Hollywood glamour meets aviation history when Maureen O'Hara's flying boat gets a second life.
Built in the United States in the early 1940s by Sikorsky Aircraft, the VS-44 was a large four-engine flying boat designed primarily for the transatlantic passenger market, with a capacity of 40+ passengers. Three units were produced: Excalibur, Exeter - and Excambian, "The Queen of the Sky" to its final owners Charlie Blair and his wife, actress Maureen O'Hara. The film explores aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky and the eleven-year restoration of Excambian by volunteers at Sikorsky's Stratford plant.
Production
Rare archival footage of 1940s luxury flying boat travel
Acting
Maureen O'Hara's personal, unscripted presence as Excambian's guardian
Director
Bill Rhodes
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Charlie Blair was the first pilot to fly solo nonstop across the North Pole, and met O'Hara when she chartered his airline.
The VS-44 was the last four-engine commercial flying boat built in the United States, killed by runways and jet engines.
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Wow, I'm glad to discover this video. I too have fond memories at an early age with flying on the famed Sikorsky "Mother Goose" and fleet of Grumman "Baby Goose's" to and from Long Beach, CA and Catalina Island. There is such a rich history connected to this Flying Boat and Catalina Island, Pan Am Captain Blair, set many nonstops Atlantic crossings in the VS-44, and was the original test pilot for all three flying boats! Glenn Martin first flight to Catalina in 1912 in his flying boat from Newport Beach to Avalon. And 25 year anniversary he returned in his Martin M-130 China Clipper flying boat. A fascinating read about this Sikorsky, Martin, Donald Douglas with the Douglas Dolflin, Philip Wrigley, Charlie Chaplin's half brother's seaplane service that operated to island as did Dick Probert, who brought this flyingboat and seaplane fleet to the island featured is the book called "The Knight's of Avalon" by David L Johnston. 2:40
@yetiman9518 2
I worked for Pan Am for 20 years. I met Charlie Blair and Maureen in 1975 or so, when he was bringing the Escambia from Australia to Puerto Rico, and wanted to get an FAA certification for it to do seaplane passenger service between San Juan and New York. It was a grand adventure meeting them, and learning of the great plane's plans.. Pan Am was an awesome piece of history, it was a great American institution. And I always flew Antilles Airboats when I went sailing in the Caribbean. Grand says. Thanks for this great video.
@llee8325 3
My name is Richard Dallas Probert. My grandpa was Wilton Richard Probert (known as Dick Probert). He owned and operated Avalon Air Transport back in the day, and ended up buying the Excambian (shown the the opening 2 minutes of the video) for his business, which transported people from Long Beach to Avalon in Catalina. He was the pilot. It’s super cool for me to learn about this stuff. Thanks for the video!
@IPRoBEI 8
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