Marine Corps Seaplane Adventure

Marine Corps Seaplane Adventure

F-0114 Convair R3Y Tradewind

 

Back in about 1959, I took a ride in a huge military flying boat that took off from San Diego and landed on the Salton Sea.  It was part of a Marine Corps operation to test the feasibility of using these planes to land troops in places where there were no land runways.  The flight proceeded smoothly until we landed on the Salton Sea.  High winds made the surface very rough with big waves, so the plane shook and banged when it landed on the water.  We wondered if the plane might break apart.  The pilot then taxied to a sandy beach on the shore of the lake, the cap on the front of the plane opened and a mechanical ramp reached out toward the beach.  In theory, my Marine Corps platoon could then simply walk on this ramp to the beach without even getting our feet wet.  But the winds were still high, so the pilot was afraid to come too close to land for fear that the plane might be blown and get stuck in the sand — or something.  So the ramp ended in water that was over the heads of many of the Marines attempting to reach land.  Carrying a heavy backpack, ammunition and rifles made swimming impossible, so our feet quickly found the bottom.  We would take a few steps underwater then push up to the surface to catch a quick breath before our load pulled us back to the bottom.  Once onshore, some Marines ditched their backpacks and rifles and swam out to assist the shorter Marines.  Nobody drowned, but it was a frightening experience. 

After drying off and regaining our composure, we spent the day making a simulated attack on an enemy position several miles from the beach.  Then the plan was to re-board the plane for a ride back to San Diego Harbor.  However, because of the high winds, the flight was canceled.  Later that night, several trucks arrived to transport us back to our home base at Camp Pendleton, California.

The memory of this event is still reasonably vivid, even after over 50+ years.  I was happy to ride on the fascinating plane and to see the technology and military strategy.  It’s not an experience I would recommend to anyone, but I’m reasonably happy it happened to me.  

Interestingly, out of 13 of these planes that were built, 5 of them were lost due to failures of their Allison T40 turboprop engines.  I’m just glad that those engines on our plane did not fail — otherwise, I would not be sending this story to my grandkids.

For a ca. 20 minute video of this plane and it’s planned use, check it out at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=016igUcXe9g

 

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