NNSL (Sep 26/97) - The first plane to take off from Yellowknife airport after it was officially opened is still operating 50 years later. And for the last five years its been based at the airport.

A Canadian Pacific Airlines DC-3 was the first commercial airplane to leave the runway after the official opening of the airport.

The plane, CF-CUE, lifted off the gravel runway Aug. 11, 1947.

The North was not new territory for the DC-3, then almost new. According to its flight log, it had been flying regularly between places such as Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Yellowknife.

From Yellowknife it flew north to Indin Lake, where a gold find was being explored. The find is better known today as the Colomac mine.

Just a few months prior to its historic takeoff at the new Yellowknife airport, the plane suffered a few cosmetic battle scars.

While taxiing on a runway crafted out of the snow on Back Bay, in front of the Wildcat Cafe, it nosed over.

Though it attracted a crowd of interested onlookers, the damage was very minor.

The craft was towed in for repairs and back in service within a week.

The plane was eventually taken back down south and used by Canadian Pacific as a training craft.

Joe McBryan, owner and operator of Buffalo Airways, bought the plane five years ago, and brought it back to Yellowknife.

It operates as part of the Buffalo fleet today.