History as we fly.

[albatross]

I just got back from a ferry flight in a Helicopter from Coatsville PA USA to Brazil.
As we chugged our way south I could only dwell on the aviation history I was overflying.

WW2 RAF and US Ferry Command on the trip to Belem and Natal before they took off over the Atlantic to Africa direct or via Ascension.
Landing at various airfields at places such as Daytona and West Palm Beach, Nassau, Providenciales , La Romana, St. Kitts , Saint Lucia, Tobago, Georgetown Guyana, French Guiana, Belem, overflying Recife, on to Natal then Southwards.
Overflying the French Islands such as Martinique where a lot of the French fleet stayed for most of the war.
Talking to a Brazilian air force officer who had no idea of Brazil's contributions during the war.
We, of course, had ATC, WX radar, FMS, GPS, Sat flight following and all associated bells and whistles those guys back then did not.

Now that I am home I must reread (Again!) Fate is the Hunter and The Don McVicar series.

A great 10 days especially for an aviation history buff such as myself.:ok:

South Atlantic air ferry route in World War II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_air_ferry_route_in_World_War_II)

[pigboat]

.. The Don McVicar series.

Yeah, North Atlantic Cat and South Atlantic Safari were great reads. Have you read A Railroad From The Sky? I flew for that RR for 27 years. Sadly his books are all out of print, but every once in awhile Larry Milberry comes up with a copy for me.

[albatross]

I got all of Don's books straight from his hands with pithy dedications of course.
I am in contact with his daughter, Donna, who is in Florida. She did the artwork for the book covers.
I must ask her if there are prints available especially the "Mosquito Racer" cover.
Do you want her contact info? Nice lady.
She is working on putting Don's works on Kindle or Kobo or one of those sights.

I flew a bit for the railroad on helicopters in the mid 80s and flew a lot of Geo survey out of Scheffervile, Septic Islands ( deliberate spelling errors ) and Lab City. Lots of aviation history in that area too.

Been to the Menihec dam strip where the tail of Don's Lanc that burned after the brakes gave up at the high landing weigh was still there. Being as they were carrying a cargo of fuel to the dam sight it must have been a sight when it burned. I was there in the late 80s so it may not be there anymore.

[pigboat]

Haven't been into Menihek in 40 years, once got an IFR clearance from Moncton though, to "Descend from 9000' to 7000' north of Menihek Dam northbound." (There was a DC-3 at 8 southbound.)

Thanks for the offer re Don's daughter, but I'm interested in print versions only. Larry Milberry get the occasional one from an estate sale or some library that goes bust, so I'm gradually adding to my collection. When I got Railroad From The Sky I lent it to our company President. When I told Don about it he said "You dumb ****, tell him to buy a copy so's I can make a buck." :D

You must have known Don McKnight and Jacques Blouin, the chopper guys.

[albatross]

Sure do know Jacques and Don.
Don is retired - he is on Facebook and has posted some great photos of aviation stuff - lots of Spruce Budworm spraying with Avengers in NB and such what.
Haven't seen Jacques in years.
Perhaps you knew my uncle in Sept Isles - Digg Bonus who was with the MOT there. His son Cam was a helicopter engineer there also.

[pigboat]

Sure did know the Digger. I see Cam around every once in awhile. Jacques is still around, comes back here for the summer but spends the winter down south. His brother Jean is still here also, but he spends his winters in Thailand. Yeah Don has some great pics on FB, in all the years I've known him I never knew he flew fixed wing. :O

[albatross]

PM me your phone number - It would be fun to talk.
Did you know Burt ( Bert ) Archer (SP?) by any chance?