About this site...
Over many years, the past employee's, passengers and friends of Antilles Air Boats have told stories and have shared photos of that special time in history.
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We hope that this website will give everyone an opportunity to continue to share their stories, photos and comments.
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We will share our collection of specific material on aircraft Antilles Air Boats used over the years as well as the many professionals that assisted its passengers to get from island to island.
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Note: Website was originally developed at screen size of 75% and may be best viewed at 75%. When you open on a desktop you may already be set at 100%. Click upper right settings and decrease if it is easier to view.
Mobile view developed for easy viewing.
February 14, 2021
updates
Recently found these 2 slides on Ebay. N95467 arriving at Pan Am Pavilion ramp in Christiansted, St. Croix in 1967. (slide #17) The other taken by a passenger looking forward on approach to St. Thomas. (slide #29) Have not identified the pilot as yet, Any thoughts? Always nice to come across new photos.
The early years...
Thought I would share a piece of art from Mike Williams' collection
Click on the above AAB print to access his website for more info.
New entries from Ron Mak
photos posted with permission
STX - mechanic, Hugh O'Donnell
photo by Charlie Freehling
N8777A
N7777V
The N7777V & N8777A photos credit Frank Strnad / Don Dawson Collection were posted to the Grumman G-21 Goose and Derivatives Facebook Group (private)
Charlie Freehling sent new material!
Capt. Jack Lincoln presents a wooden Goose to Ralph Prince, St. John - AAB baggage & transport provider.
Goose prepares for departure with Capt. Don Schell along with Mary Simpson, Kiki and other AAB employees
New Photos
Goose - N74676 flies over the Blair residence.
"Southern Cross" in
Ireland - 1976
2 quick videos of the summer trip in 1976
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Cypress Village - Jacksonville, Florida
A Marijane Sipple Presentation
"Every month they have a program where a resident tells about a special time or experience they had." ...
The above video is Marijane's PowerPoint Presentation without narration with music added.
Charlie Freehling recently sent on 18 of Fritz Henle's 2.25" square format color transparencies of Antilles Air Boats' Gooses at various location within their scheduled routes. The slides are nearly 50 years old and today's conversion would not meet Fritz's standard for reproduction.
His eye and lens were always ready to capture a special moment.
Check out the gallery of Henle slides below.
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Click to see all the photos and info
Special photos that include Charlie Blair and passengers with staff rowing to the Goose at Weat End, Tortola, BVI. The Goose at Drakes' Anchorage with a Duck nearby. Cruz Bay, St. John and San Juan, Puerto Rico and more.
< The night shift dresses the propellers. A Goose comes in with structural damage.
> Victor Pinhiero
Maintenance Supervisor in St. Thomas maintenance shop
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Flight Schedules
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New Photos
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Frakes Aviation - Turbo Conversion
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and more...
Virgin Island Daily News - April 9, 1965 The early years of AAB. The photo won't allow you to make out the tail number but it is probably N95467 or N40R. Thanks to Anthony Gagliani for his research and support.
Friday
February 21, 2020
1979- The new, long awaited, St. Thomas terminal is operational. Photo by Charles Freehling
STT
Hugh O'Donnell & Eric Crossfield - G-73 Mallard N1208
photo by Charlie Freehling
Great old footage of Antilles Air Boats first ramp in Christiansted, St. Croix - considered the worlds smallest airport..
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About a year ago, Ben Dunnell, editor of Aeroplane magazine, came upon the AAB website and contacted me about doing a story. The April 2020 edition includes the 6 page article about my arrival and a review of the special people and aircraft at Antilles Air Boats. The AAB story joins other articles about 'The Flying Boat Glory Days"
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Towards the bottom of this page you will find another article from Aeroplane about AAB from 45 years ago. Aeroplane has been publishing articles about classic airplanes since 1911
AEROPLANE Monthly - April 2020
Consoldated Catalina PBY-5A
As of December 20th, over 85,000 pages visited
Resorts
International
Purchases
Antilles
Air
Boats
1979
St. Thomas - Yacht Haven Grande
Island Global Yachting -IGY Marina management was in touch recently to discuss their plans to include Antilles Air Boats history in their new development in St. Thomas. With today's cost of a Grumman Goose being totally out of the budget they are producing a slightly reduced version to assist in telling the AAB story.
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More on this exciting news coming soon!
Maureen and some of the FitzSimon Family
New photos by Charlie Freehling
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< Julie Rasmussen (Sales & Marketing) & Bonnie Austin (Maintenance Supervisor) in STX.
The St. Thomas terminal 1969
4 Gooses return to the Christiansted, St. Croix seaplane ramp
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AEROPLANE Magazine - Aug. 2020
New photo by Chris Hanley
Goose arrival in Fajardo, Puerto Rico
photos by Charlie Freehling
N79901 restoration
New photos by Steve Bell
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click on photos for another view and info
Glenn Arveson sent a few new ads and timetables.
New photos by Glenn Arveson
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37 photos
The website continues to grow to over 200 pages with over 1000 photos and over 100 documents/articles. Each week I will try to post updates to indicate new additions to help navigate the site.
There is still many areas that need to be completed and I appreciate your patience .
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Thank you to everyone that have visited as well as contributed. The site has had 17,300 individuals visiting from around the world with over 86,000 page visits since we started in March 2017. The visitor rate is increasing every week.
Trying to develop more pages on past employees. Many of the pages are incomplete but hope over time I will have more information. I also hope to make contact with individuals to expand on those that worked at AAB or AII. The AAB story is not complete without talking about the people. How did they get there and where did they go after.
more to come...
The Sandringhams - Sydney to U.S.V.I.
Sandringhams -
fuel and crew rest in Hawaii
top - Southern Cross in Pearl Harbor left - Excalibur VIII in Keehi Lagoon, Honolulu
Great Articles on the Sandringhams being relocated to the Virgin Islands and beyond.
courtesy of Jim Flanagan
Join the Forum and post your own stories, photo and comments. Have questions ? Use Contact Us.
Some recent acquired AAB Photos
scanned and posted and will distribute to various pages
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AAB's first Goose...
N95467
Check out the other 22 Gooses that served at Antilles Air Boats over the 16 years. Where did they come from and where are they today.
A viewer favorite...
New additions...photos, info and more
Chapter 9 - The Caribbean Shuttle
Delani has continue to send photos and articles.
Scroll to the bottom of each page for newest entries
New Site Search
With the number of pages growing each week, with many aircraft as well as those that worked for AAB, I thought we were ready to have the ability to search the site. Hope this makes it easier to navigate the site.
Got photos? Please send!
Editors Note:
Still busy with Oke'e Aviation project and other events.
Will continue to post as time allows.
Thank you for your continued interest!
"Just the facts ma'am" - Sgt. Joe Friday
More photos by Charles Freehling
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More photos added!
Check out the more than 100 pages of AAB history.
From the library of
Tom Anusewicz
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