FROM FLYING DREADNOUGHT TO FLYING ACES

Air Classics, Apr 2005 by O'Leary, Michael

Tragedy was not far behind and Excalibur was totally destroyed on 3 October 1943 when it crashed on takeoff from Botwood, Newfoundland. The aircraft reportedly porpoised several times before gaining an altitude of around 35-ft before nosing down and crashing into the ocean. When the plane hit, there were 26 passengers and eleven crew. Six of the passengers and five crewmembers were killed. Official reason for the crash was listed as inadvertently lowered wing flaps but Capt. Blair disagreed with this and stated he had been having trouble with the pilot who would not follow established operating procedures. Blair commented on takeoffs, "The VS-44 was a real submarine - it sat so low that the water almost reached the windows when we carried a full load. When we applied takeoff power, the spray of water nearly submerged the ship. Takeoff was critical. On hot days, we would use up about two miles of water getting airborne."

The survivors continued to give splendid and vital service and in January 1943, the Navy requisitioned the two aircraft but kept AEA crews and AEA markings on the planes which allowed them to operate out of neutral ports. However, on 31 December 1944, the contract with the Navy was terminated and in January 1945, both Exeter and Excambian returned to their original AEA colors and went back into passenger service. The company would eventually be absorbed by American Airlines who had no use for flying boats and Capt. Blair made the last AEA transatlantic flight on 22 October 1945. The aircraft were retired and were put up for sale by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) along with tens of thousands of former military aircraft.

The two rare birds immediately found a buyer - Huestis Wells purchased the craft for his Tampico Airlines and the planes were quickly put into charter service. Chartered to Condor Airlines of Peru, Excambian made a non-stop flight from Lima, Peru, to New York City on 13 July 1946 in 19-hrs 56-mins. The company quickly failed and the planes were purchased by Skyways International in April 1947. The new company hired Blair, now flying for Pan American, to check out the new crews. Ever enterprising, Blair leased Excambian in June 1947 to fly men and supplies from Minnesota to Iceland to construct new facilities at Keflavik Airport (does anyone have photos of the Minnesota operations? The plane operated from Lake Minnetonka).

While all this was going on, Exeter was operating in Latin America, hauling guns and ammunition for Paraguayan rebels. Attempting a night landing on the Rio del Plata near Montevideo, the aircraft crashed and sank near the wreck of the German pocket battleship Graf Spee. Only three of the twelve aboard survived the crash. The wreck, in not bad condition, was discovered by divers in the late 1980s with most of the weapons still in the fuselage.

Excambian now began it long and lonely fight for survival. After Blair finished the Iceland project, the sole survivor was used for occasional charter work until being impounded by the city of Baltimore for non-payment of tie down fees. The aircraft was put up for sale, sold to a local minister for $500, and then resold to Heustis Wells's Aviation Exchange Corporation who then had Excambian rebuilt at the cost of $250,000. When the plane emerged from the overhaul, it was painted overall metallic blue with the bottom of the hull in red and the top of the wing international orange. All fabric surfaces were silver. Interestingly, the name Excalibur was painted in large script on the nose - perhaps the company thought it sounded better than Excambian. The plan was to use the plane to fly up and down the Amazon River as a flying trading post, supplying natives with various goods in exchange for gems, animal skins, etc. Not surprisingly, the plan did not work and it was abandoned in Ancon, Peru.