ALBATROSS MISSION TO HAITI
HU-16C (Grumman) "Albatross" seaplane (N7025N ca. 1955) during historic relief mission to Haiti 23Jan2010. This former U.S. Navy search and rescue craft was volunteered to deliver a medical team and supplies to the remote southern Les Cayes area of Haiti in the wake of the 8.2 earthquake there 12 Jan 2010. The aircraft completed a second similar mission 4Feb2010.
image from seaplaneops.com
ALBATROSS HAITI
* * O * *
EXCERPT FROM: SeaPlane Provides Waterside Missions to Haiti http://www.nbaa.org/news/2010/haiti/business-aviation-in-action/missions/seaplane-operations.php
A call from a friend and owner of a 1955 Grumman Albatross Amphibious Seaplane led NBAA member company SeaPlane Operations, Zephyr Cove, NV, to lend support to airlift a Michigan medical team to Haiti, the first of many flights. “We will support this effort for as long as they need us,” said Ray Wolfe, a SeaPlane Operations principal.
Chuck Kimes, spokesperson for Seaplane Operations, said the staff has a passion for the Albatross. “We knew we could help by providing a unique source of relief to Haiti that could only come from a large, multi-engine seaplane,” said Kimes.
Kimes said his company is providing logistical support, flight planning, permitting and customs clearance services in an effort being spearheaded by Albatross owner Bill DaSilva, an airline pilot who has collaborated with Dr. Dan Hardie and Partners in Health, a well-established Haitian medical provider. Also assisting are Paul and Lynda LeVeque, long-time Albatross restoration, maintenance and operations experts. Joe Duke, of Jacksonville, FL and fellow Albatross owner, is also assisting.
The first relief flight departed January 24 from Opa Locka, FL, bound for Les Cayes, a seaport in southwestern Haiti, with five medical personnel and several thousand pounds of support gear and trauma medical supplies, and full load of fuel for the round trip. The Albatross delivered the remaining members of the 12-person medical team and additional supplies on January 28 to Hospital Immaculate Conception in Les Cayes.
The Albatross’s capability of hauling up to 4,000 pounds to seaside locations around the stricken island nation is a distinct advantage in getting to harder-to-reach areas resulting from poor road conditions and overloaded airfields.
"Water Works" 1958. Excerpt shows HU-16 at-sea rescue operation and JATO takeoff. 1958 -*-O-*- USAF Air Rescue Service documentary (1956) shows Albatross in action
During the Korean conflict 1951-53 USAF ARS rescued 9680 personnel; over 1000 from behind enemy lines. -*-O-*-
I never met Mr. Kimes but I had occasion to correspond with him during the span of the Haiti relief missions on behalf of an NGO that has missions there and was in urgent need of transport. I was impressed by his willingness to respond to my inguiry and take the time to explain the details of TOW and provide alternate solutions that spoke to the needs of the NGO. I have compiled that correspondence to include as a sidebar to this story at the button below.
I was impressed as I followed the Haiti Missions not only by the Mission itself but also by the way it was presented on the Internet so that people everywhere could follow it, and his efforts there served as a model in the orchestration of the Flying Cloud Revival and if there are ever any next flights of that bird, the manner of its presentation will be based on his model.
His bio says he was a commercial airline pilot, so what he has done with seaplanes must have been based on a love of the type and a belief that seaplanes were an important part of aviation history and that they still have a mission. So in keeping with our philosophy here at FlightSpirit that Modelling is a great way to discover flight, we are creating the Chuck Kimes Memorial Model Seaplane Fleet and will post on that page photos of your models of any seaplane from any era.(The first seaplane took off in 1910 and there have been over 100 types in commercial or military service and at least that many in General Aviation.) We hope many modellers will agree that in this small way we are carrying on for someone who gave his life to it. |