Sealand Helicopters

Sealand Helicopters was founded by industrialist Craig Dobbin in Feb1977 in St. John’s, Newfoundland as a charter airline. Its headquarters were at St. John’s International Airport. The company first entered the offshore transport industry in 1979, providing helicopters mainly in support of offshore oil and gas operations. By the early 1980s, Sealand operated a fleet of over 30 helicopters. In 1987, Dobbin headed a group of investors organized under the name Canadian Holding Company which purchased Okanagan Helicopters, Viking Helicopters, and Toronto Helicopters and merged them with Sealand Helicopters, to form CHC Helicopter
– [Okanagan Air Services began in British Columbia in the summer of 1947. Three ex-RCAF officers, pilots Carl Agar & Barney Bent, and engineer Alf Stringer, formed a flight training club, the South Okanagan Flying Club, in Penticton, British Columbia, using De Havilland Tiger Moths. They moved to Kelowna, changing the group’s name to Okanagan Air Services (OAS), and purchasing two Cessna 140s for training and charter work. The trio saw a future in helicopters and Okanagan Air Services Ltd. was incorporated on 17Apr1947. Okanagan Air Services moved to Vancouver in 1949, renamed Okanagan Helicopters. CHC purchased Okanagan Helicopters and Toronto Helicopters and merged them with Dobbin’s own company, Sealand Helicopters, to form a company named Canadian Helicopters. Renamed to CHC]

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