This Mallard did not fly at Antilles Air Boats, but the stories of those that purchased and operated N2954 are interesting and worth being included to the pages of the website.
I will continue to add those stories of the 59 Mallards built at Grumman, Bethpage, N.Y.
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Garfield Wood was a visionary in both engineering and business. His career spanned some of the dynamic decades of American innovation. Renowned for his relentless pursuit of speed and
NC2954 was the fourteenth Mallard produced and left the Bethpage factory on February 15, 1947
for Gar Wood Industries in Detroit, Michigan.
Read more about those that flew J-14.
Gar Wood Industries
efficiency on the water, he earned the reputation not just as a boat designer, but as a pioneer who pushed boundaries and challenged conventional wisdom. His restless inventiveness attracted attention from both military and commercial sectors, forever shaping the future of marine technology.
1880 - 1971
J-14
photo credit Peter Keating
Gar Wood, by investing 50 cents in a small, polished cylinder began an intensive career; struggling with the first hydraulic lift for dump trucks and built that investment into a $50 million personal fortune.
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In the early 30's he designed a high-speed powerful launch for the Navy and spoke with President Franklin D. Roosevelt about its possible combat use. The President liked the vessel, but the Navy brass scoffed at was later to become the hit and run P.T. boat of World War II.​
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Mr. Wood also financed the Chris-Craft Boat manufacturing company and expanded his industrial holdings into a vast network of nationwide factories and assembly plants.​
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Marion "Betty" Carstairs (left) and Gar Wood at Chalk's Flying Service
In the early 1950's, Gar Wood obtained the 231 acre Fisher Island in Biscayne Bay and planned on slowing down but reducing speed was not what he does. He had already owned Grumman Mallard N2954 for 3 years and now had another base of operations. (just as stone throw away from Chalk's Flying Service). Gar flew
J-14 around the country as he worked on various mechanical projects as well as continue to enjoy his Timber Rock Island. By 1955 with his eye sight diminishing, so did his flying.
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Timber Rock Island - McGregor Bay, Ontario
Gar Wood's Timber Rock
Fairchild designed this aircraft in response to Pan American Airways request for a small flying boat to operate on their river routes along the Amazon and Yangtze.
Only 7 were built in 1936, with Gar Woods purchasing the fifth. NC16690 c/n 9405 flew to the various camps and lodges in Canada. Photo shows NC16690 at Little Current, Ontario in 1940.
Before NC2954 s/n J-14, (just after and during NC16690 c/n 9405)
Gar flew the Grumman Goose.
His first Goose was NC16917 s/n 1012 in October 1937 which in April 1938 was destroyed in a fire in a Miami hangar.
NC20643 s/n 1017 arrived in July 1938 to replace s/n 1012. In 1942, the U.S. Navy applied pressure for its acquisition of the Goose for the war effort. (BuAer#09782) It served in the Pacific. NAS Alameda/Maui/Pearl Harbor/Palmyra. - Struck off charge
The story was J-14 was sitting in Gar Wood's hangar on Fisher Island at the beginning of 1955 but relocated to Miami International Airport to undergo maintenance when leased to Hughes Tool Company.
The Mallard was to be used to transport executive personnel of the Hughes Tool. Co but it didn't last very long. On May 2. 1955, a thief, with flying experience, decided to take the aircraft presumably to South America but made it as far as the Everglades. With the lack of a proper preflight the main gear locking pins were never pulled and the gear would not retract. Extended flight would be doubtful so he decided to abort his South American adventure. Read the various articles of J-14's diversion to the swamp.
The Miami Herald - May 24,1955
The Miami Herald - May 5,1955
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Sunny South Aircraft Services, Broward County Airport / photo credit Roy Erickson
After 2 weeks in the swamp, J-14 was delivered to Sunny South Aircraft Service for repairs.
FAA Form 337 Repair & Alteration - Everglades repairs
In 1969, 14 years after J-14 in the swamp...
A story from the Miami Herald - 11/16/69
by Herald Aviation Writer, Don Bedwell
the story changes from thief to favorite phantom
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Boat builder Gar Wood Sr. who turns 91 in December, said Hughes expressed interest in Wood's Grumman Mallard during a visit to Wood's Fisher Island estate. "He wanted to borrow the airplane for a few days to fly around South Florida and the Bahamas," explains Wood, an innovator in racing boats and electrical automobiles. "I said sure, and waved him off after he taxied up and down the channel a few times."
Later, Wood said, he learned that Hughes had crash-landed the amphibian damaging the fuselage and snapping a wingtip. "He was darn lucky to get out alive."
Before taking off from Miami International, Wood said, Hughes had failed to remove the locks installed to keep the landing gear from collapsing on the ground. "When he got into the air, he found he couldn't get wheels up," said Wood. "There was so much resistance that the air couldn't move through the radiators fast enough to keep the engine cool. They overheated and forced him down."
Not sure why Howard Hughes was not identified as the pilot back in 1955, but maybe that is why he was called the phantom.
When realizing that he couldn't retract the gear, the Everglades was his choice?
Lease, borrowed, stolen, for a flight to someplace, I think I was better with the thief that never got caught.
Anyway, I enjoyed all the articles.
Bill Packer
J-14 sat in Miami awaiting its next operator. Bill Packer's success with General Motors and his Pontiac dealerships in Michigan, set his sites on a new dealership in Miami in 1955. Bill was a seasoned pilot and also needed a new airplane...
Packer Pontiac
photo credit National Automotive History Collection, Detroit Public Library
thank you to Michigan State University for their assistance..
Bill Packer learned to fly in 1928 and had logged 12,500 flying hours. He held private, commercial and instructor pilot licenses and served as president of the Aero Club of Michigan and the Sportsman Pilots Association. It was easy to see how he found J-14 in Miami and flew it for the next 10 years.
Bill Packer began his career in 1912 as a sales representative for the H.W. Johns Mansville Co. He joined General Motors in 1925 and was in charge of all Chevrolet sales west of the Rockies before becoming vice president and general sales manager of the Packard Motor Car Co. in Detroit in 1935. Packer was in charge of the Packer-Rolls Royce aircraft engine program from 1942 until the end of WWII. He became a Pontiac dealer in Detroit in 1944 and in 1955 opened his Miami dealership.
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1937
The Miami News 3/13/56
J-14 / N2954 FAA documents - Certificate of Registration (1/6/56) / Bill of Sale from Gar Wood to Parker Pontiac Company (12/30/55)
337 Repair & Alteration (still at Sunny South Aircraft Service) update avionics (3/14/56)
Bill of Sale from Parker Pontiac Company to Parker Pontiac Corporation (5/1/56)
below; A replacement Standard Airworthiness Certificate 12/29/56
The photo of N2954 was taken by Peter Keating in Florida (possibly Bahamas) in1964. Peter indicated that the aircraft was registered to The Packer Corporation. The name "Walker Cay Clipper" painted on the fuselage. Bill Packer was an avid fisherman and traveled to Walker's Cay from Miami regularly.
This is where
Robert Abplanalp found J-14
The Miami Herald 3/9/55
Bill Packer of Packer Pontiac - Detroit purchased and operated Goose B-59 / N1800 from 1951 to 1957. Packer utilized the Goose both in the north out of Detroit and in the south from Miami. The Mallard J-14 joined his Grumman fleet 1955.
Grumman Goose - N1800 / B-59
YV-P-APZ Orinco Mining - Caracas 57-67
N1133 Catalina Air...67-76
Getty Image #515407186 licensed for posting to AAB website / Bettmann Collection
Precision Valve Corporation
Unlike the previous owners of N2954 / J-14, Robert Alplanalp was not a pilot, in fact he didn't like to fly. His business and associates changed that and his Mallard flew him and others for the next ten years.
