rhmc24
Absent Comrade
Memories of my Africa days kept me awake for hours last nite, so I thought this one, an extract from my Memoir, might be of interest --
In the mid '60s I was doing a station inspection at Accra (Ghana,
West Africa). It was about finished and our maintenance chief
and I were in the shop office when a man, an American, came in
asking if he could buy a hose clamp. He said he was doing some
work on his airplane and was in desperate need of it and would
pay whatever it took. Our chief, probably apprehensive of what
I, the representative from headquarters might think, told him he
wasn't authorized to sell company property. I chimed in at this
point that it would be a problem to properly document a sale, but
since it was and expendable part, we could contribute it to a
good cause. The value was probably less than a dollar.
He was most appreciative and asked if I would like to see his
airplane. I had noticed a nondescript C-46* parked on the ramp
but wasn't at all prepared for what I was to see. Airplanes
that had seen better days were fairly common in Africa at the
time but this one was a sight to behold.
As we walked under the wing I saw that the landing gear was held
in the down position by large "U" bolts. As I looked further,
I thought I could see waves in the propeller blades. At this
point the story started coming out. This was an airplane that
had gone down, a belly landing, in the lower Sahara maybe twenty
five years earlier during the war, back in the '40s. This man
made a business of finding them and flying them back to Miami for
use in rebuilding for sale in South America. He said he had done
several of them before and in Miami they were worth $30,000 each
to him. He said that except for perishable parts such as tires,
the airplanes suffered very little by sitting in the sand for all
that time. Naturally, everything useful or of conceivable value
had been stripped by natives over the years.
This was a typical one, it had made a wheels-up belly landing,
apparently lost and out of fuel causing bent propeller blades and
minor belly damage. He jacked it up and extended the gear which
he bolted in the down position and replaced the tires. He pulled
the props and straightened them using whatever primitive
resources he could scare up in native villages. He then fueled
it and started the engines. If engine oil leaks were not too
bad he would take off to the nearest landing strip or airport.
There he would have to fix some oil leaks. As long as oil
leakage didn't exceed the distance to the next stop he continued.
I asked about the props and he said they would track "within an
inch or so". Airline requirement was within one eighth inch.
He said Accra was his eighth stop and by now he had the oil
situation under control and the next stop was Ascension Island,
halfway across the Atlantic to Brazil.
Inside the airplane he had a number of oil drums lying
horizontal, lashed in position with the side bungs up. He had a
hand wobble pump that he would stick in the bung hole and pump
fuel into the airplane tanks when needed. In the cockpit the
instrument panel was nothing but vacant holes where instruments
had been except for instruments he had installed. He only had
a magnetic compass and an altimeter that I remember. His only
radio was a VHF strapped to the rack that had held the original
radio equipment. He said he flew dead reckoning to Ascension
and when he got within VHF and radar range he had them vector him
in by radar. I asked how he kept on course while he pumped
fuel. He said he used his autopilot, which he demonstrated as
several bungee cords with hooks on them that he used to hold the
controls while he was out of his seat. The next day he was gone
and I suppose he made it, as I didn't hear of any airplane being
lost at sea. He was, in my view, an example of extreme
entrepreneurism.
Post note: I often wonder why I didn't get more info from him -- how he located the wrecks in the first place, how he got a bellied aircraft up to work on the gear & props, battery power to start engines, etc. Seemed to be his one-man operation with a $30K payout, less estimated $10K expenses transportation, parts & equipment, African bribes & labor, fuel & oil, etc. -- all hard to believe with Africa in the stone age in 1960s but for its European perimeter & interior spots here & there. Hard to believe but I saw first-hand some evidence ----->
*C-46, a WW2 2 engine freighter airplane, bigger, more powerful, faster than the more common C-47. WW2 production C-46 about 3700, C-47 10.000. The C-46 was noted for its performance "flying the hump" delivering cargo over the Himalayas into China during the war. The only way to get there was via Africa & this is probably one that didn't make it.
