125+ web files in a constantly
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By Keith Archibald Forbes (see About Us) exclusively for Bermuda Online
To refer to this webfile, please use "bermuda-online.org/aviation.htm" as your Subject.
In 1936, long before Keith was born, his father pioneered the radio direction finding system that was instrumental in commercial airlines flying into Bermuda and Keith's interest in Bermudiana began accordingly. His other files on Bermuda relating to aviation include Airlines serving Bermuda - Bermuda International Airport - US Military Bases in Bermuda from 1941 to 1995.
Welcome to this special file on how these islands got their first aircraft, the men behind the initiatives, others who are etched permanently in Bermuda history, how Bermuda established several enduring claims to fame - and more.
Book to note: "The Flying Boats of Bermuda". Pomeroy, Colin. E-mail at CPomeroy@aol.com. Written by a retired Squadron Leader of the Royal Air Force once based here, about a fascinating period in Bermuda history, mostly from 1937 to 1948. 254 pages.
1919. May 22. First
aircraft seen in Bermuda. 
Burgess N-9H Jenny. A-2646.
It was flown over the City of Hamilton Harbor by
United States Navy Ensigns G. L. Richard and W. H. Cushing. With registration number A2646,
it was powered by a Wright-Hispano 150
horsepower engine. It was a naval scout hydro-airplane that normally traveled on
the deck of her mother ship the USS Elinore. The aircraft had a gross weight
of 2765 pounds and a top speed of 80 miles per hour. The 8725 ton cargo vessel
was launched in 1917 as the General de Castelnau and was transferred from the US
Shipping Board to the US Navy for war service. After the war, she had dumped gas
drums and mustard gas shells in deep waters off Virginia. In 1919, she was
in the town of St. George in Bermuda after a scientific research voyage south of
Bermuda, sheltering from bad weather. The sole
passenger on the airplane was Governor General Sir James Willcocks. He dropped
from the open cockpit the first "Air Letter" posted in Bermuda.
1919. Bermuda and West Atlantic Aviation Company
formed.
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The achievement on June 15, 1919 of the first transatlantic flight in a Vickers Vimy bomber, by Captain John Alcock, Royal Air Force, and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten-Brown, Royal Flying Corps, who took off from St. John's, Newfoundland and landed at Clifton, Ireland in 16 hours and 12 minutes, gave fresh impetus to aviation in Bermuda. Major Henry "Hal" Kitchener of the Royal Flying Corps - a nephew of Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum and son of a former Governor, returned to Bermuda. As a war hero, he teamed up with Major Hemming of the AFC, also an aviator during the Great War. |
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They brought to Bermuda several aircraft most islanders had never seen before. They were three Avro 504K sea planes, two 2-seat Standard planes, a three seat model and three four seat Supermarine Channel Mark 1 flying boats. The two men wanted to make Bermuda a base for aeronautic surveys of Newfoundland in Canada and in Central and South America. Among their exclusive rights was one to spot whales from the air, to create a revival of Bermuda's once-dominant whaling industry. They selected Hinson's Island, which Major Kitchener owned after 1920, as their base and built two wood framed hangers there. They also built a slipway to serve both hangers. The slipway had rails to move the aircraft to and from the water. But their plans were ahead of their time. Their aircraft (right) were distinctive sights above the skies of Bermuda. |
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They were fuelled by the Esso Company's West India Oil Company's wagons that put their cargoes of fuel on boats to make the crossing across Hamilton Harbor to the aircraft's' terminal on Hinson's Island. The aviation company did not survive for long. However, in its heyday it was the way many Bermudians got their first flight in an airplane - and it provided the talk of the town for many weeks. Bermudians had to wait 17 more years before they could fly to another jurisdiction |
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1920.
April. Three Supermarine Channel 3-passenger flying boats arrived in BermudaThey were G-EAFF, G-EAEG and G-EAEJ. They arrived by ship and joined the Avro aircraft of Bermuda and West Atlantic Aviation for sightseeing tours of Bermuda. The "Short" flight was for 10 minutes to Gibb's Hill Lighthouse then back to Hinson's Island; the "Middle Tour" was for 20 minutes, over Spanish Point, North Shore. South Shore; the "Grand" Tour over most of Bermuda; and "Special Charter" included stops. One of the latter was for the actress Pearl White.
1925.
February 20. Airship
"Los Angeles" visits Bermuda.
After a
safe flight across the Bermuda Triangle from the USA, the famous United States Navy
dirigible airship the ZR-3 Los Angeles (ex LZ126) which had earlier made a unique appearance over
Washington, DC during the Presidential inauguration of President Herbert Hoover, made
history in Bermuda. She brought the very first delivery of
official "Airmail" (200 lbs or 90 kilos) which it dropped from the sky, in three
mailbags containing 2,341 items, close to
the home of Bermuda's Colonial Postmaster. The
Los Angeles was only a year old then. She was built in Germany in 1924 by the Zeppelin
factory as part of that country's war reparations to the United States. Her two later sister-ships the
"Graf Zeppelin" and "Hindenburg" were destined to make history of
their own across the Atlantic and over Bermuda before the next decade finished.
On board, guests included Rear Admiral William A. Moffat, USN and Secretary of
the Navy , Theodore Robinson. As there was no suitable site for an airship
docking facility in Bermuda, the airship tender USS Patoka, with a mooring tower
on its stern, sailed to Bermuda. Storms prevented the docking of the airship.
1925. April 21-34. Second
visit of airship "Los Angeles."On this occasion, the docking in Bermuda with the USS Patoka was successful and mail was delivered and collected for New York.
1928.
October 15. "Graff Zeppelin" LZ-127 flew over BermudaShe was flying from Friedrichshafen to Lakehurst, New Jersey, on her first transatlantic flight, having made her maiden flight less than a month earlier. Her visit was unexpected, due to a squall to the west of Bermuda. She did not stop, but she dropped some mail after a tear in the fabric of her top fin was repaired.
1928.
October. "Flying-Fish"
failed attempt. Lost.
Captain W. N. Lancaster attempted to fly from Long Island, USA, to Bermuda in the Ireland class seaplane of this name, as part of an attempt on the London to Cape Town speed record for the Putnam Expedition. He was accompanied by Lieutenant H. W. Lyon and sponsor G. P. Putnam. He was not successful. The team tried again, this time from Hampton Roads, Virginia, again with no luck. Unconfirmed reports said the plane sank 185 miles from Bermuda.
1929.
May 21. Channel. G-EAEJ. Aircraft of the Bermuda and
Western Atlantic Aviation Company. Lost.
1930.
April 1. "Pilot
Radio" aircraft saga thrills Bermuda.
On
April 1, 1930, three Americans began their own version of the Great American Dream - and
caused a great Bermuda one. Captain Lewis Alonzo Yancey, William H. Alexander and Zeh
Bouck were determined to carve out their own unique niche in aviation history by being the
first to make the then-hazardous journey by air from the North American mainland.
Their plane was a customized Stinson SM-1FS "Detroiter" monoplane mounted on a pair of EDO floats, powered by a single 300 horsepower Wright Whirlwind motor, completely without navigational aids except a compass and a single US Navy survey map. The plane had a top speed of 118 miles per hour, a cruising speed of 100 miles an hour and a standard cruising range of 550 miles which left no margin of error.
With Yancey navigating, Alexander piloting and Bouck operating his primitive, portable on-board radio equipment, the trio of intrepid aviators launched themselves and their flying machine, which they named Pilot Radio, into the skies above New York State and headed east, hoping to make a non-stop flight to Bermuda and a pinpoint landing in Bermuda - an impossible ambition with their lack of radio-direction-finding equipment and the fact that such RDF equipment capable of sending a guiding beam to an aircraft in flight was not to be introduced into Bermuda until six years later.