Abplanalp was born in the Bronx to Swiss immigrant parents. His father was a machinist who instilled in his son a liking for gadgetry and tinkering. Abplanalp studied engineering at Villanova but dropped out to open his own machine shop. After he returned from World War II to find his shop had fallen $10,000 in debt, he slowly began to work his way out.​​
Robert Abplanalp, Pat and Richard Nixon,and Bebe Rebozo and N2954 in1976
Side bar... Bebe Rebozo purchases Fisher Island from Gar Woods in 1963 along with other investors including Richard Nixon
One day, a customer brought in an aerosol spray can with an expensive but unreliable valve that had leaked. Abplanalp began thinking of ways to solve the problem, and eventually designed a new, less leak-prone valve. After winning a patent for it he formed Precision Valve Corp. in Yonkers, N.Y. The company manufactured and marketed 60% of the aerosol valve used in the world. Abplanalp was the sole owner of the company and had a net worth estimated close to $100 million.​​
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photo credit Bettmann Collection - Getty Image license 2104179838
Walker's Cay
photo credit Geoff Goodall
Robert Abplanalp was a seasonal resident of Walker's Cay and in 1968 he bought the lease and continued to develop the island as a sport fishing destination. He had already been flying N2954 to the islands before his acquisition.
Besides Walker's Cay and Eldred Preserve, which includes the restaurant and a motel, Precision Valve owns a plastic factory, is taking over Hudson Valley Airways in New York, and owns a fleet of planes under the subsidiary,
Precision Airways. ​
Oddly, Abplanalp was afraid of flying for years. He took trains to Florida, boats to the Bahamas, and ships on European business trips.​​
But because of the President's frequent trips South, Alplanalp compromised by flying in a seaplane (N2954). As his fear of flying was slowly overcome, his company acquired jets. And now, with the agreement to run Sullivan County Airport? Abplanalp has obtained the American distributorship for a German-built airplane, the Hansa Jet and was headed into the airline business.​​
Oneth by air twoeth by sea...
"Sea Lion II"
The 54' Sea Lion II was originally built by Whiticar Boat Works in Stuart, Florida and utilized by Abplanalp for many years to /from Walkers Cay.
Walker's Cay 2020
Jet Hansa Corp.
A subsidy of Precision Valve Corp. / N2954 Ownership and registration stayed with Precision Valve.
Heavy, loud with some additional ops issues made this aircraft less desirable than its competition.
Jet Hansa Corporation was first formed in Ft. Lauderdale in 1967 to operate and market in United States, the Hamburger Flugzeugbau HFB 320 Hansa Jet (business jet). Charter flights were operated in support of aircraft promotion.
The HFB 320 Hansa Jet built 47 aircraft but had trouble competing with more conventional designs and production was discontinued in 1973. ​​​​​
Robert Abplanalp brought in Edward Chandler to assist with the management of Jet Hansa Corp in White Plains, N.Y. and Ft. Lauderdale, FL as well as Walker's Cay Air Terminal.
Read more about Hansa Jet.
photo credit
Jet Hansa Corporation ceased operations December1976​​​​​
Some docs state the corporation ceased ops in 1975 but the aircraft (DA-50 not a Hansa Jet) that crashed in August 1976 was operated by Hansa Jet. ​
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photo credit Jon Proctor
Even though Hansa Jet was owned by Robert Abplanalp and managed by Edward Chandler and both involved with N2954 / J-14, the Mallard was never registered to Hansa Jet.
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photo credit Nigel Roling
photo credit unknown
Walkers' Cay Air Service
​​​​​​​​James Radcliffe took over and reformed the company, beginning to operate it as a charter passenger and cargo service linking its base with West Palm Beach and the Bahamian destination of Walker's Cay (hence the new name Walker's Cay Air Terminal). In 1980, Radcliffe decides to offer a daily scheduled roundtrip schedule and the company is reborn as the dba, Walker's Cay Airlines.
with an additional dba Walker's International in 1982. An official name change occurred in November 1989 to Walkers Aviation Services, Inc.
photo credit unknown
Precision Valve Corporation / Robert Abplanalp continued to be involved with Walker's Cay Air Service (WCAS) and utilize the aircraft to and from his Bahama properties.and beyond. WCAS aircraft were all registered with PV in the "N" number. On May 24, 1994, one day after N2954 was transferred to RMIB / RBR, Freeport McMoran sold G-73T (J-49) N685FM to Precision Valve which changed the registration to N777PV. Robert Abplanalp died in 2003 but the turbo Mallard continued
with Precision Valve until 2011.
photo credit GR Dennis Price
photo credit Chris Grunwell
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photo credit Gary Vincent
RBR Aviation Inc.
RBR Aviation was incorporated in Arizona on June 30, 1989 to conduct the business of purchasing, selling and brokering aircraft. Roland Lafont was a principle owner and operated in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Roland operated a number of aircraft through RBR Aviation.
