CL44 !
Slick Airways
Puerto Rico ??

CL44 wins! Not Slick Airways, but a former Slick aircraft. Yes PR. Next question is which airport?

Airlift International as the airline?.
Rafael Hernández Airport ?

[QUOTE=jimxty;12073059]CL44 wins! Not Slick Airways, but a former Slick aircraft. Yes PR. Next question is which airport?[/QU


open house on the Flying Macine:ok:

Not Airlift-another operator, and the airport at the time was simply known as Borinquen. BQN had formerly been a USAF base named Ramey Air Force Base.
Gen Ramey had been the head of Roswell Army Air field in Roswell New Mexico when either a "flying disk" or a weather balloon was discovered nearby. Ramey was in charge of that entire show.

How about BlueBell /Wrangler ?
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d523bdce07.png

Wrangler CL 44 it is. Good job Zaxis!

I think the Wrangler airplanes used to be based in Greensboro, NC, many years ago. I used to see them sitting on the ramp in front of their hangar.

I think the logic was that the fabric was made in the USA but flown to Latin America to be made into blue jeans...something like that ?

Aviation is a small world. I was a pilot for Wrangler which was a part 121 Supplemental Air Carrier. In addition to fabric and jeans to and from PR, at one time we were a leading air freight carrier in the Caribbean-and a leading profit center for the parent company which was Blue Bell Inc.

jim,

A small world indeed ! And you got to fly a cool airplane. I always wanted to get a close look at the airplane but the pax terminal was too far away for me to get over to your ramp.

What became of the airplanes ?

One was destroyed in a landing accident at BQN. After the company was sold, I stood on the ramp and watched the other airplanes chopped up for scrap-a very sad day.
You would have been welcome to come over to our ramp for a tour. It would have been a very hectic place with forklifts running around, tractor trailer trucks coming and going, and mechanics working feverishly to keep the airplanes flyable (we had one guy who did nothing other than props). Someone would have given you a tour of the flight deck of one of the airplanes.

jim,

Yep, that'd be a sad day. Sorry I missed the tour opportunity.

Started my career in the Part 121 supplemental biz. It's an interesting way to earn an living.

My memories of the CL44 are watching BOAC ones wet leased from Seaboard World flying over my home on approach to Manchester Ringway airport in the mid sixties. Definitely one of my hero aircraft that quietly got on with their cargo lugging jobs around the world for a lot longer than people expected.

Asturias declared OH so I'll put up this challenge...
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4368f0a56f.png

Ahrens 404?

OH if correct.

From high aspect ratio to the lowest possible:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....71824bf9f.jpeg

Had an 'encounter' with a CL44 in 1965. I was launched in a glider from Bovingdon airfield (the VOR was installed later) and found a thermal almost straight away. In those days, although the base of controlled airspace at Bovingdon was 1,500ft amsl, the airspace below 5,000ft was equivalent to Class E so I had a lot of space to climb until I heard the sound of a turbprop so I levelled off and looked around to see where it was, then I saw a CL44 pass about one thousand feet above me heading roughly south east. I'm sure it was a CL44 rather than a Britannia because a Britannia would have been much quieter.
I don't think the crew ever saw me.

If any of the CL 44 crew had spotted you they may well have been envious of you floating along in peace and quiet.

DH106 has it. So OH.
Ahrens 404. A mini C130 or so they thought! Production line set up in Puerto Rico, same airport as CL44 picture.
A picture from better times
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....6644a314c3.png

jimxty,

Just a couple of questions about your CL44 operation:

Did you have access to a sim or was all training/checking done in the airplane ?

Did you run an in-house training program to include initial ground school ?

From some cockpit pix, I see there was a dedicated F/E position. Did you use professional F/Es or pilot/F/Es ?