Nevertheless, clad in their heavy leather flying suits and goggles, they gunned their frail craft over the Atlantic - and prayed that their fates would indeed lead them to Bermuda and into fame and fortune. They were lucky. When night embraced the Atlantic ocean and sky in a curtain so thickly black that they could not even see the stars to use basic celestial navigational principles they were lost, their map and compass useless. They were also out of fuel. Their aircraft had consumed more than had been estimated, as its propeller had bitten into the winds and salt spray of the Atlantic air-currents.
They had no option but to land on water, to wait out the long hours of dark. Somehow, their plane floated, instead of sinking. Their hopes had not been entirely dashed. They knew they were somewhere in the vicinity of Bermuda. With the wireless equipment provided by the radio magazine that had sponsored them, which resulted in the plane being named Pilot Radio, they sent their call-sign '2XBQ' repeatedly into the night ether.
Little did Yancy, Alexander and Bouck know at the time that they were not the only ones to incur a sleepless, worried night. In Bermuda, the staff at the St. George's Cable & Wireless Station had also been up all night, transmitting on the 600 meters wavelength, trying to contact the plane. In the very early half-light hours of April 2, the by then very weak '2XBQ' signal transmitted from the plane on batteries that had nearly run down, was heard by Wireless Station operators in Bermuda. Using their more powerful set, they gave Morse-code directions to the downed aviators. They also put out a call to the West India Oil Company at St. George's, which supplied a boat and crew to take out and pump a fresh supply of fuel for the aircraft of the intrepid aviators. And it was from the Wireless Station that the authorities and general public of Bermuda were first informed of a drama at sea, with Captain Yancey and his crew having announced their incredible intention of trying to take off again from the Atlantic, to resume their epoch-making flight to Bermuda. Their dream of making the first-ever direct flight from North America to Bermuda was still intact, even if it had been dented a little with a nightfall touchdown on the Atlantic Ocean surface.
Later that day, Yancey, Alexander and Bouck successfully took off from the ocean and sighted Bermuda. They made a triumphant landing at 10 am in Hamilton Harbor. When they set foot on dry land, they were mobbed by ecstatic Bermudians - and hailed as trailblazers. Among the greeters was a Miss Kathleen Jones who presented Easter lilies to the crew of the plane. In the celebrations that followed, which included several fly-pasts of "Pilot Radio" around Bermuda, they were presented with $1,000 apiece ($1,500 from the Trade Development Board, $1,000 from the Hotel Men's Association and $500 from the Bermuda Poll Committee).
Bermudians saw in that unique flight a vision of things to come - of aircraft that would one day leave the USA loaded with US tourists, bound for a holiday in our beautiful Islands. But Captain Yancey and his crew uttered words of caution to temper the jubilation. He prophesied that regular service by airplane would commence to Bermuda only when aircraft and Bermuda were equipped with proper RDF equipment to aid pilots and navigators. He also decided that it would tempt fate too much to attempt to fly back to the US mainland from Bermuda in Pilot Radio. So he, Alexander and Bouck dismantled and crated it for departure on the MS Bermuda - and left on that ship, for a slower but safer voyage by sea back to their homeland. However, they did leave one part of their historic aircraft behind them. They presented the Bermuda Historical Society with its gyro compass. Unfortunately, no one knows what happened to the historic instrument. Searches have found that it is no longer in the Society's hands. It may have been misplaced or stolen years ago.
1931. Flight to/from Bermuda
of seaplane "Tradewind."
Lost
It began well but ended in tragedy. With Mrs. Beryl Hart and Lieutenant William S. McLaren of the US Naval Reserve aboard, the white painted Bellanca CH300 high wing seaplane landed safely in Bermuda from Hampton Roads on January 7, on the first leg of a journey across the Atlantic, on the second attempt. Both wanted to show the commercial possibility of the route. But after three days in Bermuda, the plane took off to the Azores and then disappeared into a huge black cloud. The occupants were never heard from again.
1931. August 31. "Pusher." Silver Wings
Lost.
Pilot C. Nelmes of Bermuda was killed when his aircraft a Curtiss HS-2L aircraft,
of World War 1 vintage, of the type once used by the
United States Navy and Canadian authorities but later deemed by the former to be
too dangerous to fly after 1928, crashed at Grassy Bay off HM Dockyard when
over-flying a ship. There were two survivors. This flying boat made
its debut as a warplane by patrolling against enemy submarines. The manufacturer
was Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Co. Inc. of Hammondsport and Buffalo, NY, and
the patrol flying boat was built under license by Galaudett Flying Boat Company,
College Point, Long Island, NY. Its wingspan was just over 74 feet; height 14'
7"; length 38' 6"; top speed 91 mph; range 517 miles; empty weight
4,700 lbs; gross weight 6,432 lbs; fuel capacity was 141 gallons; crew were
three people; service ceiling was 5,000 feet; engine was a Liberty 12 at 350 HP
and the sea level climb was 220 feet per minute.
The United States Navy flew them on anti-submarine duty off the East Coast from bases in Nova Scotia. When WW1 was over, they donated twelve of the planes to Canada. In 1919, the first HS-2Ls went into Canadian civil use in Québec forestry work, remaining the predominant bush aircraft until 1926 or 1927. It was to mark the dawn of the Canadian bush pilot tradition. The Ontario Provincial Air Service (OPAS) was formed by the Government of Ontario in 1924 to protect the province's vast forests. At the time it was one of the largest airborne forest services in the world. They constructed a hangar at the edge of the St Mary's River in Sault Ste. Marie to house their fleet of surplus Curtiss HS-2L's. Using aerial detection of forest fires, aerial transportation of fire crews and equipment, map making, aerial photography, and forest inventory, they ushered in a new era of ecological maintenance -- in their first year of operation alone, 600 forest fires were spotted. The wooden hull of the flying boat presented a few disadvantages. It could be damaged by rocks or dead trees, and had a tendency to get waterlogged after the long weeks and even months it spent in water. This increased the weight of the craft and caused performance to become sluggish. The aircraft needed to land in a fairly large lake to be able to take off again. It often required a mile to take off and climbed so slowly that it needed a lake or sea surface of 3 to 5 miles in length to achieve sufficient height to clear trees and hills. Its average speed was about 65 miles per hour (105 km/hr). The H-boat, as it was known, had an ambiguous safety record - it could land in rough water, but if it stalled and went into a spin, it was impossible to pull it out again. The U.S. Navy branded it as too dangerous for violent maneuvers, and afterward there were few accidents - as one USN officer said: "All the good HS-2L pilots were killed off by 1923, and therefore there were no more accidents."
It is believed that Nelmes of Bermuda bought his Curtiss HS-2L in Canada, from OPAS.
1932.
July. USS Akron, ZRS-4, flew from Lakehurst to BermudaShe was searching for the missing yacht Curlew. It was not a success but a valuable operational exercise.
1933. British military
seaplanes were based in BermudaA hanger was constructed at the Royal Navy Dockyard in Sandys Parish and the small RAF Bermuda station began. Although controlled by the Royal Navy, the base was manned entirely by Royal Air Force personnel. But all British aircraft were all part of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). They included a number of Hawker Osprey, Fairey Seafox and Supermarine Walrus seaplanes, catapult-launched from warships.
1934.
May. Darrell's Island
seaplane port conceived in Bermuda
A direct result of Juan Trippe's
initiatives in creating Pan American World Airways, Darrell's
Island in Bermuda's Great Sound, once an internment camp for Boer War prisoners, was
selected as Bermuda's first seaplane airport. His
Pan American World Airways was ready to chart new Atlantic routes. He wanted the New York
to Bermuda and a Bermuda to Europe run, via the Azores. But he had problems acquiring
landing rights in the Azores and in Newfoundland, to link to his proposed Bermuda service.
