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This is the official Blog for WINGS ACROSS THE CHANNEL.  Part One is available now.  Part Two is scheduled to be released on July 4th, 2010.

CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE AN EMAIL EVERY TIME THIS BLOG IS UPDATED!

Dolphin NC14204
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO NC14204?
Mar 13, 2010

This is the third part of a four-part series on the four Catalina Air Transport planes that were appropriated by the U.S. Army early in World War II.

Today's "victim" was Douglas Dolphin NC14204, the flagship of the early Wilmington-Catalina Airline fleet. This was Chief Pilot Walter Seiler's favorite and was the most photographed of the airline's Dolphins.  Roughly 9 out of 10 publicity photographs of the airline you will see feature NC14204 as the subject.

On September 1, 1942, Seiler ferried NC14204 to Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank where she was officially handed over to the Army.

On April 18, 1943, she was shipped from the U.S. to Australia where she spent a month with the Royal Australian Air Force's 1 SFTS (Service Flight Training School) and then sent to 1 OTU (Operational Training Unit).

On July 29, 1943, less than a year after leaving Catalina Island, the pride of the Wilmington-Catalina fleet crashed at Rose Bay, New South Wales. From there she was "converted to components".

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The Mighty Mother Goose
MORE HISTORY TREASURES
Mar 11, 2010

Roger Meadows, who is a member of this list, provided me today with a scrapbook he has kept of Catalina's seaplane history, with an emphasis on Avalon Air Transport. Dick Probert's AAT was the airline that eventually purchased and operated the famed "Mother Goose"--one of the only three Sikorsky VS-44s ever built.

There is a wealth of information in this scrapbook, including personal accounts by Probert of AAT's early years and the problems he faced in setting up his airline.

Roger also gave me a VHS tape narrated by Probert featuring an hour's worth of color 16mm film footage of the 14-odd years the airline was in business, including extensive footage of the VS-44 in flight.

Next month, I will be travelling to Northern California to interview Dick's widow, Nancy, who is in possession of the original 16mm films (she shot most of the footage herself).  Chuck Liddell has graciously agreed to fund the conversion of this footage to High Definition video for WINGS Part 2.

I'll also be travelling to Chico, CA, to visit my family and to Roseburg, OR, to interview David Johnston, former employee of Dick Probert and author of The Knights of Avalon.

 

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Wave at the Camera!
CATALINA 1947+
Mar 5, 2010

Last month I posted about two "mystery" reels of film donated to the Catalina Island Museum. I finally got a chance to look at them with Jeannine Pedersen, the Museum's curator, on an old Island Company 16mm projector in the Projection Room of the Casino where I work.

While there wasn't as much aviation-oriented footage as I had hoped, there was at least one bathing beauty (pictured). Anyone recognize her?

CLICK HERE for a short (1 minute plus) video clip I made from the film that was simply labeled "Catalina 1947 & 1948". There is a great shot of a United DC-3 Mainliner at the end (Is that Leo Lambert flying?), but the only other airplane shots are a group of fighter planes that appear about halfway through.

Who can be first to identify the fighter planes???? Or for that matter, who can identify any of the people in this?

(NOTE: This may take awhile to load. Hit the "pause" button when it starts loading and grab a cup of coffee or something)

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Yank's Dandy Goose
WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE GOOSE...
Feb 18, 2010

In my last posting (before I was waylaid for a week with the flu) I promised a little treat for Grumman Goose fans and here it is:  In my visit to Yank's Air Museum in Chino, I got a chance to see a recently-purchased example of this species of amphibian as first related to me by Mike Sheehan.

According to Yank's Operations Manager Frank Wright, the Goose was purchased about three months ago and plans are still up in the air as to how it will be best utilized by Yank's. For those of you who haven't been to Yank's, it is a beautiful, immaculate museum with lots of room for their many planes.  I have spent a great deal of time over the years working for non-profits/museums, including the S.S. Lane Victory and the Catalina Island Museum, so I know a fine museum when I see one.

Frank told me the livery/paint scheme has not yet been decided upon and I've been toying with the idea of starting a little campaign to get this Goose painted up in Avalon Air Transport or Catalina Air Lines colors.  Anyone care to climb onboard this campaign?

