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Vessel

The Beaver

Also The Beaver · Beaver medical evacuation plane · U6A Beaver aircraft · emergency evacuation plane · air evac plane

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeVessel
RigAircraft
Dates1974-06-18
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Vessel
Rig
Aircraft
Dates
1974-06-18
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
aviationhealthcareemergency-managementcommunitygovernance
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

“The Beaver” was a surplus military-type Beaver aircraft that Beaver Island’s two townships operated as an on-call, no-fee medical-evacuation plane from 1974. Jim Janda, St. James Township Supervisor and a former Chicago Police Department pilot, secured it as excess federal property through the Charlevoix County Civil Defense Department after residents documented five emergency evacuations in the preceding year that had depended on U.S. Coast Guard helicopters. Janda retrieved the aircraft from Tucson, Arizona in March 1974; it entered service that June, made its first two medical flights within a week, and by February 1975 was housed in a purpose-built hangar at the Beaver Island Townships Airport. Volunteer pilots flew it: Janda and William Wilke in 1974, then the Welke family, and by mid-1977 a newly certified trio. It was still advertised as an island amenity that September, the latest date documented here.

History

By early 1974 Beaver Island had no island-based emergency aircraft. The Beaver Beacon reported that in the preceding twelve months five people had been evacuated by U.S. Coast Guard helicopter because time or weather ruled out other transport, from a Coast Guard lifeboat station 35 miles away and an air station 75 miles away. Jim Janda pursued an island-based plane through the Charlevoix County Civil Defense Committee, located a surplus aircraft the county could obtain for $1,600 including a year of insurance, and the Charlevoix County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the purchase over the objection of a local charter operator, who argued a county-owned plane would compete with private enterprise; the Beacon called that objection a matter of one operator’s self-interest against island safety.

In March 1974 Janda flew alone to Tucson, Arizona, to collect the aircraft, which the Beacon called a “DeVaveland Beaver” — evidently a garbled rendering of de Havilland, maker of the Beaver aircraft the U.S. military designated the U-6A. From Tucson the plane went to Fremont, Michigan, for insignia and identification-number work before delivery to the island. The same issue printed the aircraft’s operating rules: its primary use was no-fee medical evacuation of the critically ill or injured; secondary uses were air search and rescue in support of the Coast Guard and Civil Air Patrol, and paid assistance (a minimum of $30 an hour) to the Sheriff’s Department and other agencies; only approved volunteer pilots could fly it, and only for emergencies or maintenance. On March 23, ahead of its arrival, the Beaver Island School hosted a day-long emergency first-aid course taught by Ferris State College nursing faculty and attended by Dr. Joseph Christie and the island’s nurses.

The aircraft reached the island and entered service by June. On June 18, 1974, Janda and William Wilke flew Mrs. John (Lillian) Gallagher off the island after Dr. Joseph Christie ordered evacuation for a severe nasal hemorrhage his office could not control; six days later, on June 24, the same two pilots flew the Rev. Chester Meengs to the mainland after acute shock following a stroke, with Christie accompanying him. Both patients reached Little Traverse Hospital in Petoskey by way of Harbor Springs Airport, and the Beacon reported both flights as the plane’s first documented use. The Meengs family’s July thank-you letter to the island specifically credited “the use of the new plane.” The aircraft flew at least two further documented emergency flights that August, and a third islander, Thomas H. Bussell, later wrote to thank what he called the “Beaver Island Evacuation Service” for a flight he said had averted major surgery.

That November the townships began building a 62-by-40-foot hangar at the airport, designed by Walt Wogan and Zack Gorganoff and built largely by volunteer labor under airport manager Robert Gillespie; Ed and Connie Wogan donated $4,000 of state lottery winnings toward materials, with the Beaver Island Airport Fund covering the balance. The aircraft moved into the completed hangar on February 16, 1975, by which date the Beacon reported three qualified volunteer pilots were available to fly it.

That same February, the Charlevoix Courier reported a dispute between county officials and Beaver Island residents over the plane’s record-keeping. County Commissioner Ralph Richardson said the county held flight logs covering two periods, from roughly May 1974 and from September 1974 into February 1975, and that county officials had received little information about the plane’s operation. About fifteen islanders confronted the paper’s editor at a St. James Township Hall meeting, arguing the coverage was slanted against the island. Richardson stood by the reporting: “As far as I can see, what you wrote is the way it was,” he told the Courier. The paper’s own editorial afterward acknowledged it had omitted the Wogans’ hangar donation and islanders’ view that the plane gave them “a life line to major hospitals on the mainland.” One of the plane’s three certified pilots, a part-time deputy sheriff resident on the island (almost certainly Bill Welke, appointed a year-round island deputy in 1973), sent the county monthly reports on the aircraft’s use.

Documented flights continued: in October 1975 Mrs. Madonna (Bing) McCafferty was flown off after an illness and returned home recovered, and in August 1976 Sophia McDonough was evacuated to Little Traverse Hospital after a stroke.