Nor could he resolve the problem of
navigating over the Atlantic without radio direction finding. Frustrated, he turned to the
Far East, where there was less bureaucracy over landing rights, an easier navigational
system of staging posts - and the lure of Hawaii, Pacific islands and Philippines, on the
route to China. Juan Trippe had seen for himself, in
visits by sea to Bermuda, how the British Furness Withy organization, to attract tourists
on its New York to Bermuda ships, had built new hotels in Bermuda. He borrowed the idea
for the Pacific and began construction of a chain of Bermuda style hotels for his many Pan
American staging posts on the China Clipper route. Thus he started some unique tourism
history of his own that Bermuda was later to copy (local records claim,
inaccurately, that Bermuda was the forerunner of tourism).
His flying boats scored outstanding successes because of their ability to fly long distances or to carry large payloads over short distances, and because the cost of constructing terminal facilities was appreciably lower than on land. Also, they had a better chance of surviving a forced landing on water. So they flourished at a time when, by and large, land based aircraft were not available with comparable payload and range performance. No commercial airline today would operate a four engine aircraft without stopping, across the Atlantic or Pacific with a payload of only 20 passengers, but Pan American World Airways did so very successfully then.
1935. British
Government pushed to compete with Trippe
In 1935 in Ottawa,
Canada, British civil aviation interests matched Trippe's initiatives. United Kingdom and
other major British Empire nations wanted air services to connect the Empire for joint
defence and better trade relations. They authorized service between Canada and Britain, a
Canadian transcontinental system, New York to Bermuda and further trans Atlantic flights
by British and American aircraft. It was the dawn of a new era for Bermuda.
From the meeting in Ottawa came the
plans that made possible the firm idea of the creation of regular flying boat flights
between New York and Bermuda and points east by Imperial Airways and Pan American World
Airways - and the establishment of Trans Canada Air Lines, later Air Canada.
The intention was to create for the passenger traffic and mail conveyancing of the British Empire a carbon copy of what had occurred in the United States. There, a network of small domestic air companies had been knitted together to form a sophisticated air transport system. It included Western Air Lines, United Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines and Northwest Air Lines.
The American air industry had commenced development of a fleet of new land airplanes, such as the Boeing 247 transport in 1933, the Douglas DC-1 and DC-2 and the first DC-3s. American carriers with their new planes were capable of snatching the bulk of traffic away from British interests, unless the British aircraft industry became aggressive.
The problem was particularly acute in Canada, where tentacles of American carriers had penetrated significantly into Canadian cities close to the American border; and elsewhere, given the domination that Juan Trippe's Pan American World Airways had established with its overseas and over-water routes with Sikorksy flying boats.
Imperial Airways needed aircraft of similar caliber, not only to fly the Atlantic but also to meet its obligations in India and Australia imposed on it by the Imperial Government's Empire Air Mail scheme. With the huge bulk of mail this involved, Imperial Airways invited tenders from prominent aircraft manufacturers in Britain. Only one responded - Short Brothers - with the proposal for its Short Empire 'C' class flying boat. With no other options to pursue, Imperial accepted. Seldom in the history of commercial aviation was such a gamble taken on an untried and untested aircraft. Never in the field of human history since has such a gamble paid such handsome dividends. There was no time for normal extensive prototype development of the type that commercial aviation today requires and regulatory agencies demand. Forty-two Short Empire 'C' class British flying boats began coming off the production lines, at the rate of two a month - and were put into immediate service by Imperial Airways to India and Australia.
1936.
April 24. A. W.
Forbes pioneered Radio
Direction finding for commercial aircraft in Bermuda.
On
April 24, 1936 the late Bill Forbes (who died when he was nearly 97 on August
31, 1996) first arrived in Bermuda by
ship from Britain. He led a team of specialists who began to pioneer in Bermuda for the Imperial
Government a superior system and station for Air to Ground radio-direction finding for
ships.
In 1937, he led the team in both Air to Ground and Ship-to-Shore point-to point radio direction finding and telegraph services for aircraft. When, on May 6, 1936 the German Zeppelin Transport Company began its Hindenburg air ship from Berlin, Bermuda's Cable and Wireless station, including Mr. Forbes, had day and night activity. Via radio telephone, its 36 staff guided aircraft, dirigibles and ships across the Atlantic. This was done with bearings, messages, weather conditions and more.
They worked shifts around the clock, in a constant atmosphere of clicking machines, hum and distinctive odor of electrical equipment, signal buzzes and voices calling from the air and sea via loudspeakers. They handled often chronic daily emergencies at sea or in the air near or far beyond Bermuda. They had to breakfast, lunch or dine on eggs, bacon and toast cooked up on a hot plate at work for many days at a time, with makeshift meals interrupted by emergencies.
1936.
September 1. German aircraft in Bermuda
Photographed by the late Bill Forbes in Bermuda, copyright by his son, this author
The most famous of
the aircraft shown below of the Ha
139 was the Nordwind - shown here - in Deutsche Luft Hansa livery of about
1938. When Luft Hansa -
Lufthansa - founded in 1926 began in services from Germany to Brazil in 1936, it used five
models of the Dornier Do 18. They were improvements on the
Dornier Wal (Whale) flying boats. Lufthansa stationed the depot ship Shabenland (a
converted cargo ship) west of the Azores. The aircraft landed alongside and were then
winched up or down for fuel or repair, or caterpult take-off from the ship. On September 11, 1936 the
aircraft began arriving in Bermuda, complete with their Nazi insignia. The first arrival
was Captain Baron F. W. von Buddenbrock. There were four more visits to Bermuda by various German float
planes including several by the Ha 139 made by Boem und Voss of both aircraft and
battleship fame. They flew into Bermuda to get more fuel. They landed in Hamilton Harbor. Engines were four
600 hp Junkers Jumo
205C 12-cylinder diesels. Span was 88 feet 7 inches (27m). Length was 63 feet 11.75
inches (19.5 meters). Wing area was 1,259.38 square feet (117 square
meters). Catapult take off weights were 38,581 pounds (17,500 kilograms).
Maximum speed
was 196 miles per hour (315 kilometers per hour) at sea level. Operational ceiling was
11,480 feet (3,500 meters). Maximum range was 3,395 miles (5,300 kilometers).
They were photographed by Bill Forbes in Bermuda and possibly others too.
They continued until the war of 1939 to 1945).
1936 French aircraft in
Bermuda on survey flights from Paris to New York
Air France - Transatlantique's Latecoere 521 F-NORD "Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris" made 2 visits to Bermuda when flying from Paris on surveys. Here, she is seen at the brand-new Bermuda airport on Darrell's Island.
1937.
January 5. Bill Forbes Ship to-Shore radio direction finding initiatives supplement Air to
GroundOn that day, Bill Forbes boarded the Royal Navy warship HMS Dragon at HM Dockyard in Bermuda. She left port next day to circumnavigate Bermuda completely, for a very special purpose. As a radio direction finding engineer, Forbes's task for the Imperial Government was to calculate and log radio direction finding calibrations by sea for ships and aircraft approaching Bermuda, having already done so by land radio direction finding. This very successful special project removed from Bermuda all remaining navigational obstacles for ships and flying boats at sea to find Bermuda and safely navigate its dangerous and extensive ring of outer coral reefs. From February 20, Forbes and his team followed this up by beginning and finishing their design, at Bermuda's highest point, The Peak in Smith's Parish, of what became the Eagle's Nest - the world's first Adcock short wave radio direction finding station, specifically for pilots and navigators of Imperial Airways and Pan American World Airways flying boats and other aircraft to home in to the signal. It was another 'first' for Bermuda in aviation support technology.
