CACHIPO EARLY DAWN

Text: ALVARO TORRES DE WITT

Photos: GERALD E. WARNER / GEORGE DE WITT

NOSOTROS MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 1984

 It had been eighteen years since the zuliano Carlos Luis Medina flew in a lighter-than-air balloon near the market in Maracaibo and since the North American aviator Frank Boland did his first demonstrations with his “tail less” biplane in the Caracas horse race track of El Paraiso, when the muddy waters of the San Juan river, in the Monagas State, saw the first airplane of the oil fleet. It came disassembled, loaded above deck of a tanker, and arrived at the terminal of Caripito in March 1930. Four months before, November 2, 1929, the Ministry of War and Navy of the United States of Venezuela had granted permission to the Standard Oil of Venezuela to bring to the country the first airplane of its fleet. In the eighteen years passed since the arrival of Boland and his airplane, it had been created - in April of 1920 - the Military aviation school of Venezuela. By then, it had been also set up the first Venezuelan airline: the Colombo German Society of Air Transportat, SCADTA. It initiated operations in 1925 using the Lake of Maracaibo as base and the Plaza del Buen Maestro as boarding terminal. This terminal would soon be used by other international lines. During that time the country ´s oil industry had been booming. The Venezuelan Eastern region was considered as a good area to prospect for oil since the company New York & Bermúdez began to operate the asphalt lake of Guanoco - Sucre State by the end of the last century, and the Graham Company of Trinidad constructed in 1890 a small refinery in the Capure Island in the Delta of the Orinoco. For that reason, in 1921, the Standard Oil of Venezuela, branch of Standard Oll of New Jersey settled in Quiriquire, in the Monagas State.

 THE YEAR OF THE “REVENTON”

The following year, in 1922, the Barrosos-2 well blow out attracted the attention of the world towards Venezuela, and to the shores of the Lake of Maracaibo, where tens of companies began to settle down, among them British Equatorial and Lago Petroleun, the last also a branch of the Standard Oil of New Jersey. In July of 1923 British Equatorial drilled for the first time a well offshore of the Maracaibo lake, discovering then one of the most productive areas of the world. A year later Lago Petroleum acquired the company British Equatorial and with her the field La Rosa, to the south of Cabimas. In order to centralize the interests of the affiliates in the East and the West of the country, the offices of Standard Oil were created in Caracas. Then the communications between the different regions of the country were very difficult. Let a veteran of the early times of the industry - Richard Monnin - tell the story: "the transport in the Eastern region perhaps has not changed much since the colonial times, since, to travel, for example, from Maturín to Caracas, the most comfortable and practical way is to embark in a boat in the Guarapiche river, then through Caño Colorado to Caño Frances (tributary of the San Juan river) and, from there, embark in a “trespuños” that took you to Puerto Francés through the Gulf of Paria. There one could spend days in a hotel or pension waiting for one of the steamers that traveled between Europe and Panama with calls in Port Spain, Carúpano, Cumaná, La Guaira and Curaçao ".  there were very few roads, and generally intractable in the rainy season and dusty during the dry one. At the end of 1929, upon knowledge of the potential of the Eastern region as a source of oil, it was required to carry out a vast plan of geologic exploration, for which it was necessary to compile maps of the zone.

 THE FIRST AIRPLANES

To fill its transportation requirements, the Standard Oil of Venezuela brought its first airplane: a Sirkosky S-38, matriculation NC-2V. One was an equipped hydroplane with two Pratt & Whitney 400 HP “WASP C” engines. It was able to transport eight passengers and crew. With this airplane, it came the pilot L.E. Shealy and the first mechanic John Nelson. The airplane was moved on a truck that as well had to be towed by a tractor to the just finished earth airstrip in Cachipo. The mechanic and the pilot went to work immediately of assembling the airplane, since the wings had come separated from the fuselage. In January of 1931 a special-purpose airplane equipped to take aerial photography arrived, and was the pilot Robert L. Brookings, who initiated aerial photography for the tracing of maps, on board of this Fairchild F-71, matriculation NC-755-Y. By flying at a 13,750 feet (4,191 ms.) above sea level, the camera of the airplane produced photos on scale 1:20.000, that were the required ones to draw up the maps. When the operations grew, another Sikorsky S-38, matriculation NC-23-V, was acquired, to which a camera for aerial photography was adapted. This airplane arrived in September of 1933. Months before, in April, an amphibious Loening had been acquired, matriculation NC-137-H, whose use was discontinued six months later due to poor performance. In July 1935, Gerald E. Warner, who would be the first company aviation manager, arrived to the country. He continued the aerial work of Brookings and remained in the country until his retirement in 1958. With Warner worked the mechanic Carl Baehr, the photographer George De Witt and the aero photographic map specialist Otto Lilhart.

