Issue No 22 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN 7
Condor, Goose and more
SIR — Thanks for publishing my Siebel feature in
TAH20! A bit of nitpicking: I do not think that it
is the black skidmarks of the pilot’s boots seen
on page 113, but rather the upper fuselage radio
compass covers, seen more clearly on page 110.
In the same issue, in the article on Charles
Blair, I was amazed to see a picture of Grumman
Goose N79901 on page 105. This particular
Goose is currently under restoration in the
Flygvapenmuseum [the Swedish Air Force
Museum, at Malmslätt, near Linköping — Ed].
Also, the Sandringham registrations in the
captions on page 106 and 107 are erroneous.
They should, of course, be N158C and N158J
respectively. [Quite — we must take more water
with it when proofreading — Ed.]
Also in TAH20, the picture of the Fw 200
Condor on page 82 is most interesting. I have not
seen any reference to it ever being painted in
RAF insignia following its arrival in Sweden.
During the flight southwards, the dorsal turret
MG 151/20 machine-gun accidentally went off,
with four rounds striking the port wing. The
damage was sufficient for the crew to divert to
Gothenburg-Torslanda and internment. One, so
far unconfirmed, story claims that a Russian
ferry crew arrived, intending to fly the Condor
to the USSR. Upon starting, though, one of the
engines burst into flames, and the aircraft was
destroyed by fire. However, although 20 former
Luftwaffe aircraft were indeed handed over to
the Soviet authorities, I have yet to see any
evidence that the Condor was due for transfer.
Jan Forsgren Gävle, Sweden
An unforgettable flying-boat flip
SIR — TAH20 just arrived in the mail, occupying
the rest of my week (reading every single
caption, every single line).
Although TAH19 (and previous issues) already
held quite a number of delightful personal
remembrances for me, TAH20 has without doubt
been the highlight in this regard — so far! More
to come, one hopes...
Regarding Charlie Blair’s Sandringham and
Maureen O’Hara’s coffee-and-cake onboard-
service: decades ago, both Blair and O’Hara used
to fly over from the Caribbean to Ireland on one
of their Sandringhams over a period of several
years, for a couple of weeks of summer holidays
— presumably partly financing their outings by
inviting paying friends for joyrides. Possibly some
of these counted as “unauthorised passenger-
carrying flights”, as the FAA chose to put it.
On one of these occasions, I flew over from my
then-residence in Frankfurt, Germany, for the
sole purpose of becoming one of the 50-odd
lucky ones on the Sandringham. And it was
worth it; a trip of some four hours (!) from Lake
Killaloe, when we all had paid for just a 60min
ride. Since it was a beautiful sunny summer
afternoon, Blair’s voice came over the crackling
ancient PA system asking, “Got some time,
folks?” None of us really wished to shout “No”.
As a result, Blair flew us out to the Aran Islands,
alighted, got us picked up by barge, had us
transferred to the jetty and offered us a lovely
coffee-break ashore, before returning to Lake
Killaloe. That was Charlie Blair! Can anyone
imagine something like this happening today?
What a marvellous afternoon, with the charming
Maureen serving inflight goodies.
Maureen died only quite recently [October 25,
2015 — Ed]; seeing her in an old movie on TV,
telling my wife that the prime cast of that movie
had once served me coffee high above Ireland
(well, not that high), always meets with
surprised looks, and maybe jealousy.
This outing of mine was not really a bargain;
commuting and flying cost me little, having been
an active airline staff member then, but hiring aSend readers’ letters for publication to: Air Correspondence, The Aviation Historian, PO Box 962, Horsham
RH12 9PP, UK, or (preferably) e-mail them to the Managing Editor at [email protected]
LEFT Former Antilles Air
Boats (AAB) Grumman
Goose N79901 being
restored at Sweden’s
Flygvapenmuseum — see
Jan Forsgren’s letter on
this page. Built in 1944 as
a JRF-5 and delivered to
the US Navy as BuNo
37810, it served on Tinian
and Guam. After the war
it flew with Ellis Airlines
at Ketchikan, Alaska,
before Charles Blair
bought it for AAB in 1969.
Flygvapnet operated just
one Goose, a JRF-2,
during 1951–62.