These initiatives established the navigational systems that were used in all weather conditions to safely guide ships and flying boats right into Bermuda. They made Bermuda attractive to Imperial Airways and Pan American. They put Bermuda firmly for the first time into mainstream winter and summer tourism for visitors by air from around the globe.
1937.
May 17. Services
to/ from New York by
Imperial Airways (now British Airways) and Pan American World Airways| Thus was the scene set for Imperial
Airways (now British Airways) and Pan American World Airways to establish
their flying boat services between New York and Bermuda.
Bill Forbes and his team readied their radio direction finding equipment, working through the night. On Darrell's Island, a team worked to re-assemble and then check the Imperial Airways' Short Empire C-class RMA Cavalier flying-boat G-ADUU, shipped in parts from England, under the supervision of Imperial's Chief Engineer Len Turnhill, working with Imperial Airways and Bermudian staff. |
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| The next day, the flying boat started its engines, cruised on its pontoons through Hamilton Harbor and soared up into mid Atlantic airspace for its very
first Western Hemisphere flight.
It was a vital test flight to test and calibrate its on board radio equipment and match its signals with those transmitted by Forbes and his team on the Adcock short wave radio direction finding equipment. Then came May 25, 1937. It was a proud day for Bermuda. |
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| The
Imperial Airways' Short Empire C class flying boat RMA Cavalier took off from the
unofficially opened and not quite finished Darrell's Island Marine Air Terminal in the
Great Sound, for New York.
At the same time, the Pan American Airways' Sikorsky S-42, NC 16735, by then renamed by Mrs. Trippe as Bermuda Clipper, also flew from Port Washington, NY to Bermuda. She did a successful reciprocal survey of the route. (Especially noteworthy and quote worthy is the fact that this was two years before Pan Am started its New York to London service.) |
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| RMA Cavalier was commanded by Capt. Neville Cumming, with co-pilot First Officer Neil Richardson, radio engineer Patrick Chapman, and steward Robert Spence. Bermuda Clipper was commanded by Capt. R. O. D. Sullivan. Passengers included Mr. John Barritt of John Barritt & Son Mineral Water Company; Major Neville, a staff officer at Admiralty House; Mr. E. P. T. Tucker, General Manager of John S. Darrell & Co. |  |
| Also aboard were Mr. E. R. Williams of J. E. Lightbourn & Co. (who later became Mayor of Hamilton); Mr. H. B. L. Wilkinson, of Bailey's Bay; Miss Minna Smith, a nurse at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital; Mr. Terry Mowbray, Sports Director of the Bermuda Trade Development Board. Mr. & Mrs. Richard Scott of Boston were there, returning from their honeymoon in Bermuda; and Mr. Eugene Kelly, Mrs. Alice James and Mrs. John Fullarton, all of New York. Later, in support of the two airlines and in anticipation of much more communications traffic, the West India and Panama Telegraph Company Ltd - in conjunction with Britain's Imperial & International Communications - installed an internal teleprinter system between the airlines' offices and the Air to Ground station. | 
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1937.
June 12. The
million dollar terminal building at Bermuda's Darrell's Island Airport was
opened It
was Bermuda's
first seaplane port, on Darrell's Island, before which there was no such
facility at all. Owned by the Bermuda Government, it enabled Bermuda to become known as THE mid Atlantic seaplane and flying boat airport base
and resort. It was the date of the inaugural flights of the Cavalier and Bermuda Clipper. Both flying boats took off from Port Washington, New York. Both landed safely. |
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August 16. Pan Am began its transatlantic proving flightsOn its southerly route, its stops were at Bermuda, Azores, Lisbon, Marseilles and Southampton, England.
1937.
November 17. Imperial Airways and Pan Am transferred their USA terminal from New
York to BaltimoreIt was because New York weather caused problems for flying boats. At Baltimore, 30,000 people welcomed the flying boats "Bermuda Clipper and "Cavalier." Flying time to Bermuda for Bermuda Clipper, with 28 passengers, was 6 hours 25 minutes, with 5 hours 45 minutes for "Cavalier" with 17 passengers.
1938. September 27. Loss of Walrus Mark
1. K8544. 718 Squadron
FAA.
1938. 21 January. Loss of RMA "Cavalier" G-ADUU
of Imperial Airways on Bermuda service.
This Empire S-23 of Imperial Airways had become a firm favorite in Bermuda. Crashed between New York and Bermuda. Three died, ten survived after being rescued by tanker vessel "Esso Baytown." There is a plaque in tribute to the heroes and survivors at the Bermuda Anglican Cathedral.
1939.
March. Pan Am's Boeing 314 NC 19604 began flying to Bermuda
The Boeing 314
"Clipper" initially replaced the S-42 on the PA
160/161 New York service and then to the UK, Far East and Bermuda. See the book Last of the Flying Clippers. The
Boeing 314 Story. M. D. Klass. 2006. With
amenities modeled on those of the great luxury liners of the period, the 12
Boeing-314 Clippers operated by Pan Am and the three diverted to the British Overseas Airlines Corporation
under the Lend-Lease Act remain the most luxurious aircraft ever to take to the skies. The sumptuous
long-range flying boats produced by the Boeing Airplane Company, which used to fly through Bermuda in the 1930s and '40s, are
highlighted here. The lavishly illustrated book includes sections on the
aircraft's extensive use of the Darrell's Island airport in Bermuda. They were
the largest aircraft of their type ever built, with a maximum of 74 passengers
and 10 crew. They used island airports such as the one then in Bermuda as
intermediate stepping stones for ocean-spanning flights across the Atlantic and
Pacific. The aircraft were commissioned from Boeing by Pan Am founder Juan
Trippe – also the developer of Bermuda's Castle Harbour Hotel – specifically
for trans-oceanic flights. PanAm operated nine of the aircraft while three were
purchased by Imperial Airways, forerunner of today's British Airways and also
flew through Bermuda en route to New York and other destinations. The aircraft
were built between 1938 and 1941. 84,000 pounds, four-engined, they were 106
feet long, had a wing span of 152 feet and had a top speed of 199 miles per
hour. They used the massive wings of Boeing's earlier XB-15 bomber prototype to
achieve their enormous range. After World War Two, seaplanes became obsolete because new, long-range
aircraft such as the Lockheed Constellation could cross the Atlantic and Pacific
non-stop.
1939. May-August. Giant French aircraft visit Bermuda.
Also visiting in May, June and August 1939, after a very successful survey flight in 1936; were two giant 43 ton 6-engined Air France Latecoere 521/522.
They were aircraft of Air France-Transatlantique, the early name for Air France.
They were Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris (F-NORD) and Ville de Saint Pierre.
They were easily the largest aircraft ever seen in Bermuda up to that time.
1939.
September. British send RAF to Bermuda, take over Darrell's Island
Airport
With the
outbreak of World War 2 for Britain, more Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy and
Royal Air Force
(RAF) aircraft were based in Bermuda, at both Darrell's Island
and Boaz Island. The anomaly in the command structure referred to
in 1933 was rectified when this part of the Royal Navy Dockyard was transferred
to the FAA and given the name of HMS Malabar. Losses galore of British and bought from USA military aircraft began to occur in and
around Bermuda from 1941 to the end of the war.
RAF at Darrell's Island in WW2
1939.
British construction of brand-new Royal Naval Air Station on Boaz IslandAs part of the preparations for World War 2, the increased workload at HMS Malabar caused problems due to the limited space available. With so many of the locally-based or in-transit Royal Navy warships carrying catapult-launched seaplanes such as the Hawker Osprey, Fairey Seafox and Supermarine Walrus seaplanes, the need for prompt, efficient and spacious aircraft maintenance was a high priority. Thus, the new station was built. It had two good-size hangers and launching ramps on either side of the island and they allowed continuous operation in any wind direction. With the Battle of the Atlantic over, the station was reduced to care and maintenance status in 1944. Some remnants still survive.
