Almost Heaven but not quite
Life on Catalina was what I imagine Heaven would be like. The twenty six or so miles that separated us from the mainland was a barrier to bad and hurtful things. Life on the island was such that you looked forward to each new day and what it would bring. It lulled you into a state of pure joy. Thoughts of bad things vanished to be replaced with a love of life. The notion of anything bad or tragic ceased to enter you mind. Sadly you were only fooling yourself.
Danny and me made our daily trip to Hector's place and were going back to Pebbly. No boxes to build today so we weren't in any hurry to get any place soon. We stopped at the end the board walk which was a favorite place of all us kids. It was a perfect vantage point to sit and watch all the things going on out in the bay. Nearest was Al Hanson's "Glass Bottom Boat" diving barge area. Farthest away was the Casino. It was maybe four miles away as the crow flew. It "shimmered " in the bright sun. The harbor area lay in between us and the Casino. Off to our right the Pacific reached out to the horizon. Today was perfect sail boat weather and many were taking advantage of the nice breeze and calm sea's. We had a "Front Row " seat on this particular day.
One our favorite boats, the "Miss Catalina" was speeding back and forth out in the bay. She was a big powerful machine much like todays "Cigarette" boats. Powered by a "V" twelve Allison aircraft engine, she was faster than any other boat on Catalina. Legend had it that she'd do better than sixty miles an hour and her engine exhaust vibrations had caused rock slides along the Pebbly beach road. I never saw it but I believe it could happen.
Days like this one also brought out a lot of small aircraft fly overs. Even neater was the number of sea planes that would land and depart from the harbor. Dan and me would sit and watch, both dreaming of the day we could pilot one of these neat little aircraft.
One little sea plane, a Curtis, was a regular. It came in sometimes twice a week. Never knew who it was or their business. Most times there was only one person in the plane. He always waved if he saw us kids. He and the guy on the Miss Catalina had a "thing" about racing. They liked to race one another whenever the little sea plane took off. The boat would lead until the sea plane got free of the water. Once airborne it was a sure thing for the plane.
This little habit of racing for fun had made both men careless. All this was about to end with some terrible consequences.
On this beautiful day the little Curtis had a passenger, no doubt just along for the ride. Dan and I watched as a water taxi brought the fliers out to the plane. One of them crawled out on the hull and untied from the buoy that had secured the sea plane while unattended. Once they had drifted free of the buoy, the pilot started the little radial engine. The engine was mounted on a pylon atop the center of the wing. The power plant was mounted as a tractor meaning the propeller faced forward and pulled instead of pushing. After a few minutes to warm the engine and clear the rich start up mixture, the pilot started to taxi out and line up his take off run.
We watched as the plane began to pick up speed. As had happened so many times before, Miss Catalina pulled in on the planes "port" side and the race began. It went pretty much as always. The plane broke free of the water and began to overtake the boat. For what ever reason the pilot did not climb for altitude, instead he stayed within inches of the water and appeared to side slip toward the Miss Catalina. No doubt he was watching the boat instead of looking ahead.
The little sea plane just literally exploded into airborne pieces of wreckage. Danny and I looked on in total shock as the engine pylon broke loose from it's mount on the wing, dumping the screaming engine and it's still whirling propeller into the cabin area of the doomed sea plane. The pilot and his friend were now being destroyed by the unrestrained propeller. This was real. It made me sick to watch but I couldn't keep myself from watching.
The Miss Catalina had come "about" and was about thirty yard's away from the wreck. Her horn was blowing in a series of short burst that was the excepted signal for distress. Some of her passengers had already jumped into the water and were swimming to the wreckage of the aircraft. A brave gesture in light of the very real chance of fire and the ignition of the oil and gasoline in the water.
The little Curtis sea plane had rammed head long and full speed into a large red and white marker buoy. The force had been great enough to "impel" the fuselage and leave it hanging about three feet above the water. The first rescue swimmers reach the plane and were trying to get to the trapped victim's. Their first attempts were brought to a halt when the weight of the rescuers caused the fuselage to try and break free of the buoy. Had this happened the victims and the wreckage would have sank into the ocean. everyone was forced to pull back and wait.
Needless to say the Miss Catalina's distress signal had brought many boats to her aid. The Harbor Master's launch was among the first to respond. His first act was to close with the wreck and tie off a line to the tail section of the fuselage. The hope was to prevent the wreckage from sinking during the rescue attempts. With the line securing everything the rescue people once again tried to get to the two men trapped inside. The rescue group now found themselves confronted with the still hot engine. It lay between them and the trapped men. To their credit the rescuers managed to "Man Handle" the engine and get it out of the wreckage. However good fortune wasn't showing up on this day. The vibrations and flexing caused by getting the engine out of the way caused the wreckage to break loose from the buoy and to start sinking into the ocean. The weight of the water filling the wreck began to pull the harbor masters boat down with it. The rescue people worked frantically to free the two trapped men. Finally with no time left the two men were pulled free. One ray of hope broke through. Both men were alive. The harbor masters boat was taking on water over the stern. The crew was forced to use a fire ax to cut the securing line and let the little Curtis sink in eighty feet of water.
Medical facilities on the island weren't set up to handle the extent of the injuries suffered by the crash victims. Ironically the U.S. Navy sent a sea plane from San Clemente to transport the men back to the mainland. Just as ironic was the fact that the Navy sea plane was a PBY Catalina.
