there!
By: - 10th March 2019 at 10:11 Permalink
Thank you, Martin. It's a rather expensive book for someone who isn't a snowmobile aficionado - and particularly so if, as MM has suggested, what was used of the Widgeon might be unrecognisable in snowmobile form.
By: - 11th March 2019 at 09:33 Permalink
I contacted Don Ingham, whose father wrote the book to which Martin referred. He has responded to me as follows:
'CF-AIQ was owned by my uncle Austin who did sell it to someone that wanted parts to build a snowplane, I think for the use of the engine primarily. As this happened 20 years before I was even born Im only assuming that a local farmer bought the airplane for parts to build the snowplane and likely not a conversion. Aircraft like so many was probably just pushed into the bush somewhere on a farm. Snowplanes were fairly common on the Canadian prairies as roads were closed, and many machines were home made.'
By: - 11th March 2019 at 20:57 Permalink
Nice to get confirmation but it was a sad end for the poor old Widgeon :(
By: - 12th March 2019 at 14:11 Permalink
Better than the flying club bonfire on 5th November. At least it seems to have been put to some use when it ceased to have an aeronautical use.
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By: avion ancien - 5th October 2008 at 17:59
Does anyone have, or know of the whereabouts of, a photo of Westland Widgeon CF-AIQ in its final form? This Widgeon started life as G-AALB; went to Canada in 1930; gained a coupé top to the front cockpit in 1939; and, apparently, was converted into a snowmobile in 1946! I have tried to visualise a "snowidgeon" but have failed miserably. Even cropping and adding to the photo of CF-AIQ, which appears in volume III of 'British Civil Aircraft 1919-72', fails to produce anything that might have even half a chance of propelling itself across the frozen wastes of North America. If no photo exists, maybe someone with a more ingenious mind and/or better graphic design skills can come up with an idea.