1939-45.
Bermudians joined the Royal
Canadian Air Force
They included Norman Sumpter, Harold Dale, Richards (first name unknown), Squires (first name unknown), Arthur (Copper) Jenkins, Charles Nunn, Robert Oatway, Fred (Red) Adderley, David Kopec, Herbert (Chummy) Zuill, Norman Jones, John Hartley Watlington and Hugh Watlington.
1940.
August. Bermudian graduates of Bermuda Flying School left for England on SS Mataroa, bound for the Royal Air Force,
or for Canada with the RCAFThey included
Other Bermudians too joined the RAF, as graduates of the Bermuda Flying School.
Those who went to Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force included
Others, who joined separately included Martin Smith, later a Bermuda barrister, who did not graduate from the Bermuda Flying School but instead joined up while he was in the UK (See Bermuda Mid Ocean News article 25th March 1972).
1940. Construction
began of first Bermuda land airport, part of US bases
A first for Bermuda, part of the construction from scratch of the US Military facilities in Bermuda - mostly US Army and US Army Air Force at St. David's and in St. George's and paid for 100% by American taxpayers. At the same time as simultaneous construction of the US Navy base in Southampton, ships and aircraft of the US Navy began to be based in Bermuda. Losses galore of US military aircraft began to occur in and around Bermuda from then to the end of the war.
1940.
Use in Bermuda by the RAF and US Navy of the Brewster BermudaThe Brewster Bermuda was the name given by the RAF to the Brewster SB2A (below). In the US Navy service, the aircraft was the SB2A "Buccaneer." The Bermuda was not carrier-capable, although it was designed as a dive bomber.
Brewster Bermuda
1940.
October 30. Walrus. L-2267. 733 Squadron. Lost.Sunk in Great Sound when training local defenses.
1941.
May 6. Catalina,
Royal Air Force (RAF) destroyedMade in the USA in huge numbers. Acquired by the Royal Air Force After being ferried from Bermuda, it was destroyed in a bombing raid at Greenock and sank.
1941. August. Spitfire
Bermuda One
Mark IIb P8507 was bought for the Royal Air Force by Bermudians, by public appeal. It shot down five German aircraft before it failed to return on this date. Photo supplied to this author of Bermuda Online in 1986 from Royal Air Force records.
1941. November 27. Kingfisher. 2206. Lost
United States Navy. Hit tent on Darrell's Island after missed approach.
1941. December 13. Kingfisher. 2208. United States
Navy of VS-5D4.Capsized on landing at Grassy Bay - but recovered.
1941.
December 20. First land-based aircraft in Bermuda landed at Kindley
Field It was not an American military plane but a British one. A Royal Air Force (RAF) B-24 Liberator landed on December 20, 1941 from Dorval, near Montreal in Canada. Almost immediately thereafter, Kindley Field became a transit stop for frequent shuttle RAF shuttle flights between Bermuda and the important Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force base established at Dorval.
1942.
January. More Bermudian graduates of the Bermuda Flying School left
Bermuda for England
After being licensed to fly in on
September 11th, 1941, they departed Bermuda in January 1942 aboard the former
passenger liner and now armed merchant cruiser " Queen of Bermuda".
They included Lyall Mayor, Colyn L. Rees (born Spanish Point, Bermuda, November
25, 1922), Eddie Whitecross and John Pitt. They went to initially to Halifax,
Nova Scotia for an overnight stay on their way to England. On departing Halifax,
the ship went onto a reef during snow storm outside of Halifax harbour.
Eventually, they arrived in England to join the RAF. Some had very interesting
stories, with their aviation careers taking them all over the world.
1942. January 28. Kingfisher. 3084. United States
NavySank in Hamilton Harbour, later retrieved.
1942.
May. USA-based Colonial Airlines, formerly Canadian Colonial, was awarded the
Washington - New York - Bermuda route.But did not fly it until 1946.
1942.
Wing Commander E. M. Ware, RAF (later, first Director of Civil
Aviation in Bermuda) flew a Catalina to Boucherville, MontrealOn board were a number of Bermudians bound for the Royal Canadian Air Force. They included Norman Sumpter, Harold Dale, Richards (first name unknown), Squires (first name unknown), Arthur (Copper) Jenkins, Charles Nunn, Robert Oatway, Fred (Red) Adderley, David Kopec, Herbert (Chummy) Zuill and Norman Jones. It was a 10-hour flight.
1942. February 25. 2 RAF
Catalinas. V7109 and
V9724. RAF.
Sank during Bermuda storm but later retrieved.
1942.
June 7. Kingfisher. VS-2D1. United States Navy.
Aircraft retrieved by freighter 100 miles off Bermuda and taken to San Juan.
1943.
June 22, 1943. Flying Officer John Hartley Watlington, Jr. missing
Of Hamilton, Bermuda, and serving in the RCAF, he was reported missing on operations overseas in the Toronto Globe & Mail on this day and was subsequently reported as officially presumed dead in that same newspaper on 4 April 1944. His name does not appear on the Commonwealth War Graves website, nor have any records been found that indicate that he became a POW or that he evaded capture and returned to the U.K. after his Mustang fighter AG 641 of 400 Squadron RCAF was shot down near Dieppe on 22 June 1943.
1943.
July 15, USAF/ex USAAF aircraft crashed at Bermuda, with fatalities
32041 (ex USAAF B-24D 42-40440, VB-105) crashed at sea, in Castle Harbour, at the end of the military base runway, after takeoff Bermuda. 11 Crew killed.
1944. August 20. USN Martin PNB
Mariner. 6717 lost, with deaths
Will Mitchell Haire was at the US Naval Operating Base in Bermuda. His plane was one of the nine aircraft of Squadron VP 207 (VP for a long range regular Patrol squadron, compared to VS for a Scouting squadron), crashed 25 miles north of Bermuda. All eight crew members were missing, presumed killed. The squadron had been in Bermuda for only three months, since June. It had replaced VP 201 which had served in Bermuda from September 1943 to June 1944. The rest of Haire's squadron remained in Bermuda until June 1945.
1944.
Flight Lieutenants Allan (Smokey) Wingood and Hugh Watlington, Royal Air Force,
were decoratedBermudians, they went to Buckingham Palace in London to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross and Distinguished Flying Medal respectively, for bravery in battle, from King George VI. They were flying Wellington bombers. They were accompanied by Mrs. Peggy Wingood, wife of Allan Wingood, and their baby daughter Katherine.
1945. April 28. Two US
Navy blimps arrived at Fort Bell/Kindley Bermuda from the USA, bound for Lagens.The two lighter-than-air aircraft were moored at the north east end of the field under the supervision of Naval Operating Base Bermuda personnel. Guards were supplied by Kindley during the mooring to keep all curious personnel off the airfield, with a roving patrol established during their stay. The two mooring posts were elected by Post Engineers BBC early in the month when warning of their arrival was received. Because of the approximation of 30 hours made for en route time to Lagens, the crew needed a 48-hour forecast of weather conditions. A 24-hour forecast map, and a running map combining the two,. were drawn up by the Weather Station with winds for the surface, 1,000 feet and 3,000 feet noted; although with the gas load on board it was known that the blimps could not fly over 1,000 feet. The schedule was for 26 hours and 48 minutes in flight time. At 1:30 am on April 29, the craft departed for Lagens, arriving there just 2 hours and 51 minutes behind the set schedule timing.
1945.
BOAC began thrice weekly Bermuda-Baltimore service from Darrell's Island, with
Boeing 314 flying boats. The first flight was by G-AGBZ RMA Bristol.
1945.
