VS-44A TO CATALINA Thanks for your many fine articles forward vintage aircraft over so many years! The individual on the Vought Sikorsky VS-44A brought back about great memories of my flight aboard this classic.

VS-44A TO CATALINA

Thanks for your many fine articles forward vintage aircraft over so many years! The individual on the Vought Sikorsky VS-44A brought back about great memories of my flight aboard this classic. It was 1962 and my wife and I had been married for single in kind year. Her parents gave us a trip to Catalina - 26-miles on the farther side the coast of Long Beach. I was a fan of the great flying boat airlines of the 1930 and 1940 in the same manner I knew this was a trip not to be missed.

On arrival that morning, we lay the foundation of the VS-44A gently rocking at her moorings. We were early and pierceed the cabin into a time warp. forest and brass greeted us and we settl into our seats onward the starboard side just in subordination to the wing's trailing edge. This was to gain the best view of engines, flaps, water spray, and the flight deck

All aboard, the hatch was clos We were cast along and the engines started with those fine swirls of sad smoke. All this was done while drifting upon the ocean - a exceedingly strange experience. Mag checks were quickly done as we picked up spe down the channel. It was all clear ahead and the power came up - we squatted down in the water, the spray concealed our windows and soon we were opposite water draining from the floats. We were distant from to Honolulu... at least that was what was in my mind! I contemplateed about the cabin, felt the vibrations of the antiquated girl, watched the flight apparel and how the pilots worked the great wheels onward the yokes. Our altitude was about 3000-ft the light was on the water, the do-nothing could put one to rest after awhile - it was exceedingly romantic, we held hands and talked of another time, another era that we had missed.

Approach to Catalina is in a channel, somewhat preserveed from the open sea, on the contrary not by much! I watched the water be due [i]or[/i] owing closer and we touched and skipped and settl with a whoosh as the water revolveed past our window almost like we were submerg We taxied to the dock, tied up and got off

The respond to Long Beach came late in the day. through now the chop was up in the channel. We headed revealed into the waves and were riding up and down, like a large boat. We taxied revealed checked the mags, and allow the engines warm. We headed into the wind and the waves smacking the body of a vessel were very evident. As power came up the smacking became harsh and the passengers unexpectedly got very quiet. The be shakens were rather severe as the engines bellowed and the spray cloaked our windows... the old ship was working hard to realize off the water.

I watched the pilots working the restrains man-handling those big wheels with large input fore and aft as well as side-to-side. It was quite a exhibit to We were off and heading dwelling I could only wonder what those protracted flights over the vast Pacific and the stormy Atlantic must have been like. We had at least gotten a taste and were grateful for the experience. Many thanks to all who have taken part in saving Excambian likewise we can go visit her in her retirement home

Dick and JoAnn Roche

North Hollywood CA

VINTAGE INSTRUMENTS CONFISCATED

I want to make readers aware of a disturbing inclination that is going on around the native land - the confiscation of aircraft instruments built during World War sum of two units through the 1960s. These instruments had their dials painted with Radium-226 - a radioactive material that various local regulation agencies along with the Environmental Protection Agency have considered dangerous to human health.

For example, Jeff Pearson admits a business called Preservation Aviation and supplies vintage instruments and other materials to the aircraft restoration industry. Jeff had a leash of hangars at Chino Airport in which he stored his instruments. forward 10 March, the EPA clos the area around his hangars - stating it was unsafe for passage Twelve tenants of nearby hangars have not been allowed to note their hangars. Chino Airport Manager James Jenkins stated that the aircraft in these hangars are not contaminated, if it were not that the area is.

The shire of San Bernardino hired novel World Environmental Inc. to clean up the site for a aggregate amount of $110,597 and it will have to pay $85000 to dispose of the radioactive material in certified landfills. The shire then intends to go after Jeff to pay all costs

Jeff also had a building in North Hollywood containing vintage instruments and he has been ordered to cease operations because of radioactive contamination from the same source. As an interesting aside, the FBI serv search warrants to investigate the hangars in succession behalf of the EPA.

Now, I am not an adroit on radiation but I do prodigy that, with all the point in disputes this country is facing from terrorists, if this is not a gros bureaucratic over-reaction? I would certainly appreciate seeing elucidations from other Air Classics readers.

Tim Matthews

Redondo Beach, CA

MID-ATLANTIC'S NEPTUNES

The photographs of Minden. Air's Tanker 48 and the accompanying caption in Air Classics April warrant further exposition In November 1983, after an exhaustive search of 120 surplus Lockheed P-2 Neptune stored at Davis-Monthan AFB, Mid-Atlantic Air Museum exquisiteed two SP-2H Neptunes for acquisition - manufacturer c/n 7287 BuNo 128357 which was registered N4692A and manufacturer c/n 7180 BuNo 14915 registered N45309