Last weekend I was lucky enough to be in Yellowknife, NWT for the Midnight Sun Float Plane Fly-In doing research for my book on northern Canadian aviation history. Here’s a little photo album from this amazing event:
![](https://www.daniellemc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/81369-img_0479.jpg)
It may be ranked one of the coldest places in Canada during the winter, but July was warm, sunny, and surprisingly bug-free!
![](https://www.daniellemc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/84ca6-img_0480.jpg)
After a great meet-and-greet on Friday night and a pancake breakfast Saturday morning hosted by the Piro family, I boarded a Buffalo Airways Douglas DC-3 along with 20-odd other passengers for an aerial tour of YK.
![](https://www.daniellemc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/bdbc3-img_8728_edit.jpg)
Our pilot was “Buffalo” Joe McBryan (below) himself, and co-piloting the aircraft was Tyler Sipos. And of course they have a few good luck charms, like this polar bear I’m holding.
![](https://www.daniellemc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/0e06f-img_8726.jpg)
Joe is an aviation history buff and it didn’t take long for us to get to chatting about northern aviation, his role in it, etc. The next thing I knew, he was inviting me to tag along on a Norseman flight with a group of folks.
![](https://www.daniellemc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/a3ce3-img_8741_blog.jpg)
I guess I behaved okay (and didn’t get airsick), because he then invited me to join him, his granddaughter, and the director/videographer of Ice Pilots NWT for a trip down memory lane for a 50th anniversary special. Up we went in the Norseman again, this time bound for Gordon Lake.
![](https://www.daniellemc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/e6f7b-img_8755.jpg)
By dinnertime we were back at the old Ward Air float base (that’s Max Ward’s turbo Otter behind us below) for the Ice Pilots Jamboree.
![](https://www.daniellemc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/1cae5-img_8763.jpg)
To recognize Joe for all his generosity toward the fly-in and the Fox Moth Society, reps from both (Yvonne Quick and Mike Burns, respectively) presented him with a model of his beloved Norseman – which he promptly flew off-stage, grinning!
![](https://www.daniellemc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/46fbf-img_8760.jpg)
It was a gorgeous night, and all the fly-in folks enjoyed mingling with the Ice Pilots crew. So much so, that a bunch of us went out afterward to the Monkey Tree and closed it down!
![](https://www.daniellemc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/4ddf2-img_8764.jpg)
There was no sleeping in the next day for me, though, as I had an interview lined up at 8:30am with a local aviation legend. Then at 9:30am I was back in Joe’s orange jeep headed to his dock in preparation for the bush pilot memorial fly-by.
After a bbq lunch it was tour time at the Buffalo hangar, where I got to see Joe’s office just full of aviation history books, photos, and even a motorcycle!
![](https://www.daniellemc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/89e9f-img_8787.jpg?w=300)
Sunday night was the wrap-up banquet and auction. My new friend from Cold Lake, Terry, gallantly bid my book up to $100 – so I thought he deserved a kiss to go with it!
After the banquet, some of us wanted to keep chatting – and I didn’t want to miss out on any good stories! Next thing I knew it was 1am (hard to tell by the photo below, eh?)
Monday after a big day doing research at the archives (in the
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre), I was invited to a friend’s house for supper. Then we set off for a short hike at Cameron Falls – at 9pm!
But when you’re in the land of the Midnight Sun, the days really do go on forever… I think the memories will too!