Otter 308 was delivered to the United States Army on 31st December 1958 with serial 58-1695 (tail number 81695). It was assigned to the 17th Aviation Company, Fort Ord, California. It was delivered from Downsview to the Sharpe Army Depot, Stockton, California before continuing on to Fort Ord. In January 1962 it was transferred to the 18th Aviation Company for deployment to Vietnam. In January 1963 it went to the 339th Transportation Company and then back to the 18th Aviation Company in July 1963. It was damaged in a crash south of Nha Trang and in March 1964 went back to the 339th TC who spent 4,200 man hours in repairing the Otter, which then returned to service with the 18th Aviation Company in February 1966.

In July 1966 81695 was transported back to the United States for depot level maintenance at the ARADMAC Depot, Corpus Christi, Texas and on completion of this work in October '66 it was returned to Vietnam, being issued to the 54th Aviation Company. It continued to fly for this unit until September 1968, when it was handed over to the 388th Transportation Company, Vung Tau, to be shipped home, arriving at the Sharpe Army Depot, Stockton, California in November 1968. It remained in storage there until June 1971. Between July and December 1971 it is recorded as being loaned- out for “non-military use”, based at Fresno, California. In December 1971 it was assigned to the Alaska National Guard, based at Bethel, Alaska.

There had been two National Guard Otters based at Bethel, 81685 (291) and 76131 (276), which had been retired and flown south into retirement in the Arizona 'boneyard' in October 1971. They were replaced by 53278 (125) and 81695 (308) in December 1971 and which would continue to serve at Bethel until December 1976, flying for the 2nd Scout Battalion. Two incidents are recorded for 81695 during this period. On 13th May 1972 it ground looped on landing, coming to rest in a ditch at the side of the runway. It was repaired and returned to service. On 7th December 1974, an engine breather line froze shut, building pressure into the engine and blowing oil through the breather gasket.

81695 continued to serve the Alaska National Guard at Bethel until December 1976, when all four National Guard Otters in Alaska (two at Bethel and two at Nome) were withdrawn from service, and transferred to the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). Initially all four Otters were taken on charge by the Alaska Wing of the CAP and parked at Anchorage, before being ferried south to Seattle by CAP pilots.   On 23rd August 1977 81695 was registered to the Civil Air Patrol as N5369G. It was noted at Boeing Field, Seattle where it was overhauled and civilianised by Aero Support Facility Inc (Lloyd Rekow) on behalf of the CAP. Its Certificate of Airworthiness was issued on 8th February 1978, at which stage of its career it had 5,922 hours on the airframe. It saw little, if any service with the CAP and by Bill of Sale dated 28th December 1978 it was sold to Jon R. Iverson of Baldwin, Wisconsin, to whom it was registered that day.

On 21st March 1979, N5369G was cancelled from the US Register on export to Canada, having been sold by Mr .Iverson to Yorick Management Ltd., of Winnipeg. A few days later, on 29th March 1979 it was sold on by that company to Lac du Bonnet Air Park Ltd., of Lac du Bonnet, north east of Winnipeg, Manitoba. A ferry permit was issued for the aircraft for a flight from St. Paul, Minnesota to Lac du Bonnet, with marks C-GQOX provisionally allocated. The Otter was inspected by Transport Canada at Lac du Bonnet on 9th April 1979. It was described as being “scruffy, but basically sound” and having total airframe hours of 5,957, which meant it had only flown 35 hours since receiving its C. of A. more than a year earlier.

The Otter was registered C-GQOX to Lac du Bonnet Air Park Ltd., on 30th August 1979, having been overhauled and painted in their colours, and entered service with them. It supported fly-in fishing camps for the remainder of the summer, and was used on mining and exploration charters that winter. Sadly, its period of operation was brief, as on 7th February 1980 the roof of the hangar in which it was parked at Lac du Bonnet collapsed due to an accumulation of snow. Also parked in the hangar at the same time were Cessna 337 CF-NRI and Piper Aztec CF-CXX, all of which were destroyed. The Otter was inspected on 11th February 1980 and found to be in bad shape, with the fuselage broken in three places, the right wing broken off and timber sticking through the left wing.

Otter C-GQOX was not an economic proposition to repair and was declared a write-off. It was trucked to Calgary where it was parted out by Kimba Air Services, who were preparing Otter C-GMDG (302) as a replacement for Air Park Aviation Ltd.

Full history up to 2005 courtesy of Karl E Hayes © from DHC-3 Otter - A History (CD-ROM 2005)