How the Canso FNJE got to Fairview, AB (Edmonton Journal/Calgary Herald)

At first glance, the assignment must have seemed like something out of a Mission Impossible movie, but one even Tom Cruise would refuse to take on: Trek into the wilderness north of the Arctic Circle, retrieve a broken plane marooned on the edge of a remote, frozen lake, and find a way to drag it out of the bush some 2,500 kilometres back to civilization.

Oh, and do it in early spring when temperatures are still hovering around -40 C.

Sound like a fool's errand?

Not to Don Wieben, a vintage airplane enthusiast who has restored a number of older aircraft and flown them around Canada.

For this project, his prize was an abandoned Canso -- an amphibious plane built during the Second World War to hunt submarines and protect convoys crossing the Atlantic. Just a handful of the aircraft remain in the skies today, which is why Wieben, a farmer from Fairview, Alta., decided to recruit a group of relatives, friends and neighbours for an elaborate rescue mission.

"The idea was to salvage a significant part of Canadian history," Wieben says. "The Canso served a pretty important role during the war, rescuing sailors and airmen, patrolling for submarines. The Spitfire and the bombers got all the glory, but the Canso quietly went about its job."

Wieben's immersion in aviation started in childhood while he was growing up in northern Ontario. His father worked as an instructor for the Royal Canadian Air Force, served as a test pilot, then started his own airline in Thunder Bay, transporting cargo to northern aboriginal communities.

Wieben caught the piloting bug early, completing his first solo flight when he was 14.

As a young man he started working for his father's company, hauling freight in the summers when he was off from school.

It was during these trips that he met his wife Marg in Sioux Lookout, Ont.

"I grew up with airplanes like people on the Prairies grow up around tractors," he says.

As much as he enjoyed his job, however, the one downside was that it took him away from home too often.

With four small children to look after, he decided he needed a more grounded lifestyle and the family moved to northern Alberta in 1972 to try farming.

While the farm succeeded, tilling the soil and tending grain did little to curb Wieben's passion for flying.

Instead of his job, it became his hobby. Each year after the harvest was complete, the family would buy a dilapidated plane and work on it through the winter to restore it to flying condition.

Over the years, the list of aircraft included a number of Super Cubs, a Cessna 185 and an old Beech 18.

Wieben still owns three of the planes, frequently flying them from a small landing strip on the farm.

All of these projects, however, paled in comparison with the Canso.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/SALVAGING+HISTORY/2593025/story.html#ixzz0lw2ROM8V