page_title: Eldorado Radium Silver Express
hierarchical_section_title: Eldorado Radium Silver Express
caption_attribution_description: English: The Eldorado Radium Silver Express aircraft — a Bellanca Aircruiser that served from 1935 to 1947, in the Northwest Territories and Ontario, Canada. Flew 4,000 miles, carrying a 4,000 lb. payload of uranium oxide concentrates from the Port Radium uranium oxide mine (NWT) to a radium refinery in Port Hope (Ontario). It was owned by Eldorado Gold Mines Limited. It crashed in northern Ontario after running out of fuel in 1947. Link: Western Canada Aviation Museum: Eldorado Radium Silver Express.
context_page_description: The Eldorado Radium Silver Express was the name of a semi-regular air service between Edmonton, Alberta and Port Radium, Northwest Territories, or between Port Radium and a refinery at Port Hope, Ontario.
  A single airplane, a Bellanca Aircruiser, a small bush plane, provided this service, from 1935 to 1947.
  During the late 1930s Port Radium was one of the few sources of radium.
  During World War II, the mine was the main source for the uranium used by the atomic bomb program.
  Other than the air charter, goods and personnel could only be conveyed to and from the northernmost terminus of the North American railway grid, at Waterways, Alberta, was by water, a 1,450 miles trip that took weeks. The rivers are frozen almost eight months of the year, closing down the initial leg of the trip.
  The plane crashed in northern Ontario in 1947.
  The Western Canada Aviation Museum is trying to restore the aircraft.
  Eldorado Aviation continued to operate for several more years and was still listed in the federal Financial Administration Act as a Crown corporation in the 1970s.
context_section_description: The Eldorado Radium Silver Express (alternately Radium Express) was the name of a semi-regular air service between Edmonton, Alberta and Port Radium, Northwest Territories, or between Port Radium and a refinery at Port Hope, Ontario.
  A single airplane, a Bellanca Aircruiser, a small bush plane, provided this service, from 1935 to 1947.
  During the late 1930s Port Radium was one of the few sources of radium.
  During World War II, the mine was the main source for the uranium used by the atomic bomb program.
  Other than the air charter, goods and personnel could only be conveyed to and from the northernmost terminus of the North American railway grid, at Waterways, Alberta, was by water, a 1,450 miles (2,330 km) trip that took weeks.  The rivers are frozen almost eight months of the year, closing down the initial leg of the trip.
  The plane crashed in northern Ontario in 1947.
  The  Western Canada Aviation Museum is trying to restore the aircraft.
  Eldorado Aviation continued to operate for several more years and was still listed in the federal Financial Administration Act as a Crown corporation in the 1970s.
caption: Eldorado Radium Silver Express.
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