By 1977 Bill Welke had been joined as volunteer pilots by his sons Paul and Mark Welke; the Courier reported the three had flown and maintained the aircraft without pay since it arrived in 1974, while islanders paid to convert the six-passenger plane into an air ambulance and covered its insurance and maintenance. In July 1977 the Welkes resigned by letter, William Welke citing “flak” from township officials over his use of the plane. Peaine Township clerk Joseph Martin said the criticism was largely of Welke’s own making but that the townships wanted to keep the aircraft on the island as a community project; Janda, by then described as a former pilot for the service, tested three new candidates: Wayne Chapman, Bob Haverman and Bob McLaughlin. All were found qualified to fly the aircraft, and their names went forward to the county board as its new pilots. Sheriff George Fasater said his department retained formal control of the aircraft, which remained assigned to the island under the two townships. That September the Beacon’s Fly-In advertisement still listed an “emergency air-evacuation plane on field” among the island’s attractions, the latest evidence held here of the aircraft’s continued presence.

Significance

For an island roughly 35 miles from the nearest Coast Guard lifeboat station, “The Beaver” converted individual emergency evacuations from an ad hoc Coast Guard helicopter response (five documented in the year before it arrived) into an on-call resident service. Community fundraising and volunteer labor built its hangar, and volunteer pilots flew it without pay for medical calls while islanders paid for its conversion, insurance and maintenance. The 1975 dispute over its county-held flight logs shows the aircraft was, from its first year, also a point of friction between the island community and the mainland county government that owned it, over accountability for a shared public asset. That friction recurred in 1977 when its pilots resigned over “flak” from the townships that controlled its use.

Evidence and limits

No source held here supplies a registration number, tonnage, manufacturer serial number, or a title or bill of sale. Two independently OCR-transcribed sources render the manufacturer’s name as “DeVaveland” (Beacon, March 1974) and “Dehaviand” (Courier, July 1977), both apparently garbled renderings of de Havilland, maker of the Beaver line the U.S. military designated the U-6A. Neither transcription is clean enough to cite as an established fact, and this article does not assert a builder on that basis. A July 1977 Courier photograph, captioned in the held OCR/image description as a “Cessna 441 Conquest II” bearing tail number “N90546,” accompanies the article about the plane’s pilot change; that aircraft type does not match the Beaver named in the article’s own text (and the Cessna 441 was not built until years after 1977), so this record treats the caption as unreliable and does not use “N90546” as the aircraft’s registration. The exact dollar figure the Charlevoix County Board of Commissioners approved in February 1974 for the plane’s cost, maintenance and insurance is illegible in the held scan. The February 1975 Courier coverage of the flight-log dispute is partly garbled by column-interleaving in the held OCR, and only the one cleanly transcribed Richardson quotation is reproduced verbatim here. No source held here documents the aircraft’s disposition after September 1977.

Open questions

  • What was the aircraft’s actual FAA registration number, and does a clean scan or FAA record resolve the “N90546” caption discrepancy?
  • What dollar figure did the Charlevoix County Board of Commissioners approve in February 1974 for the plane’s purchase, maintenance and insurance?
  • Did Wayne Chapman, Bob Haverman and Bob McLaughlin take over as the aircraft’s pilots after July 1977, and how long did the plane remain in service after that?
  • Does a surviving Charlevoix County Civil Defense Department or Sheriff’s Department record hold the flight logs referenced in the 1975 newspaper dispute?

