@65pacecar Catalina Airport’s unusual turntable design can be seen in this photo. It was soon described as “the smallest airport with the longest landing field (the Pacific Ocean) in the world.” Hello, This is a side of Catalina most do not see on their visits. Back in the early days, the steamship brought plenty of people over to the island for 50 + years. But if one had access to the Long Beach airport then a service that included takes offs in Long Beach, fly over our own Westside of Long Beach house on its way to Catalina was available, as an alternate. And, what an alternative it was!!! As little kids, we always heard/saw the small twin engine seaplane flying over our house. On days of clear skies, but white puffy cloud formations/sunny weather, the old yard game of laying down on your back and looking at shapes was always fun. But for us, it was always interrupted by one of these little planes buzzing ovcr head on its way to Catalina. I always told myself that I would fly in one later on in life. As teenagers, we were planning on going over to Catalina to meet some other teenagers. Our method was to fly over and fly back after a week of vacationing. I wanted to see the other side of the island where it was supposed to have some great waves in two different coves. It was only a rumor from our L.A. South Bay friends and one guy from Newport Beach. He said it was pretty good. So, we were going over to check things out driving around exploring. But, things just started out a little “shaky…” Jnaki Note: Of course, I was the first to get in the small plane and headed for the far back seat. My friends took the two seats in front of me. When we were all in place and buckled in, the pilot turned around and said… "You guys need to move up to the seats right behind me. We can’t take off with the extra weight in the back tail section." Whoa, that told us something… it was not just me being the heavy weight, either. But our pilot wanted us (3 teenagers) to get farther forward in the plane before take off from the Long Beach Airport. He wanted more weight up front and lighter in the back. small plane, two engines, 4 people and it would not have enough power to take off? What!!! The small, twin engine, Catalina Sea Planes (Grumman Goose) took off from the Long Beach Airport, went West, over our Westside house, turned left and flew over the Terminal Island Complex to the Eastern end of Catalina. It was a wild ride. There were three of us and the pilot, two big guys, a medium size guy and the pilot. As we got into somewhat comfortable position in the plane with our luggage. The pilot barely made it up and over the end of the airport’s Western fence, but climbed easily. Being a map reader from the young age, I tracked our neighborhood streets and could see our house near to the Terminal Island Freeway. He followed the freeway all the way to the ocean and kept going toward Catalina. The streets and houses looked so close down below. For many years, as little kids playing on the ground of the Westside of Long Beach, we saw these small Catalina planes every day. Who knew that someday, that small plane was going to be my first airplane ride…over water, no less. Now, here comes the scary part. It was concrete when we took off. But, for landing, it was on water at the edge of Catalina. (about 20-30 minutes from Long Beach) The plane hit the water, started slowing down the RPMs, and glided over the water on its pontoons. We could feel the water hitting the bottom of the floor through our shoes ! Finally, he headed for the concrete slope ramp on the beach. AHH…LAND! After a week of exploring Catalina, we all decided that the small planes were not for us and decided to upgrade to the large 4 engine Sikorsky (Mother Goose) that took off from Avalon Harbor facing the Long Beach mainland shoreline. The time it took going back to Long Beach was almost instant. The big, 4 engine picked up speed out of the harbor and immediately was airborne headed for the Long Beach Harbor. Now, that was luxury, safety and smiles all around. No, we did not find any coves as the island rental company would not rent a small cart to teenagers. So, we did a lot of walking on the shoreline. The Avalon Bay Harbor side had no waves until the strong off shore, Santana winds blew from the Long Beach shoreline West. But, when we walked around to the East end, the waves were starting to show up on the little coves along the shore. The current way to get to Catalina is by private sailboat, powerboat or the giant ferries that go from three separate harbors at varying times. This is what anyone sees as the ferry boat starts to move into the Avalon Harbor. The old water airport landing zone is/was in the condo development on the hillside cove. This is what is left of the cove where the original flying seaplanes used to land. Note: Catalina is always remembered as "26 Miles across the sea..." It takes about 2 hours from San Pedro L.A. Harbor by a fast sailboat. Less time with a powerboat and much less time from the Long Beach Harbor by the giant ferry boats (350 people.) Newport Beach has larger ferry boats with more passenger capacity 495 people, if that is your choice. But, it takes more minutes due to the location farther down the coastline. Farther down the coast is Dana Point Harbor in the big OC. Now, we are talking smaller ferry boats 149 people, but it is located 40 miles from Avalon Harbor. So, the time it takes is a lot longer in duration on the water, for those not liking the rock and roll motion of the big swell days...YRMV
Anyone know what that is between the rear bumper and the r/s rear of the wheel opening. Looks like its a removable panel of some kind. ?
The Jalopy Journal
