Rocket powered seaplane & Grumman Goose

[Bob Hudson]

Okay well actually it's a Coast Guard Martin PBM-5 Mariner making a jet-assisted take off (JATO) near Miami. I've had two small photos of CG seaplanes sitting around for a while and since I've got a scanning production line set up this week I had dig these out.

 

The JATO photo measures about 4 x 4 inches and the other photo is about 3.5 x 4.5. I did a high resolution scan of the PBM in order to show some detail.

 

 

 

 

[Wailuna]

Grumman JFR-2 or -3 Goose

[Bob Hudson]

Grumman JFR-2 or -3 Goose

 

Oh, thanks: the Goose is the one Jimmy Buffett wanted but never got (he had to "settle" for a Grumman Widgeon and later a Grumann Albatross).

[Charlie Flick]

Bob:

 

Very cool photos, and especially meaningful to me as Miami is my home town. The lower photo of the Grumman Goose on the ramp in front of the hanger was taken, I believe, at the USCG Air Station at Dinner Key, in the Coconut Grove section of Miami located on Biscayne Bay. This hanger was constructed by the Coast Guard in 1932. The USCG maintained continuous operations at Dinner Key up until 1965. Operations were then switched to Opa-Locka which had formerly been a Naval Air Station in WW2. This allowed operations to continue without the high maintenance needed for aircraft landing in salt water on a daily basis. During WW2 the Navy operated out of Dinner Key. The JATO takeoff in your first photo undoubtedly occurred during or just after WW2 and it appears to be taking off from the calm waters of Biscayne Bay.

 

The aerial photo below shows the Air Station at Dinner Key in 1964. The hanger in question is seen in the foreground, the smallest hanger with the white roof. The aircraft seen on the ramp are Grumman HU-16s. Note the seaplane ramp leading down to the water.

 

As a boy I saw many of the HU-16s take off and land at Dinner Key. It was always an exciting sight to see. By the way, the larger hangers seen past the USCG hanger were those used up until WW2 by Pan American Airways when it was using the flying boats. Dinner Key was its Miami Terminal for flights to and from Latin America.

 

 

The smaller photo shows the hanger as it appears today. The City of Miami eventually took over control of the property after the USCG departure and it now houses recreational activities. It was restored some years ago and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

 

The Coast Guard has additional information on its activities at Dinner Key on its site: http://www.uscg.mil/history/stations/airsta_miami.asp

 

Thanks for the post. It brings back many memories of old Miami and the long relationship the Coast Guard has had with the City.

 

Regards,

Charlie Flick

[Bob Hudson]

Bob:

 

Very cool photos, and especially meaningful to me as Miami is my home town. The lower photo of the Grumman Goose on the ramp in front of the hanger was taken, I believe, at the USCG Air Station at Dinner Key, in the Coconut Grove section of Miami located on Biscayne Bay. T

 

Thanks for filling in the blanks. These came with a trunk full of items from the career of a Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer who enlisted in World War II and retired in 1962. He was a prolific photographer even during the war when he as part of a CG crew manning a Navy supply ship in the South Pacific. While he shot mostly shipboard and island life, over the years he snapped a few of CG aircraft including the seaplanes as well as an early Coast Guard helicopter during the early 1950's when the USCGC EASTWIND (WAGB-279) provided support for "Operation BLUE JAY," an operation to construct Thule Air Base in Greenland.

 

 

That may be one of only two Bell HTL's owned by the Coast Guard and the only one on floats.

 

I think this may be the pilot: