San Juan Pilots Association
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Roche Harbor Airport Web Cam
The Roche Harbor web cam has a good view of the sky looking west. It uploads an image once per minute.
Here are some local weather links
San Juan Island - Friday Harbor (KFHR) AWOS
Orcas Island - Eastsound (KORS) AWOS
San Juan Island - Roche Harbor Airport East Windsock (WA09) Weather Station
Victoria, BC Airport (CYYJ) ATIS
San Juan Pilots Association Monthly newsletter archives
San Juan Pilots Assn Member News and Stories
Charlie Lindenberg writes a great story about Washington State Airports which have gone West.
At the bottom is a 1949 Seattle Sectional!
Where Have All the Airports Gone?
By Charles W. Lindenberg
Some years ago a popular song asked, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" Replace "flowers" with "airports" and it becomes relevant to small fields all over the country.
Rummaging through my sectionals, WACs and other charts, I found a 1949 Seattle sectional, complete with the old four-course Adcock range stations and an abundance of small airports.
What happened to all those small fields?
In June of 1955 I took off - as a student pilot - from Seattle's Boeing Field in N2744N, a delight-to-fly Cessna 140, the Boeing Employee's Flying Association's first airplane. I had already passed the written exam for private and now all I needed was my flight test. After a short hop over Mercer Island I landed at Lake Airport's 2,100 foot gravel strip, elevation 35 feet, located at N47° 33.8' W122° 11' and picked up the approved flight examiner. After he gave me my flight check - stalls, steep turns, slow flight, simulated engine-outs and navigation - we landed, he signed my license and I flew back to Boeing Field as a brand new private pilot. Lake will always be special to me; it was where I finally joined the ranks of licensed airmen.
Today the real estate where Lake Airport was is known as Newport Shores, a housing development with canals for private boats and its own yacht club. Now the home for fancy homes and boats, it will never again see an airplane trying to negotiate a narrow and bumpy gravel strip while fighting a cross wind. Developers filling the need for more housing for an expanding economy and population are the "what happened" to Lake Airport.
In the Seattle-Tacoma area alone were numerous small airports that went the way of Lake.
Perhaps one of the most well known closures wasn't a small, out-of-the-way airport catering to Champs, Cubs, Cessnas and Pipers. On the shores of Lake Washington, at N47° 40.6' W122° 15.9', field elevation 37 feet, with a lighted hard-surfaced runway of 5,100 feet and a ground-controlled approach was the Sand Point Naval Air Station. Rather than the need for public housing, this airport was closed when the navy pulled out, releasing the land for other use. The city of Seattle decided to honor a former politician and create a park, naming it after him. There arose loud protests from those who wanted the magnificent runway with safe over-the-water approaches from both north and south, along with its many facilities, turned into a general aviation airport. Unfortunately they lost. The then-mayor of Seattle even threatened to stand in the middle of the runway if any light planes tried to land. (A few local pilots offered their airplanes and services, but he didn't, and they didn't.) I had once looked at, and nearly bought, a Fairchild PT-26 based at Sand Point.
There are still some military installations at Sand Point, but the runway was destroyed many years ago and memories of the numerous navy and coast guard planes taking off and landing there are now just echoes.
Almost directly across Lake Washington, on its west shoreline, or more precisely at N47° 43.4' W122° 13.6' was another 2,200-foot gravel strip, elevation 500 feet. This was near the town of Juanita and was called "North Seattle Airport." The runway ran north/south, parallel to Lake Washington, and was the home of many small airplanes. My memories of North Seattle consisted of landing there once to look at a Stinson 108 for sale. It, too, is history Again the houses had their way.
In the fifties, Bellevue was a bedroom community for those working in Seattle. Today Bellevue is a city of a very respectable size. In the fifties Bellevue had its own airport, located at N47° 35' W122° 7.4', elevation 1,345 feet, with a hard surface runway 2,300 feet long. Today the Bellevue airport has been torn up and replaced with commercial enterprises. Bellevue was an interesting airport; taking off to the south you had to turn right to avoid the hills directly ahead, and taking off to the north you passed over a dump where thousands of seagulls hung out. They tended to fly up into your flight path and you had to be always on the alert. The runway always seemed in need of resurfacing but it was a nice airport to visit. While training for my private license, I shot night landings at Bellevue, and later made a few daylight trips there.
