Air Enthusiast 2001-01
T.Singfield - The Free Air of Heaven
A wartime VIP visit to Bermuda by highly-polished Consolidated LB-30 Liberator AL528. This aircraft was allocated to BOAC as G-AGEM but it crashed in February 1946 before taking up civil marks.
Lots of American and British 'brass' enjoy a chat in the sunshine while camouflaged Liberator AL578 'Marco Polo' rests at Kindley Field during the War.
Brilliant white of the crushed coral ramp underneath natural metal RAF Dakota III KG740 at Kindley Field. Date unknown.
The P-3 Orion was a familiar sight at Kindley Field NAS for over 30 years. VP-23 Squadron's P-3B 152730 on finals for runway 12 in September 1975.
The Governor of Bermuda, Viscount Knollys, tries out the cockpit of Spitfire Vb SH-F 'Spithead Billy', probably at Hornchurch, April 1943.
Bermuda's geographical position was invaluable to the US Air Weather Service. Various types were based in Bermuda, including some of the 69 WB-50Ds employed by the AWS from 1956 to 1963.
AIR WEATHER SERVICE is a part of the United States Military Air Transport Service, and last year the global missions totalled 4,200. Each flight by Boeing WB-29 and WB-50D/H Superfortresses lasted over ten hours - round figure totals being : mission hours 45.000; mission miles 12 1/2 million; and number of aerial weather observations 82,500. "Lark" reconnaissance flights are undertaken daily by the seven A.W.S./M.A.T.S. squadrons. Above is the first WB-50 (49:304) which was named "Bermuda Sunshine" at Kindley Field, Bermuda, on 19th November 1955, on the occasion of its handing over by the U.S.A.F. to the 59th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, A.W.S. Note M.A.T.S. insigne behind fuselage U.S.A.F. insigne.
Busy scene on the western ramp at Kindley Field in the 1950s as three Boeing KC-97G Stratotankers, including 2827, are refuelled prior to a mission
Amazing scene on the civil ramp at Kindley Field with three PanAm DC-7s including N737PA 'Clipper Climax' and N750PA 'Clipper Matchless', a DC-6, an Eastern Constellation, a Trans-Canada North Star and a KC-97 Stratotanker, just visible in the background are a Globemaster, an Albatross and a Tiger Moth.
Early Boeing 727-25, N8107N, in Eastern Air Lines' original 'Fly Eastern' scheme of blue, red and gold at Kindley Field in 1964.
Wartime shot of Darrell's Island with a PanAm Boeing 314 and two Flying School Luscombes on the water, with six PBYs and a Kingfisher on the island.
Viscount 805 VR-BAX flew the first Eagle Airways service in these colours from Bermuda to New York on June 2, 1958. Named 'Enterprise', it also carried the titles 'The Bermuda Airline' on the port side
Cubana Britannia CU-P668 refuelling in Bermuda on its weekly Havana-Santa Maria-Prague schedule in 1961.
Moored in Hamilton harbour, Do 18E D-ABYM 'Aeolus' was one of two Lufthansa Dorniers that passed through Bermuda on survey flights from Lisbon to New York in 1936.
Rare wartime colour picture of one of 231 Squadron's Consolidated Coronados moored in the Great Sound of Bermuda
New Year 1937, and the scene at the Naval Dockyard on Ireland Island shows 'Cavalier' out of its crate and with its special outrigger floats attached ready to be lifted into the water for the tow to Darrell's Island.
Luggage is loaded aboard Short C-Class 'Cavalier' by a small team of Imperial Airways employees on Darrell's Island, prior to departure to Baltimore
A rare wartime colour slide believed to have been taken by the remarkable Wing Commander Ware of BOAC's Boeing 314A G-AGBZ 'Bristol' tied up at Darrell's Island
BOAC's Boeing 314A G-AGCB 'Bangor' berthed at Darrell's Island showing its original natural metal finish and the glazed observation position above the wings.
Wing Commander Ware poses alongside one of the two examples of Luscombe floatplanes operated by the Bermuda Flying School in RAF markings during the war.
Colin Plant's Luscombe 8F floatplane VR-BAS about to depart from Cavello Bay for a scenic tour with the Author's wife aboard in September 1975.
British South American Airways' Lancastrian G-AGWI 'Star Land' became the first BSAA aircraft to visit Bermuda on July 16, 1946, while en route to the Caribbean
The last US Navy flying boat type to be based at the Naval Operating Base was the Martin Marlin. Two P5M-2s from VP-49 (5542 and 1258) flying past Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, early 1960s.
Yancey and Alexander hardly look dressed for the part of daring aviators as they relax with a cigarette after their flight from New York.
The US Navy often used airships on Bermuda in the 1950s. AEW-equipped Goodyear ZPG-2W 141335 on a temporary mast at Kindley Field on November 20, 1957. Douglas C-124 Globemaster II in the background.
Air France - Transatlantique's Latecoere 521 F-NORD 'Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris' made two visits to Bermuda in 1936 while on a series of survey flights to the USA.
Amongst the variety of visiting military aircraft in the 1950s, the arrival of VR-44’s Lockheed R6O Constitution 85163, one of only two built, must stand out as a highlight.
The Spanish Point Boat Club currently displays the spare propeller for Cyril Nelmes' Curtiss HS.2L VR-BAA.