See also

Sources

  1. Reports that Jim Janda, St. James Township Supervisor and a former Chicago Police Department pilot, pursued acquisition of an island-based emergency plane through the Charlevoix County Civil Defense Committee after five emergency evacuations in the preceding twelve months had depended on U.S. Coast Guard helicopters; says a plane was located for $1,600 including one year of insurance and that the County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved an expenditure (the exact figure is illegible in the held scan) over the objection of a local charter service. It does not name the aircraft or give a delivery date.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-02_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published report; the approved-expenditure figure remains illegible at this scan resolution.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-02_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Reports the planned delivery of a surplus Beaver aircraft, retrieved from Tucson, Arizona by Jim Janda and undergoing insignia and identification-number work at Fremont, Michigan, and prints the aircraft's operating rules: no-fee medical evacuation as primary use, air search and rescue and paid ($30/hour minimum) assistance to the Sheriff's Department and other agencies as secondary uses, approved volunteer pilots only, flights limited to emergencies or maintenance. It does not provide a registration or ownership record. The same issue reports a March 23 emergency first-aid course at the Beaver Island School, taught by Ferris State College nursing faculty, held in preparation for the plane's arrival.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-03_Beaver-Beacon
  4. The held nine-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-03_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Calls the aircraft the medical-evacuation plane stationed on Beaver Island and reports its first two flights on June 18 and June 24, 1974; it gives no registration, serial number, owner, model confirmation, or later disposition.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-05_Beaver-Beacon
  6. The held eleven-page combined May–June issue scan is paired with the OCR source stored under the archive 1974-05 key and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-05_Beaver-Beacon
  7. The Rev. Chester Meengs' family publicly thanks Beaver Island residents, Dr. Christie and the Welke family for emergency help "including the use of the new plane" after his June 24 evacuation; it supplies no additional flight detail. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-07_Beaver-Beacon
  8. The scan confirms the family's published thanks.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-07_Beaver-Beacon
  9. Reports two August emergency flights and prints Thomas H. Bussell's thanks for an earlier evacuation flight; it does not provide an aircraft log, registration, owner, or complete crew list.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-08_Beaver-Beacon
  10. The held ten-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-08_Beaver-Beacon
  11. Says a hangar under construction at the Beaver Island Townships Airport was intended to house "The Beaver"; it does not establish completion or final aircraft disposition.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-12_Beaver-Beacon
  12. The held nine-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-12_Beaver-Beacon
  13. Reports the hangar completed and "The Beaver" moved in on February 16, 1975; credits airport manager Robert Gillespie, donors Ed and Connie Wojan, Wojan Construction, and volunteer labor; says the island is "fortunate...to have three pilots qualified to fly" the aircraft. It does not give a final project cost or ownership record. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1975-02_Beaver-Beacon
  14. The scan confirms the completion and reported move-in date.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1975-02_Beaver-Beacon
  15. Reports Mrs. Madonna (Bing) McCafferty was a patient at Little Traverse Hospital "after being flown off the Island via the Emergency Plane" and had returned home recovered. It gives no date, medical detail, or crew. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1975-10_Beaver-Beacon
  16. The held issue scan confirms the hospital notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1975-10_Beaver-Beacon
  17. Reports an Emergency Plane evacuation of Mrs. Sophia McDonough to Little Traverse Hospital in Petoskey. It does not identify the aircraft by registration or provide an aircraft log, crew list, or later outcome. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-08_Beaver-Beacon
  18. The held issue confirms the emergency-plane notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-08_Beaver-Beacon
  19. Lists "Emergency air - evacuation plane on field" among the island airport's advertised amenities for the annual Fly-In. This is the latest dated evidence held here of the aircraft's presence on the island; it names no registration, pilot, or aircraft type. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1977-09_Beaver-Beacon
  20. The held issue scan confirms the Fly-In advertisement text.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1977-09_Beaver-Beacon
  21. Charlevoix Courier, February 19, 1975, front-page report and "Press Responsibility" editorial, on the county's handling of the emergency-plane flight logs.
    Within the held combined-year OCR file (interleaved-column scan; some passages garbled). Reports that about fifteen Beaver Island residents confronted the paper's editor over a prior week's story on the county's difficulty accounting for the emergency plane's use, that County Commissioner Ralph Richardson said the county held flight logs for two periods (from about May 20, 1974, and from about September 1974 into February 14, 1975), and quotes Richardson standing by the report: "As far as I can see, what you wrote is the way it was." A companion editorial acknowledges the paper had not reported the Wogans' $4,000 hangar donation or islanders' view that the plane was "a life line to major hospitals on the mainland," and states that a part-time deputy sheriff resident on the island, one of three certified pilots, sent monthly reports on the plane's use to the Sheriff. Direct quotation here is limited to the one cleanly transcribed sentence; the surrounding column text is not quoted verbatim because of OCR column-interleaving. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    charlevoix · charlevoixcourie1975unse
  22. Charlevoix Courier, July 20, 1977, "Three New Pilots" (headline as captioned) on the resignation of the Welke family as volunteer pilots.
    Reports that William Welke and his sons Paul and Mark, who had flown and serviced the plane on a voluntary basis since the Charlevoix County Civil Defense Department acquired it under an excess-property program in 1974, resigned by letter; quotes William Welke on "flak" from township officials and Peaine Township clerk Joseph Martin on the townships' wish to keep the plane on the island. Reports that Jim Janda, described as a former pilot for the aircraft, tested and qualified three new candidate pilots (Wayne Chapman, Bob Haverman, Bob McLaughlin) to fly "the Dehaviand [sic] Beaver," whose names went to the Charlevoix County Board of Commissioners; that islanders paid to convert the six-passenger plane into an air ambulance and pay its insurance and maintenance; and that Sheriff George Fasater said his department retained formal control of the aircraft, assigned to Beaver Island under the two townships. An accompanying photograph is captioned by the held OCR/image description as showing a "Cessna 441 Conquest II" with tail number "N90546" — inconsistent with the Beaver named in the article's text and with the Cessna 441's later production date, and treated here as an unreliable caption rather than the aircraft's registration. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    charlevoix · charlevoixcourie1977unse

Added 1 August 2026 · revised 4 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “The Beaver”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/vessels/beaver-emergency-aircraft-1974/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, February 1974, "Emergency Island Plane" and "Ice Trip To U. P." (and 21 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-04. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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