Near the town of Issaquah was the Seattle Sky Ranch, at N47° 33.1' W122° 4.2'. This was the home of many skydivers and sailplanes as well as numerous general aviation planes. At 50 feet above sea level, it had a lighted turf runway 2,500 feet long. Seattle Sky Ranch fought long and hard to survive against the encroaching houses and commercial buildings, but once again it eventually succumbed. Many of the skydivers had to move north to Harvey Field at Snohomish, and along with the sailplanes, to the Arlington airport.
Moving south to the city of Tacoma, there were once three small airports within five miles of each other. Tacoma, at N47°10.8' W122° 31.6', elevation 369 feet had a dirt strip 2,400 feet long. Tacoma Airpark, N47° 13' W122° 29.6' had a 3,500 gravel strip 250 feet above sea level, and Lakewood, elevation 243 feet with a 2,300 foot strip was located at N47°10.8' W122° 32.8'. (The old chart showed several other fields which I was not familiar with, and they're also gone.)
I remember the Lakewood airport quite well; I'd flown in there to visit friends several times. The runway was flanked with Scotch Broom and was pretty rough. All these three neighborhood airports are now homes, and the nearest general aviation airport is the Tacoma Narrows airport, across the Narrows Bridge.
The last airport that I heard was recently closed will always hold a soft spot in my heart, for it was here that I found my Alco Coupe. A single-seat high-winged taildragger, it had the most welcome icon any pilot could ask for - a "For Sale" sign in its window. This was the Martha Lake airport, at N47° 51.7' W122° 14.3' with a field elevation of 500 feet. The airport sported lights and a narrow hard-surfaced 1,680-foot runway. The airport was surrounded by trees, which made for interesting turbulence just before flare. In the little red shack the coffee pot was usually on, the pop machine was a welcome sight after a long flight - as were the rest rooms - and the well-worn old couch was a good place to rest and read the latest aviation magazines donated by local pilots. This was also the home of the infamous "Martha Lake Air Force." The mobile homes on the west side of the field kept trying to ooze over, the local developers wanted the land, and eventually the owner sold out. And yes, I bought the Alco Coupe!
These airports are only a drop in the proverbial bucket when it comes to airport closures. If we're to keep our runways open, every aircraft owner and pilot should get involved in local politics and public relations. Help the non-flying public understand the valuable services general aviation offers, and that pilots are not just a bunch of rich kids playing with their expensive toys. Explain how private pilots donate their planes and their time in emergency situations, and sometimes are the only link with disaster areas.
The AOPA www.aopa.org has their Airport Support Network (ASN) acting as airport watchdogs, and has been very effective in preserving our general aviation airports.
World War II had a slogan to sell war bonds - "Keep 'em Flying." We might well adopt that slogan and work to keep our airports alive and well.
Here is a great article, written by member Marty Garren.
The control tower at his old air base in England has been turned into a museum by the local citizenry.
He prepared the attachment for "The Spirit of Valley Forge" exhibit they are preparing.
The Spirit of Valley Forge
A history by Capt. Martin Garren Jr, Co Pilot and Pilot of "The Spirit"
In the spring of 1944 a handsome silver B-17G slid beneath the clouds at Rougham and landed on Runway 27 at the 94th Bomb Group's Air Force base outside of Bury St. Edmonds, presenting itself for duty. Officially it was known as Aircraft # 42-102616. In memory of an historic location near the home of First Pilot Joseph B. Burns, the crew named it "The Spirit of Valley Forge" and nicknamed it "The Spirit" or "616".
Master Sergeant John Maddaloni of the 410th Bomb Squadron was assigned as crew chief. No better man could have been given the job of maintaining this complex giant. Maddaloni had been with the outfit since 1942 and had never lost a plane. No one could foretell what a short life the "Spirit" would have despite John's expertise and best efforts.
The plane was built in March 1944 at the Vega Aircraft Plant in Southern California under contract to the Boeing Company. She had Wright-Cyclone engines made by Studebaker, Sperry gyros made by Jack and Heintz and .50 caliber machine gun cartridges made by Revlon. Yes, Revlon had converted its lipstick production line to the manufacture of machine gun ammunition casings. Such was the war effort, everybody took part!
A study of 100 B-17's made by Vega in March, 1944, (serial numbers 102566 to 102 665 which included "The Spirit") shows that 92 were sent to the Eighth Air Force. Of the 92 sent to England, 78 were shot out of formation and crashed in Europe, the North Sea and the English Channel or landed back at base in such poor condition that they never flew again. B-17's and their crews had a very short life expectancy in 1944.
