There was a certain audacity to the colourful characters who designed, built and test-flew the amazing series of airplanes that began with the de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver. With the Beaver on its way to becoming a best-seller, the engineers and test pilots who developed it decided to build an airplane that could do everything the Beaver could—with twice the capacity and payload. As it happened, the airplane that could manage that feat could accomplish other miracles as well. Max Ward bought his first Otter, the fifth one built, during the summer of 1953. His competitors expected him to go broke flying a $100, 000 aircraft in the far north. By the late 1960s, however, Ward was operating six quarter-million-dollar de Havilland Twin Otters—faster, more efficient twin turboprops that can carry up to 20 passengers. Thirty-six years after he bought that expensive Otter, Wardair was flying $25-million Boeing 747s. The idea behind the Twin Otter was just as simple. The Otter was a great airplane, but why not make it perfect with twin-engine reliability and nosewheel landing gear? There were complications, but the result was another winner. The Otter/Twin Otter series are among the most versatile aircraft ever built. They have been used as fire-fighting water-bombers and as interurban air buses. Able to out-perform the helicopters of the time, U.S. military Otters have explored Alaska and Antarctica. Otters have made both war and peace, as front-line supply haulers in Vietnam and as the backbone of United Nations peacekeeping efforts in the Middle East. Another Otter was fitted with a jet engine for even more sensational Short Takeoff and Landing performance.