Danny and me walked on to Pebbly Beach. Neither of us had much to say. It was a lot to take in and think about. I guess we would have both agreed that Catalina was almost Heaven but not quite.
Danny and me made our daily trip to Hector's place and were going back to Pebbly. No boxes to build today so we weren't in any hurry to get any place soon. We stopped at the end the board walk which was a favorite place of all us kids. It was a perfect vantage point to sit and watch all the things going on out in the bay. Nearest was Al Hanson's "Glass Bottom Boat" diving barge area. Farthest away was the Casino. It was maybe four miles away as the crow flew. It "shimmered " in the bright sun. The harbor area lay in between us and the Casino. Off to our right the Pacific reached out to the horizon. Today was perfect sail boat weather and many were taking advantage of the nice breeze and calm sea's. We had a "Front Row " seat on this particular day.
One our favorite boats, the "Miss Catalina" was speeding back and forth out in the bay. She was a big powerful machine much like todays "Cigarette" boats. Powered by a "V" twelve Allison aircraft engine, she was faster than any other boat on Catalina. Legend had it that she'd do better than sixty miles an hour and her engine exhaust vibrations had caused rock slides along the Pebbly beach road. I never saw it but I believe it could happen.
Days like this one also brought out a lot of small aircraft fly overs. Even neater was the number of sea planes that would land and depart from the harbor. Dan and me would sit and watch, both dreaming of the day we could pilot one of these neat little aircraft.
One little sea plane, a Curtis, was a regular. It came in sometimes twice a week. Never knew who it was or their business. Most times there was only one person in the plane. He always waved if he saw us kids. He and the guy on the Miss Catalina had a "thing" about racing. They liked to race one another whenever the little sea plane took off. The boat would lead until the sea plane got free of the water. Once airborne it was a sure thing for the plane.
This little habit of racing for fun had made both men careless. All this was about to end with some terrible consequences.
On this beautiful day the little Curtis had a passenger, no doubt just along for the ride. Dan and I watched as a water taxi brought the fliers out to the plane. One of them crawled out on the hull and untied from the buoy that had secured the sea plane while unattended. Once they had drifted free of the buoy, the pilot started the little radial engine. The engine was mounted on a pylon atop the center of the wing. The power plant was mounted as a tractor meaning the propeller faced forward and pulled instead of pushing. After a few minutes to warm the engine and clear the rich start up mixture, the pilot started to taxi out and line up his take off run.
We watched as the plane began to pick up speed. As had happened so many times before, Miss Catalina pulled in on the planes "port" side and the race began. It went pretty much as always. The plane broke free of the water and began to overtake the boat. For what ever reason the pilot did not climb for altitude, instead he stayed within inches of the water and appeared to side slip toward the Miss Catalina. No doubt he was watching the boat instead of looking ahead.
The little sea plane just literally exploded into airborne pieces of wreckage. Danny and I looked on in total shock as the engine pylon broke loose from it's mount on the wing, dumping the screaming engine and it's still whirling propeller into the cabin area of the doomed sea plane. The pilot and his friend were now being destroyed by the unrestrained propeller. This was real. It made me sick to watch but I couldn't keep myself from watching.
The Miss Catalina had come "about" and was about thirty yard's away from the wreck. Her horn was blowing in a series of short burst that was the excepted signal for distress. Some of her passengers had already jumped into the water and were swimming to the wreckage of the aircraft. A brave gesture in light of the very real chance of fire and the ignition of the oil and gasoline in the water.
The little Curtis sea plane had rammed head long and full speed into a large red and white marker buoy. The force had been great enough to "impel" the fuselage and leave it hanging about three feet above the water. The first rescue swimmers reach the plane and were trying to get to the trapped victim's. Their first attempts were brought to a halt when the weight of the rescuers caused the fuselage to try and break free of the buoy. Had this happened the victims and the wreckage would have sank into the ocean. everyone was forced to pull back and wait.
Needless to say the Miss Catalina's distress signal had brought many boats to her aid. The Harbor Master's launch was among the first to respond. His first act was to close with the wreck and tie off a line to the tail section of the fuselage. The hope was to prevent the wreckage from sinking during the rescue attempts. With the line securing everything the rescue people once again tried to get to the two men trapped inside. The rescue group now found themselves confronted with the still hot engine. It lay between them and the trapped men. To their credit the rescuers managed to "Man Handle" the engine and get it out of the wreckage. However good fortune wasn't showing up on this day. The vibrations and flexing caused by getting the engine out of the way caused the wreckage to break loose from the buoy and to start sinking into the ocean. The weight of the water filling the wreck began to pull the harbor masters boat down with it. The rescue people worked frantically to free the two trapped men. Finally with no time left the two men were pulled free. One ray of hope broke through. Both men were alive. The harbor masters boat was taking on water over the stern. The crew was forced to use a fire ax to cut the securing line and let the little Curtis sink in eighty feet of water.
Medical facilities on the island weren't set up to handle the extent of the injuries suffered by the crash victims. Ironically the U.S. Navy sent a sea plane from San Clemente to transport the men back to the mainland. Just as ironic was the fact that the Navy sea plane was a PBY Catalina.
Danny and me walked on to Pebbly Beach. Neither of us had much to say. It was a lot to take in and think about. I guess we would have both agreed that Catalina was almost Heaven but not quite.
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