On Tuesday May 9, 1967 the arrival in Guyana of a 19 seater DHC-6 Twin Otter turbo-prop aircraft, 8R-GCP, a gift from the Government of Canada, signaled a new era of aviation for Guyana Airways Corporation.
The De Havilland manufactured aircraft, the most modern in the fleet, left Canada on Sunday May 7, 1967 with stops in Detroit, Tallahasse, Miami, Nassau, Puerto Rico and Trinidad. The aircraft was flown by Captain Roland DaSilva and Co-pilot Anthony Man-Son-Hing and accompanied by a De Havilland Aircraft Company technical representative Mr. Robert J. Griffin who was deployed to Guyana for three months to train local Guyanese engineers. Captain DaSilva and Co-pilot Man-Son-Hing were in Canada for type rated training two weeks prior to the aircraft's departure for Guyana.
The aircraft was part of an aid program from CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) that consisted of two DHC-6s Twin Otters, two DHC-4 Caribou, and the engineering hangar at Atkinson Field (Timheri). The Twin Otter, because of its Short Take Off and Landing (STOL) capabilities was expected to enhance GAC's operations at Mackenzie (Linden), Rose Hall, Skeldon, Bartica and other outlying areas.