AIRLINES: KEEP 'EM FLYING

OWLS HEAD UPDATE

We were thrilled to see Gilles Auliard's fine article on the Owls Head Transportation Museum in your August issue. Since Gilles' photographs were taken our dedicated crew of volunteers have repainted the Standard J-1 in the colors of Harry Jones Flying Service of Old Orchard Beach, Maine. They also rebuilt and installed an original Anzani engine in the replica of the 1909 Bleriot XI - the first plane to cross the English Channel. Built a little heavier that the original, our Bleriot performs short hops - on very calm days - for demonstration purposes.

Park M. Morrsion

Owls Head Transportation Museum

Owls Head, ME

5 GRAND

I read with much interest the article on 5 Grand in the July issue. I do, however, offer one correction. On page 73 it stated that, "During March 1945, the bomber was transferred to the 388th Bomb Group. 5 Grand would go on to complete a total of 78 missions with a variety of crews, its gunners also claiming two Luftwaffe fighters as destroyed."

In fact, 5 Grand remained with the 96th Bomb Group until 8 june when it was then transferred to the 388th Bomb Group for its return flight to the United States. The 96th BG was staying in Europe to be part of the Army of Occupation.

On 9 June, it departed for the flight home and, after a delay in Valley, Wales, it did arrive as the article stated at Bradley Field, Connecticut, on 14 june.

I was honored to be the 388th pilot of this historic plane for the flight home. Going to the scrap heap was a sad ending for such a famous plane.

Noah C. Thompson

via e-mail

KINGFISHER'S LAST FLIGHT

Regarding Marshall Wainwright's excellent Kingfisher article in the june issue, the last flight of an OS2U may have been more recent than 1948. According to John Dorschner and Roberto Fabrizio's book The Winds of December, in early 1958 Fidel Castro's rebels got hold of a Cuban Navy Kingfisher land plane that had force-landed with engine trouble.

After it was repaired, pilot Luis Silva flew the plane to the army cuartel at La Maya, Orient, and dropped two homemade napalm bombs, then strafed the base with the plane's single .30-cal weapon. This caused little damage but helped the rebels.

This plane may be the one on display at the Museum of the Revolution in Havana. The authors did make one mistake - they call the aircraft a "King-Fischer!"

Christopher Brame

Baldwin Park, CA

DOWNED VEGA

After reading the article "Chasing the Winged Star" in the july issue, it made me find the picture my mother-in-law gave be a few years back. The photo is dated 1935 and marked Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Hunt's Hill. Under the wings one can make out the logo "General Tire" and the name Miss Streamline under the windscreen.

Duffy Davis

North Syracuse, NY

Editor's Note: This aircraft was built as a Vega 5A Executive with the registration NC59 39M for Shell Petroleum to whom it was delivered in 1930. The aircraft was damaged in an accident on 16 February 1930 at Mitchel Field, New York, and was shipped back to Lockheed for repairs. After that the plane was flown on various racing and cross-country record flights by James Doolittk and James Haizlip. In 1934, it was converted to a Vega 5C and sold to General Tire and Rubber Co. in Akron and named Miss Streamline. Flown by Roy Broun, the aircraft was sold in 1936 to Transportes Aereos de Chiapas in Mexico os XA-BFP. it was written off in an accident at Merida, Yucatan, during March 1941.

HELLDIVER MEMORIES

Reading the article on the Helldiver in the February issue brought back many good memories of my childhood. My Dad, Art Soare, was a good friend of Gene Dunlop who was an instructor at the A&P school in Helena, Montana, during the 1950s and 1960s.

When we would go to visit the Dunlops in Helena, my brother and I would get to go to the school and play in the old SB2C. We also saw it run up on several occasions. I had friends that went to the school and they did their systems training on the plane. They certainly learned a lot about hydraulics from the old Helldiver.

Mal Soare

Billings, MT

CURTISS XC-10 AND B-52 SHOOT-DOWN

As always, I devoured all of the August issue, but you sure hit home with "One of My Missiles Has Fired!" People are sometimes skeptical when I try to tell them about April snowstorms in New Mexico. I wish my late Mom was around to discuss this incident. She worked in the tack room at Kirtland AFB in our Albuquerque hometown, issuing oxygen masks and parachutes to the pilots. Her oft-repeated question was, "Where do they find men like these?" She would have known some of the men in this story. In April 1961, I was off in SEA and never knew about the B-52 incident until now.

Once in 1957, when I was home on leave, Mom got me a ride back to Andrews AFB with a colonel friend who was flying a B-25 that was in service as an executive taxi. It wasn't plush. I think all that had been done was to remove the turrets and guns. The flight had not been posted for "space available" because the other passengers were "men in black." Needless to say, I didn't ask them about their visit to the Special Weapons Center at Kirtland. I think my presence made them a little uneasy anyway, probably because it restricted their conversation. Come to think of it, an uninsulated B-25 is not a great place for a conversation anyway! It is sort of like riding in a boiler while it is being riveted. It was great adventure being fitted with a parachute harness and being briefed by the pilot on how to get out through the belly hatch if given the bailout signal. And especially to be sure to latch open the inside hatch before jettisoning the outside hatch, otherwise the suction of the slipstream would hold the inside hatch closed and you would be trapped.