July 30, 31. Luftwaffe Junkers JU 290A-4 110196 transited BermudaCaptured in Munich by the US Army Air Force and re-equipped with new engines and American radios, it flew to Patterson Field in Ohio via Orly, Lajes and Bermuda.
1946.
January. Kindley Field Airport, Bermuda, was openedIt was established on that part of the US military base once reserved for and used by Britain's Royal Air Force. The senior RAF officer in Bermuda, during the War, Wing Commander Ware, was loaned to the civil government to oversee the conversion of the RAF's end of the military airfield into a Civil Air Terminal. Pre-fabricated buildings were relocated from Darrell's Island to assemble the first terminal. Ware remained with the local government after leaving the RAF, becoming the Director of Civil Aviation for many years. Although no longer maintaining any detachment in Bermuda, the RAF continued to use Island as a trans-Atlantic staging after WW2 While most foreign military aircraft passing through the Island had used the US military end of the airfield, the RAF continued to disperse its aircraft at the former RAF end of the field. Large detachments of tactical aircraft, accompanied by larger refueling, transport, and maritime patrol aircraft, regularly staged at the island on transits between the UK and the garrison at Belize, etc.
1946.
January. First commercial flight by any airline to Kindley Field Airport,
Bermuda by Pan Am The Boeing Stratoliner S-307 "Flying Cloud" was built in 1940. She was the first to fly as high as 20,000 feet. Only 10 were built. She carried 5 crew and 33 passengers, later re-configured for 45 passengers at an average speed of 187 mph. After flying routes in Texas, California and Mexico for Pan Am, she was taken over from December 1941 by the US Army Air Force and put to work in South America. After WW2, she was returned to Pan Am which flew it on the New York to Bermuda run for a short time in January 1946 until she was sold. She was moth-balled at Tucson, Arizona, for years. It still survives, despite a crash-landing near Seattle in April 2002. She is now owned by the Smithsonian.
1946.
15th January. Bermuda Air Agreement (Aviation)
Senior officials of Britain's Ministry of Aviation and the United States Civil Aviation began a 27-day conference in Bermuda, to agree on British and American airline routes across the Atlantic and into each country's territories. It was the first of what became later several subsequent aviation agreements to which Bermuda lent her name. The principal American delegate at that Bermuda Conference was Fiorello LaGuardia, the energetic and colorful Mayor of New York, who had been involved in several other important conferences relating to air travel held previously; and had been a guest of the American military base at Fort Bell/Kindley, at the VIP quarters.
1946. February 3. First
Pan American Lockheed Constellation Flight to Bermuda, from New York
She was the first civilian Lockheed aircraft to land at Kindley Field. She replaced the Boeing Stratoliner aircraft used earlier.
1946.
March. British South American Airways Corporation (BSAAC) commenced services
to Bermuda
It was an airline created by World War II veteran pilots in an effort to provide service into the previously untapped South American trade and passenger routes, commenced transatlantic services with a BSAA plane making the first operational flight from London Heathrow Airport to Bermuda and beyond. The airline operated mostly Avro aircraft: Yorks, Lancastrians and Tudors, and flew to Bermuda, the West Indies and the western coast of South America.
1946.
May. Colonial (later, Eastern) commenced service to Bermuda
As a direct result of the Bermuda Air Agreement negotiated in early 1946, Colonial Airlines Inc entered Bermuda airspace. It was originally known as Canadian Colonial Airlines until it was bought out by American interests. It was awarded the Washington, DC to Bermuda and New York to Bermuda routes in 1942 but did not fly that early. It flew DC-4 aircraft. Much later, the airline merged with and became part of Eastern Airlines.
1946.
July 16. First British South American Airways (BSSA) aircraft visited Bermuda
She came with 8 Bermuda-bound passengers. She was the Lancastrian G-AGWI "Star Land." She landed at Kindley Field as her second stop, after Santa Maria. She was en route to Nassau, Mexico City, Belize, Panama, Jamaica and Trinidad, on her proving flight from London. The Lancastrian aircraft were converted World War II vintage Lancaster bombers.
It was first under the name of British South American Airways (BSAA) instead of Imperial Airways that Bermuda was first serviced by these commercial, regularly-scheduled civilian land-based aircraft.
World War 2 gave a temporary boost to flying boats used by remote islands and hard to get to places, it also was instrumental in their demise. It spurred by leaps and bounds the development of landplanes able to equal or exceed the payload and range of flying boats. It created hundreds of new airfields with long concrete runways. It provided the nucleus for national and international airports. The American military base built during the war years on Bermuda's St. David's and other former Bermuda islands had been planned for post-war civilian aircraft as well and had a runway capable of accepting even the largest military aircraft. The days of the flying boats were nearly over for Bermuda.
1946.
September 2. British South
American Airways Corporation (BSAA)
from Bermuda began commercial flights from landIt was the official start of British South American Airways (BSAA) Corporation fortnightly London - Azores - Bermuda - Jamaica - Caracas service, with Avro "Lancastrian" aircraft. The first flight by the Lancastrian Star Guide, commanded by Captain Gordon Store.
1946.
September. TCA survey flight to BermudaThe Canadian carrier Trans Canada Air Lines (the forerunner of what is now Air Canada) sent a 5-hour survey flight aloft from Montreal to Bermuda to determine the practicality of such a service. On board an early, not pressurized version of the Canadair North Star passenger air liner was a party of Trans Canada senior executives including the airline's President, Mr. Gordon R. McGregor. But it was decided by the board of TCA that the time was not yet ripe to begin a scheduled service to Bermuda. (See 1948). Also see the book It Seems Like Only Yesterday. The First 50 Years of TCA, now Air Canada. Philip Smith. Bermuda is mentioned prominently, starting with the flights of 1946 and 1948.
1947.
May 28, BSAA began an in-flight refueled London-Bermuda flight British South American Airways Corporation (BSAAC) began a series of trial flight refueled non-stop services between London and Bermuda. The Avro Lancaster aircraft G-AHJV was used and was refueled by another BSAA Lancaster based in the Azores. In the first test, the Lancaster aircraft, piloted by Air Vice Marshal D.C. T. Bennett, RAF (retired) of BSAA took off from London Airport and was refueled by a tanker aircraft operating from Santa Maria in the Azores. The 4,000 miles were flown in 20 hours. Operational messages for the trials were dealt with routinely by personnel of Cable & Wireless in Bermuda. Messages to Santa Maria on behalf of the refueling operators Flight Refueling Limited were handed in to the Cable & Wireless counter at London's Heathrow Airport. Similar arrangements were made from the Bermuda end for the return flight. The BSAA trials were carried out once weekly each way for a number of months. In flight communications arrangements were made by Cable & Wireless in London via its facilities at Fayal in the Azores and Bermuda. The test flights paved the way for subsequent flights by direct British Airways flights to and from Bermuda and later Bermuda New York flights with Boeing 747 Jumbo Jets. At one time during its interesting Bermuda history more than 63 years ago now, British Airways operated Bermuda to New York, Bermuda to London and Bermuda to the Caribbean flights.
1947
September 5th. British South American Airways Avro 691 Lancastrian 3 aircraft
landing crashRegistration G-AGWK, with 20 people (5 crew and 15 passengers) on a scheduled flight from London had to circle Bermuda's Kindley Field Airport for 90 minutes due to bad weather (thunderstorms). During landing attempt the aircraft struck a radio mast. No fatalities.
1947.
October 13/14. Bermuda Sky Queen downed
She was the former Pan Am Boeing 314 Capetown Clipper (NC 18612), renamed Bermuda Sky Queen when she was taken over by non-scheduled carrier American International Airlines and put on the Poole UK) to New York route, via Foynes and Gander Lake. Most of the passengers were British delegates going to the United Nations. After severe and sustained high winds, the aircraft landed in the North Atlantic, near a combined weather and warship. Passengers were transferred to the ship in heavy seas via a line but the aircraft collided with the ship. Still afloat but a hazard to shipping, she was finally sunk by gunfire from the same American warship, the U. S. Coast Guard cutter Bibb.