I was the co-pilot on the Burns crew. Seymour (Cy) Jarmul was the navigator, and George (Tim) Leve was bombardier. The foregoing were all Lieutenants at that time. Paul Hirschfield was top turret gunner and engineer, Jack Garman was radio operator, William (Shorty) Redfern and William (Bill) O'Reilley were waist gunners, Cameron Perry manned the ball turret and Keith Moore handled the tail guns. All six were Sergeants. Cy and Tim were up in the nose with four .50 caliber guns between them and in addition to their other duties they handled the attacks from the 12 O'clock direction. Joe and I felt that each officer and enlisted man was exceedingly well qualified and we felt that we had a really fine crew.
With Joe Burns as the first pilot, we started flying in mid-May and by "D Day" had ten missions to our credit. Especially light on the controls, "The Spirit" was a delight to fly. In addition, it had the new electronic super-charger controls, which made the co-pilots life more bearable.
And with John Maddaloni as crew chief, the engines kept purring.
"The Spirit" seemed to be indomitable-seemed to be above it all. Oh, it got the tough missions all right, but when the Luftwaffe decided to attack the high squadron, 616 was in the low squadron. When Jerry pounced on the low squadron we were in the high unit. We went to Brux, Czechoslovakia on May 12th, it was a tough one; the 8th lost more then 40 bombers, and the 94th lost two.
The Spirit of Valley Forge survived the vicious flak over Berlin. Over Bremen, a 155 mm anti-aircraft shell went right through the bottom of the fuselage, out the top without exploding, left gaping holes and tore away one set of controls. During a mission over another target, flak penetrated fuel tanks which required replacement of the outer wing. One mission, when we were under attack by fighters coming in from five o'clock, "Shorty" shot right through our horizontal stabilizer, destroying it, however, he destroyed the Messerschmitt too. Keith got a Messerschmitt that day also. On another occasion, a burst of flak hit the bomb bay, fortunately just after the bombs went away. We counted damage from flak and fighters on 27 of our 35 missions. It certainly seemed "616" had a charmed life.
On July 11 and 12 we bombed the heavily defended BMW Works in Munich. On the return leg, though we were exhausted, we were feeling buoyed up by the thought that we were nearing the end of our tour-just a few more missions and it would all be over. Here's hoping our luck holds out! On landing we learned that General Doolittle had upped the requirements and now each crew had to fly thirty missions instead of 25. The light at the end of the tunnel just went out.
We staggered through the additional missions and then Doolittle did it again, raised the total to thirty-five missions to prevent experienced crews from rotating back to the states at this critical time.
Somehow we found the mental and physical resources and the crew finished its tour, except me. I still had five missions to go.
I was checked out, made First Pilot and with crossed fingers I started flying my missions with a new crew: first a mission to help the ground forces down near Belfort Gap, then two strategic targets in Germany. Next we went to the Netherlands to help with the airborne invasion near Nijmegan and Arnheim. My last mission was to Bremen. I thought they got me there; I lost two engines over the target but got them started again and said goodbye to Germany forever.
Thanks to the dauntless "Spirit of Valley Forge" the super efforts of M/Sgt. John, the air crew's skill and a whole lot of good luck, the Burns crew made 35 round trips with out any casualties or aborts. What a record!
Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention, we had a party that night, in fact we had quite a party and the first toast was to John and "The Spirit".
On the morning of October 7, 1944, about 5 months after it started flying combat missions, "The Spirit of Valley Forge" was listed as a spare, which meant it was not scheduled to fly but loaded with bombs and fuel, ready to go if needed. Lt. George Wheeler of the 331st needed it. This was to be the Wheeler crew's third mission, but one of their engines wouldn't start so they switched over to the"Spirit". The target that day was the city of Bohlen, Germany, where they were hit hard by flak and fighters and went down in flames. Two gunners bailed out and were taken prisoner; the rest of the crew perished.
I can picture John standing on the hardstand, all alone waiting for his plane that never returned. He must have been devastated. His emotions must have run the gauntlet of anger, sorrow and frustration at the loss of a crew, his beloved ship and his perfect record.
Speaking for myself, for John and the air crewmen I flew with, these were our finest hours.