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In May of1994, Roland Lafont's RBR Aviation prepared to secure ownership of N2954 / J-14 with the assistance of RMIB Inc a Delaware corporation. RMIB brokered the deal for Freeport-McMoran (New Orleans, LA) when Precision Valve Corp. (Abplanalp) bought G-73T / J-49 / N685FM
Lafont continued to operate the J-14 Mallard until 2007.
photo credit Dave Mangham
Multiple transfers - RMIB Inc, a Delaware corporation took possession from Walker Aviation Services on May 23, 1994 and transferred to RBR Aviation Inc. the same day at the same time. In August of 1994 transferred to Canyon de Chelly Motel, Inc. and then back to RBR Aviation in November 1999.. Than it was put in Roland Lafont's name in December 2000 before the donation to the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum in May 2007.
photo credit Danny Hoggard
photo credit Robert Bourlier
photo credit Patrick McDermott
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Roland LaFont
​Roland Lafont took to the skies at an early age, his first solo was at the age of 11 in a Fairchild PT-19 in 1948.
His love of flying came from his father Justin Lafont who also became a pilot and shared his love of flying with his son.
The Lafont family business is an interesting story and it began with Justin from Texas and Odessa from New Mexica getting married in June of 1931 in Gallup, New Mexico. They relocated to Barstow, CA where Justin first managed the new Forum Theater before he bought it and then re-established the Barstow Theater in 1936.
The Weekly Review - 8/20/36
Justin was an accomplished businessman in Barstow always looking for new opportunities as well as giving back to his community. His business ventures also brought him back to New Mexico.
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The Gallup Independent - 8/14/40
Vintage Airplane
May 1996 / Vol. 24, No. 5
An article by Norm Petersen
on Roland Lafont's Grumman Mallard visit to Oshkosh in 1997.
photo credit Mike Steineke
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On Friday, December 5, 1941, two days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the news also includes Justin selling his Aeronca to a Howard Woods.
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Roland took a grand Mallard and made it grander yet. He made a number of upgrades including a new interior. Once completed, he set off on a flying adventure from New Mexico to Alaska with his son, Wayland.
The Desert Dispatch - 3/19/42
Justin's military registration
card from June 1942
In 1945, Justin and Odessa and their two boys Roland and Gerald moved to Prewitt, New Mexico when they purchased the Prewitt Trading Co. The name was changed to Justin's Western Shop
were they added Odessa's fashionable siesta dresses to the regular fare of the trading posts.. ​​
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Justin's Western Shop - Prewitt, New Mexico
Odessa Lafont
Justin LaFont
The Gallup Independent - 2/13/45
The Lafonts realized that the coming of the new interstate highway would seal the fate of the trading post business in Prewitt, so they sold the trading post in 1958. They then moved on to explore the tourist service industry and in 1960 they purchased the Thunderbird Lodge in Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Chinle, Arizona. They phased out the trading post there and built 2 motels to cater to the tourist visiting the National Monument.
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I provided the background on Justin and Odessa because it is not only interesting but also serves as the foundation for future of Roland Lafont, his brother Gerald, and their families for many years. As mentioned, Roland inherited his passion for flying from his father along with his entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to the hospitality industry. He engaged in various businesses linked to the U.S. Park Service. Read more about the Lafont family's western business venture.
The report's page 16 talks about Lafont ownership
Interesting links to the new and old Monument lodges
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N2954 was registered to Canyon De Chelly Motel from 1994 to 1999
In 2007, Roland Lafont donated J-14 to Air Zoo.
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The late Geoff Goodall, Fred Hotson and Matt Rodino along with Fred Knight & Colin Smith have done the hard work on documenting the history of so many amphibians. I have enjoyed taking their work and elaborate on those individuals that owned some of these iconic airplanes.
Thank you gentleman .
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My review of N2954 and those that flew this Grumman Mallard is only a small piece of their time with the aircraft but I hope it gives a better sense of who they were and how they became part J-14.
The above material has been produced from many sources with a number of links to additional websites. The verbiage comes from myself and others. Photos and documents have been reviewed for posting. Any questions or concerns regarding material, please contact me. Tom Anusewicz