It was a combination ocean
station patrol and search and rescue operation that brought Bibb and her crew
international recognition when, while operating on Ocean Station Charlie, the
Bermuda Sky Queen was forced to make a landing during a gale with high winds and
in rough seas when the flying boat ran low on fuel. The Bibb, under the command
of CAPT Paul D. Cronk, had picked up an aircraft on radar heading west at 0232
(GCT) on 14 October 1947. It was the Boeing 314 flying boat Bermuda Sky Queen
(NC-18612), on a trans-Atlantic flight from Foynes, Ireland to Gander,
Newfoundland with 62 passengers and 7 crew on board. After flying beyond Bibb,
the pilot of the flying boat, Captain Charles M. Martin, decided to return to
the cutter to attempt an emergency landing because unexpectedly strong head
winds had caused the aircraft to consume too much fuel for them to make landfall
safely. After establishing communications with Bibb, Martin made a successful
landing in the 30-foot seas at 1004 (GCT) near the cutter. After maneuvering
close to the Bibb to secure a mooring line, the flying boat lost control and
collided with the cutter's hull, damaging the nose of the aircraft as well as
both wings and their attached floats.
With the waves cresting at 30 feet and the cutter rolling 30 to 35 degrees,
getting the passengers and crew of the Bermuda Sky Queen aboard Bibb proved to
be a tremendous challenge. Attempting various methods, including using a pulling
boat and various rubber rafts from both the cutter and the flying boat, three
passengers of the latter volunteered, only two hours before sunset, to attempt
to make it to the cutter using one of the flying boat's small rafts. The Bibb
laid down an oil slick downwind of the Bermuda Sky Queen prior to crossing her
bow to create a lee for the three men. They then began paddling towards the
cutter, but the seas were too great. As they cleared the flying boat, Bibb
drifted as close a practicable and threw lines to the men, bringing them safely
aboard. This method would prove impossible for the women and children on board,
so the cutter launched her motor surfboat that towed a 15-man raft to the Queen.
Using that raft as a bridge between the flying boat and the motor surf boat, the
Coast Guardsmen managed to save 28 persons in three trips and get them back to
Bibb. On the fourth trip, the surfboat, taking on water after being battered
against the hull of Bibb, began to sink. Fortunately Bibb was able to pull all
21 survivors and Coast Guardsmen on board the surfboat and in the raft to
safety, leaving 22 on board the Queen. One more attempt was made with a pulling
boat that night, but again the rough seas and darkness prevented their success
and captains Cronk and Martin agreed to wait until the next morning to save the
remaining passengers and crew.
The following morning the seas had abated somewhat and Cronk ordered a rescue
attempt with his personal gig. After one successful trip, the gig's engine broke
down and the Coast Guardsmen once again launched a pulling boat. The pulling
boat successfully rescued the remaining passengers and crew and the captain's
gig finally got its engine going again and both boats were then brought back
aboard Bibb. Cronk and Martin agreed that it was impossible to tow the Queen to
safety and Cronk then ordered her sunk as a hazard to navigation. Obtaining
permission to leave the ocean station and return to Boston with all of the souls
who had been on board the Queen, the cutter arrived to a hero's welcome. The
rescue demonstrated the utility and importance of the ocean station program and
historian Robert E. Johnson noted that "The Bermuda Sky Queen incident must
rank with the Coast Guard's outstanding rescue feats."
1947
November 13th. Incident of British South American Airways Avro 691 Lancastrian 3
aircraft at Bermuda
Registration G-AGWG. With 16 people on board (4 crew and 12 passengers) experienced an engine fire at 9,000ft shortly after take-off from Bermuda's Kindley Field en route to Santa Maria-Vila do Porto Airport (SMA). This engine was shut down, and the aircraft returned to Bermuda. Premature selection of full flaps down caused the aircraft to undershoot the runway. No fatalities.
1948. January 31. Loss of RMA
"Star Tiger" on Bermuda service. Deaths
The British South American Airways civilian aircraft Star Tiger (registration G-AHNP) was lost. It had logged just over 500 flight hours. The plane was flown and commanded by Capt. B. W. McMillan, and copiloted by both Capt. David Colby and C. Ellison, all experienced pilots. The Star Tiger was en route from England to Bermuda, but had a fuel layover in the Azores. At 03:15 hours, Capt. McMillan requested a bearing on Bermuda. The request was routine, and there was no panic or cause for alarm. After receiving the bearings, Capt. McMillan gave an estimated arrival time at 05:00. That was the last contact with the Star Tiger. Bermuda went on the alert after 05:00. The British Civil Air Ministry launched a search and full scale investigation, but no signs of the Star Tiger, or her 29 passengers and crew were ever found. A merchant ship, SS Troubadour, had reported seeing a low flying aircraft with lights blinking about halfway between Bermuda and the entrance to Delaware Bay, which meant that if the aircraft was Star Tiger, then it had gone well off-course from Bermuda. Star Tiger had reported in one of its messages that it was flying at an altitude of 2,000 feet, ostensibly to control a mishap should the cabin lose pressure, but at that altitude there would have been no time to issue a distress call should the aircraft have been forced to ditch at sea. The UK Civil Air Ministry later issued this press release into the incident: "In closing this report it may truly be said that no more baffling problem has ever been presented for investigation. In the complete absence of any reliable evidence as to either the nature or the cause of the accident of Star Tiger the Court has not been able to do more than suggest possibilities, none of which reaches the level even of probability. Into all activities which involve the co-operation of man and machine two elements enter of a very diverse character (sic). There is an incalculable element of the human equation dependent upon imperfectly known factors; and there is the mechanical element subject to quite different laws. A breakdown may occur in either separately or in both in conjunction. Or some external cause may overwhelm both man and machine. What happened in this case will never be known and the fate of Star Tiger must remain an unsolved mystery."
1948.
April 26. Cubana began route from Havana to Madrid via Bermuda,
Santa Maria and Lisbon.
This Cuban airline's transatlantic route continued for some years, was started, using Douglas DC-4 Skymaster aircraft, one named "Estrella de Oriente."
1948.
May 1. Trans Canada
Airlines commenced Bermuda service
The
Bermuda Government - and travelers throughout
Also see the book It Seems Like Only Yesterday. The First 50 Years of TCA, now Air Canada. Philip Smith. Bermuda is mentioned prominently, starting with the flights of 1946 and 1948.
1948.
Bermuda Air Tours Ltd. established
Formed by Bermudian Flight Lieutenant Hugh Watlington, DFM, RAF, who during World War 2, flew bombers. It gave air tours for $6 a person.
1948. December 3. New BSSA route
to Bermuda
BSAA, a subsidiary of the British Overseas Airways Corporation, introduced yet
another ambitious service.
On the westbound route, the airline begin a new scheduled service from London, with stops at Keflavik in Iceland, Gander in Newfoundland, Bermuda, Jamaica, Barranquilla, Lima, Santiago and Buenos Aires.
The first of those flights employed Tudor 4 aircraft (see photo).
