Dolphins Fly! They used to anyway. . .

I was chewing the fat with Jellystone Air Park neighbor, Russ Farris, the other day.  He was giving me the $20 tour of his R/C model airplane workshop which is adjacent to his full size Studebaker workshop, just west of the Rock Hill -York County Airport.  Both shops are impressive; certainly worth the price of admission.  It is my understanding that Studebaker aficionados and Douglas DC-8 pilots get in free.  The same goes for anyone who has ever flown a DC-9, or one of it's variants.  That was my good fortune, because I had just given my last Jackson to the nice folks at Skytech Incorporated for a couple of quarts of mineral oil for Brother Baker's Luscombe (a story for another time.)  But I digress.  The conversation rolled around to seaplanes when I asked about a PBY Catalina that was hanging from the ceiling. I've never seen a R/C flying boat actually operate on water, so I asked Russ how it flew.  I think he said, "fantastic," or something along that line, I can't be sure.  His answer disappeared---in one ear, and out the other---when I noticed the skeleton of a Grumman Goose fuselage sitting on a workbench.  Russ said it was an on again-off again project. The wings are complete, but the fuselage (obviously) still needs covering.  He showed me a diagram of the paint scheme he plans to use.  It was all very cool.

Our conversation about the Grumman Goose quickly moved south---to Southern California, and the various airlines that have served Catalina Island over the years.  There are several books on the subject.  I have two in my library:  The Knights of Avalon, Seaplanes of Catalina Island, by David L. Johnston, and Catalina by Air, by Jeannie L. Pedersen, the curator of the Catalina Island Museum.  Both are interesting reads.  I mentioned this to Russ (who is a walking aviation encyclopedia, by the way) and was surprised that he had never seen either of these books.  I promised to loan them to him---and did so a few days later when the gang had gathered at Jellystone Air Park, to work on Brother Baker's Luscombe (that other story.)

Here is where the story takes a serendipitous turn.  When Russ saw Catalina by Air, he said: "Hey, a Douglas Dolphin!  Coke Darden had one years ago."  I told Russ that Coke Darden was not a familiar name, but I had seen a Douglas Dolphin at a fly-in at Gastonia, North Carolina when I was in the 7th grade.  The year was 1972, and I assume it was a Carolinas-Virginia Antique Airplane Foundation production.  It was my first fly-in---drive-in, actually.  I rode with my best friend, Joe Mullis, and his father, in the Mullis' family station wagon.  I still have the pictures:

I assume this is the same airplane.  I can't imagine there were two Douglas Dolphins in the Carolinas in the 1970's. 

When Russ saw the pictures he sent the following note:

"Wow, you got to see the Dolphin fly!  NC14205 is in the Naval Air Museum in PNS now. Check out this video of the last flight, complete with water touch and goes.  Man that thing was LOUD, like all great airplanes!"