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Tower of Hope
MORE AIR-FIELD TRIP
Feb 8, 2010

My field trip to the mainland last week was primarily for distributing WINGS Part 1 to airport retail shops, museum gift shops and other places.  This was the first major push that I've made to sell the film off the Island and it went very well.

Click on the classic tower at the Bob Hope Airport (formerly Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport, Burbank-Hollywood Airport, Lockheed Air Terminal, and several other names prior to that!). You'll find a brief series of photos of more warbirds from the Planes of Fame air museum in Chino.

My next post in a day or two will involve a special treat for Grumman Goose enthusiasts and a project in the works regarding same...

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The Warhawk
AIR-FIELD TRIP
Feb 6, 2010

It's been a few days since my last post, mostly because I've been on a field trip to the mainland, or "overtown" as we call it on the Island. I haven't posted because I've managed to stay in hotels with internet problems and am currently stuck in Long Beach because of boat cancellations due to weather.

In the coming days, I'll post some more blogs about my trip and why I came over.

In the meantime, enjoy these photos I took while at the awesome Planes of Fame air museum in Chino, CA.  (NOTE:  Click on the P-40 to access four of the photos I took at the museum.  I'll have more photos in the coming days).

 

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Bikini gets flashed
UNITED AIRLINES AND THE A-BOMB
Jan 30, 2010

The day that the very first United Air Lines DC-3 flew to Catalina Island happened to be the same day that the U.S. military made the first post-war atomic bomb test at Bikini Atoll.

On July 1, 1946, UAL Captain Donald McBain flew an excited group of reporters and airline personnel to the Catalina Airport in the Island's interior to inaugurate service to the Island.

Despite the previous detonation of three atomic bombs, including those dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the world was terrified that the Bikini test would do anything from destroy the earth's gravitational field to crack a hole in the earth's crust through which the world's oceans would drain.

A Catalina-destroying tidal wave was believed to be in the realm of possibility and newspaper accounts of the flight could not help but touch on the subject: "Imagine taking off to find no island," wrote one reporter. "That would bother the hell out of the pilot and co-pilot."

The same reporter quipped, "It occurred to all the passngers that something ought to be done to protect Catalina from A-Bomb damage. Buffalo, goats and beautiful women in bathing suits make an esoteric combination. It would be very sad if this thing no longer existed."

(Little did that reporter know that within a few years the descendants of those "bathing suits" would be named after the very atoll that was about to be nuked.)

 

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Glenn Martin above Catalina
AIR SHOW ON CATALINA?
Jan 26, 2010

Had a conference call meeting this afternoon with individuals interested in possibly putting on an Air Show and Fly-In on Catalina in the near future.  I can't divulge too much right now, but it could turn into an annual event.

The idea is basically to put on an Air Show over Avalon Bay for the whole town to see, followed up by a Fly-In at Catalina's Airport-in-the-Sky.

The initial events would be a lead-up to a bigger event in May of 2012 for the 100th anniversary of Glenn Martin's flight to the Island (pictured).

For those of you who haven't seen WINGS PART 1, Glenn Martin's historic flight--the first flight to the Island--is covered extensively in the early part of the film.

I will keep you all posted.

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Hidden Treasures Unearthed
MORE FILM DISCOVERIES
Jan 23, 2010

While visiting Curator Jeannine Pedersen at the Catalina Island Museum last Thursday, I discovered two reels of 16mm footage in her office.

One of them, donated by Chuck Liddell, is evidently a short Rotary or Lion's Club "travellogue" that was filmed in Avalon in 1947 and 1948. I am hoping against hope that there will be some seaplane footage in there. If there is, it would be either Amphibian Air Transport or, possibly, California Maritime Airlines with their PBY Catalinas.

There will almost certainly be some rare footage of the United "Mainliner" up at the airport in there.

The other reel is simply labeled "Catalina, New Year's, 1939" and I can't wait to see what's in there!

Sometime within the next couple of weeks, I will get a chance to view these films (Jeannine has not even seen them yet) and when I find out what's on them, you'll be the first to know.

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PREVIOUS ENTRIES
Jan 21, 2010

To view previous entries for this blog, click here.

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