1949. January 17. Loss over
Atlantic of "Star Ariel" of BSSA. Deaths
Almost a year to the day after the loss of Star Tiger, the airliner Star Ariel of British South American Airways was lost. She departed Bermuda for Kingston, Jamaica on this date carrying seven crewmembers and 13 passengers. Shortly after take-off, her pilot, Capt. J. C. McPhee, radioed in the following report: "I DEPARTED FROM KINDLEY FIELD AT 8:41 A.M. HOURS. MY ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL AT KINGSTON 2:10 P.M. HOURS. I AM FLYING IN GOOD VISIBILITY AT 18,000 FT. I FLEW OVER 150 MILES SOUTH OF KINDLEY FIELD AT 9:32 HRS. MY ETA AT 30° N IS 9:37 HRS. WILL YOU ACCEPT CONTROL?" And then later Capt. McPhee reported: "I WAS OVER 30° N AT 9:37 I AM CHANGING FREQUENCY TO MRX." Those were the last transmissions from the Star Ariel, and she was never heard from again. More than 70 aircraft and many ships were involved in a search between 100 and 500 miles south of Bermuda, search vessels including the aircraft carriers USS Kearsage and USS Leyte, and the battleship USS Missouri, involving upwards of 13,000 men. No sign of debris, oil slicks, or wreckage were ever found. Both this incident and the one a year earlier later prompted the use of the Tudor IV aircraft to be discontinued.
1949. August 17. Pan Am
began Boeing Stratocruiser service to Bermuda, from New York.
To much acclaim from Bermuda.
1949. Kindley
AFB Bermuda and Flight D, 2152nd Rescue Unit USAF
After arriving at KAFB, it became Flight D, 6th Rescue Unit then Flight D, First Rescue Squadron. The unit flew converted SB-17 bombers which carried, slung under their bellies, lifeboats dripped to the ocean by parachute.
1949. Iberia
Airlines started intermittent services to Bermuda
From Spain, Iberia periodically used Bermuda as a fuel stop when wind conditions prevented aircraft from Venezuela, after a passenger stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from refueling at Santa Maria in the Azores, en route to Madrid. Iberia was the first airline to establish an air link between Europe and South America after World War II.
1949-50. BOAC's Avro York
aircraft made regular visits
Weekly freight services were flown from London and Nassau-based Yorks flew passengers via Bermuda to destinations that included Miami, Santiago and Havana.
1950.
March. USAF
Globemaster. Loss
In inexplicable circumstances.
1950.
March. BOAC Constellations began a once-weekly London to Azores to Bermuda to
Nassau to Kingston to Santiago passenger service.
They continued until at least 1955.
1950.
July 1. The US Naval Operating Base in Bermuda was decommissioned
The US Naval Station at Southampton was established instead.
1950.
April. Rescue of
Bermudians and US Marines by SB-17.
A Bermudian, his two sons and eight US Marines were rescued after two days adrift 60 miles off Bermuda in a disabled motor launch. The party was sighted by an SB-17 aircraft from the Kindley AFB Bermuda and eventually picked up by the Royal Naval vessel HMS Bigbury Bay.
1951.
Qantas and Aerolineas Argentineas have intermittent flights to
Bermuda
Especially when bad weather required them to make unscheduled fuel stops.
1951.
November 11. Catalina. 46486. US Navy. Deaths
Heavy landing near US NOB, Bermuda. 4 dead, four survivors.
July
21, 1952, USAF from Bermuda aids a Swedish freighter
From 1951 to 1954 Hal Susskind, at email hasusskind@hotmail.com) was a USAF Major based at Kindley AFB Bermuda with the Air Rescue flight. He participated in a life saving mission. He was the navigator on an SB-29 which flew 1000 miles out of Bermuda and acted as the Bombardier to make a night drop of Blood Plasma on the deck of a Swedish freighter to save a seaman's life. Also aboard were Tom McGrain (navigator) and George Welch (commander).
1952. December 6. Cubana Airlines. Loss
and deaths
Cubana's "Estrella de Oriente" DC-4 registration CU-T397 suffered an accident over Bermuda on its way to Havana, coming from Madrid, only 3 miles after leaving Bermuda. Many died, including Capt. René Ayala, who commanded the aircraft. A dramatic rescue operation was mounted from Kindley AFB Bermuda to save the passengers of a stricken Cubana Airlines aircraft which took off from the Civil Air Terminal but crashed into the waters of Castle Harbour at the end of the runway at about 4.30 pm. Bermuda had been well prepared for such a rescue operation, due to the previous establishment at Kindley Air Force Base of crash boats imported and operated especially for such an emergency. Two US servicemen on board the 35-foot crash boat that went out to rescue the aircraft's passengers heard faint screams coming from the dark, oil-slicked water. They leapt overboard without lifelines or preservers, in an attempt to rescue the passengers. But despite their heroic efforts, and those of others, in rescuing four people, the balance of the passengers and crew of the stricken aircraft - some thirty seven people in all - perished from wounds incurred in the crash.
1953-1964.
The USAF's "Hurricane Hunters" weather reconnaissance squadron
made history in Bermuda
It was based there from 1953 to 1964 when replaced by satellites. It is now a reserve unit and members are called to active duty only when we are threatened by the brewing of a hurricane. During that time the unit was designated at different times as the 53rd or the 59th Weather Recon. Squadron. There were a number of TV news reports emanating from Kindley, including a major news event when newscaster Edward R. Murrow flew an actual hurricane mission with the unit.
1953. September. US Navy R6D
crash-landed at Kindley
AFB Bermuda. Loss.
Two KAFB crash firefighters earned the US Soldier's Medal when they entered the burning aircraft. The men entered the blazing wreck without protective clothing to make sure that all passengers had been evacuated - which they had. But the aircraft was a total loss.
1953.
December 9. Two aircraft of Bermuda Air Tours collided. Loss
It was during the "First Summit Conference" in December 1953. Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Britain was reviewing, in Hamilton, the "Big 3" Armed Forces security guard. As he did so, two Bermuda Air Tours Luscome 8a aircraft, registration numbers VR-BAE and VR-BAS collided in Hamilton Harbour and crashed into the sea. VR-BAE was flown by 23 year-old Herbert Buswell, one of the aircrew (not a military pilot) of VP-49 of the local US Navy Base in Southampton Parish. He was seriously injured. VR-BAS was piloted by 18 year-old Bermudian Philip Masters. It was badly damaged, but Masters managed a safe landing before the aircraft sank and managed to get ashore. Buswell's life was saved by a Bermudian, Mr. Stanley Ross Doe, who for his bravery was awarded the (British) George Medal.
Luscombe 8a, very popular in Bermuda, made by the Don A Luscombe factory of USA
1954. April. BOAC dropped
its route from London to South America via Bermuda
It was not resurrected until 1958.
1954.
October 31. Swiss Air DC-6 HB-IBU visited Bermuda
She was the "Canton de Vaud," on a long-range flight from Zurich to Shannon, Gander, New York, Niagara Falls, Chicago, San Francisco, Mexico City, Havana, Bermuda and Santa Maria, then Zurich.
1955. September. Iberian
Airlines emergency
A Spanish airliner, an Iberian Airlines' Super Constellation, en route to Madrid from Venezuela via Puerto Rico, with 25 passengers and 10 crew on board, made an emergency gear-up landing at Kindley. The aircraft's captain and co-pilot were unable to lower and lock the landing gear and had put the plane into a four-hour circle over Bermuda, to use up fuel, then set down on the runway with crash-firemen from Kindley Air Force Base in close attendance. Sparks flew on impact but the firemen immediately blanketed the sliding aircraft with foam, preventing any fire. There was little damage to the aircraft superstructure and no injuries, thanks to the emergency procedures used by the Americans at Kindley AFB Bermuda.
1955. Strategic Air
Command at Kindley
AFB Bermuda
It deployed KC-97's to Kindley for air refueling of B-47's (USA based) over the Atlantic.
1955.
November 12. Vickers Viscount of BWIA arrived on jet-assisted trail flight
BWIA was British West Indian Airlines - still in operation.
1956.
January 1. BWIA commenced flights to Bermuda from Trinidad via Barbados
The aircraft used was Vickers Viscount VP-TBK.