charlie blair
NTSB AAR 79-9 is the report of the G21A accident near St. Thomas USVI
on 02 Sep 1978. It makes sad reading.
I confirm the Blair P-51 memorial is still (on 11 May) in position on roof of Queens Building at LHR and my be seen from corridor linking T1 and T2 . It was unveiled on 30 Jan 1981 by Maureen O'Hara Blair.
In 1976 and '77 when Blair brought the Sandringham to Ireland I organised the flights to Arann Islands in Galway Bay and in 1977 we
also managed a few flights out of Dun Laoghaire Harbour in Dublin Bay.
I also flew on the two return flights Lough Derg (near Shannon) - Gander
Lake-Boston Harbour-St. Thomas/St. Croix. An Atlantic crossing at 500ft or below and 125kts was "different"
Incidentally there is an Exhibition "Sydney's Golden Age of Aviation"
featuring the Flying Boat era at:
Museum of Sydney, Cnr Bridge & Phillip Streets, Sydney until 14 Sep 2008.