In the mid '60s I was doing a station inspection at Accra (Ghana,
West Africa). It was about finished and our maintenance chief
and I were in the shop office when a man, an American, came in
asking if he could buy a hose clamp. He said he was doing some
work on his airplane and was in desperate need of it and would
pay whatever it took. Our chief, probably apprehensive of what
I, the representative from headquarters might think, told him he
wasn't authorized to sell company property. I chimed in at this
point that it would be a problem to properly document a sale, but
since it was and expendable part, we could contribute it to a
good cause. The value was probably less than a dollar.
He was most appreciative and asked if I would like to see his
airplane. I had noticed a nondescript C-46* parked on the ramp
but wasn't at all prepared for what I was to see. Airplanes
that had seen better days were fairly common in Africa at the
time but this one was a sight to behold.
As we walked under the wing I saw that the landing gear was held
in the down position by large "U" bolts. As I looked further,
I thought I could see waves in the propeller blades. At this
point the story started coming out. This was an airplane that
had gone down, a belly landing, in the lower Sahara maybe twenty
five years earlier during the war, back in the '40s. This man
made a business of finding them and flying them back to Miami for
use in rebuilding for sale in South America. He said he had done
several of them before and in Miami they were worth $30,000 each
to him. He said that except for perishable parts such as tires,
the airplanes suffered very little by sitting in the sand for all
that time. Naturally, everything useful or of conceivable value
had been stripped by natives over the years.
This was a typical one, it had made a wheels-up belly landing,
apparently lost and out of fuel causing bent propeller blades and
minor belly damage. He jacked it up and extended the gear which
he bolted in the down position and replaced the tires. He pulled
the props and straightened them using whatever primitive
resources he could scare up in native villages. He then fueled
it and started the engines. If engine oil leaks were not too
bad he would take off to the nearest landing strip or airport.
There he would have to fix some oil leaks. As long as oil
leakage didn't exceed the distance to the next stop he continued.
I asked about the props and he said they would track "within an
inch or so". Airline requirement was within one eighth inch.
He said Accra was his eighth stop and by now he had the oil
situation under control and the next stop was Ascension Island,
halfway across the Atlantic to Brazil.
Inside the airplane he had a number of oil drums lying
horizontal, lashed in position with the side bungs up. He had a
hand wobble pump that he would stick in the bung hole and pump
fuel into the airplane tanks when needed. In the cockpit the
instrument panel was nothing but vacant holes where instruments
had been except for instruments he had installed. He only had
a magnetic compass and an altimeter that I remember. His only
radio was a VHF strapped to the rack that had held the original
radio equipment. He said he flew dead reckoning to Ascension
and when he got within VHF and radar range he had them vector him
in by radar. I asked how he kept on course while he pumped
fuel. He said he used his autopilot, which he demonstrated as
several bungee cords with hooks on them that he used to hold the
controls while he was out of his seat. The next day he was gone
and I suppose he made it, as I didn't hear of any airplane being
lost at sea. He was, in my view, an example of extreme
entrepreneurism.
Post note: I often wonder why I didn't get more info from him -- how he located the wrecks in the first place, how he got a bellied aircraft up to work on the gear & props, battery power to start engines, etc. Seemed to be his one-man operation with a $30K payout, less estimated $10K expenses transportation, parts & equipment, African bribes & labor, fuel & oil, etc. -- all hard to believe with Africa in the stone age in 1960s but for its European perimeter & interior spots here & there. Hard to believe but I saw first-hand some evidence ----->
*C-46, a WW2 2 engine freighter airplane, bigger, more powerful, faster than the more common C-47. WW2 production C-46 about 3700, C-47 10.000. The C-46 was noted for its performance "flying the hump" delivering cargo over the Himalayas into China during the war. The only way to get there was via Africa & this is probably one that didn't make it.