 SEAPLANE SPEED RECORD

At the time it was required an airplane that could communicate the east and the West with ease. In 1936, it was purchased a Douglas Dolphin, matriculation NC-14286, a twin-engine amphibian that had beaten the world speed record forthis type of plane with a speed of 257.17 kilometers per hour in a circuit of one hundred kilometers. With this airplane, the first air search and rescue mission in the country was made, which ended with the rescue of the crew and passengers of a lost airplane between Elena de Uairén and Luepa. The advances of aviation were quickly adopted in Venezuela, and in 1937 a Lockheed Electra-12, matriculation NC, 17379, twin-engine plane was purchased, which was able to transport two crew and eight passengers. It was considered one of the most advanced airplanes of its type. In a similar one, the well-known aviatrix Amelia Earhart made a stop and slept overnight in Cachipo in 1937, while trying to fly solo around the world. In order to continue the aerial photograph work in 1938, a single-engine Stinson SR-9-FM Reliant was acquired matriculation NC-18451. The following year a Lockheed Electra 10-A was bought, matriculation NC-21735, considered the best twin-engine plane of its time. This airplane was the first to land in the new Maturín airport, inaugurated in 1942.

 THE WAR YEARS

During the World War II years, Nazis submarines roamed near our coasts, which in several opportunities, torpedoed oil tankers that left from Venezuelan ports. In order to sight them and to rescue possible shipwrecks the airplanes of the company initiated flight routines that covered the Venezuelan coasts. On two occasions, the hydroplanes land on water and rescue survivors of sunk tankers from a previous night raid. During the war, one of the mechanics, Howard Dannemann was mobilized to the battlefront and fought as a pilot in China, Burma, and India. Upon finishing the conflict, he returned and it flew as a pilot until the end of 1950. After the War, several pilots were enlisted had considerable experience in air battles. Daniel Mc Duff had been a B-25 Mitchell bomber pilot in the Italian front. Robert J. Alsop was a B-24 Liberator bombers pilot in the Pacific. Daniel Sheehan was a naval pilot of PBY Catalina in the South Pacific. Douglas Mc Lean piloted C-47 transport airplanes in the Burma military theater. Among the war veterans was also George Hand, employed in April of 1940, but he had fought in World War I. In September 1945, the Aviation Section headquarters was transferred to Caracas and Maiquetía was established as the operation and maintenance base.

 THE DC-3 LEGEND

The first of the two famous C-47 converted to DC-3 planes own by the company were acquired in 1946. Its matriculation YV-P-EPF identified the "Executive", airplane, and was intended for passengers transport. In March 1947, the second DC-3 was acquired. Their versatility and lifting capacity was ideal for the oil industry needs. This airplane had a Venezuelan matriculation that made it easy to recognize: YV-P-EPE. The "PEPE", as it was well-known, could transport 23 passengers and three crew, or cargo, because he had seats that could be folded and leave an ample free space inside the fuselage. These were the first two airplanes in Venezuela to be equipped with radar. Also they were of first in the world to which a retractable tail wheel was adapted. For greater safety, they were equipped with JATO (rockets Jet Assisted Take Off) that could be ignited in case of fault of a motor during the takeoff. For the operations in the east “Caños” a PBY-SA Catalina, matriculation N-30005 was bought in April 1948. It could take a crew of 2 and 18 passengers.

 THE GULFSTREAM ERA

In December 1968 it was acquired the first Grumman Gulfstream 1, YV-2WP, an four years of use airplane which belonged to Humble East Oil. This craft is now twenty years old and has transported 80,000 passengers in 14.500 flight hours and 13,000 flights. As part of the rationalization of the industry, in February 1978, Lagoven received from Roqueven, a Piper Cherokee Six PA-35 single-engine airplane, matriculation YV-85-CP able to transport 5 passengers and one crew. Later in May of 1978, a King 90, matriculation YV-40-CP, was acquired from Meneven, a twin-engine plane for six passengers and a crew of two. Taking in consideration the excellent performance from the Grumman Gulfstream 1, two more were acquired in 1975 and 1982, respectively, which at the moment conform the Lagoven aerial fleet, along with the King Air-200, matriculation YV-82-CP, bought in 1980. The Grumman airplanes can transport 14-18 passengers and a crew of three. The King Air-200, two crew and eight passengers. One of the advantages of the Grumman airplanes is its long range autonomy. In May of 1982 captain Germán Pacheco, actual Aviation Manager, his copilot Jose Martinez and the flight engineer Alexander Palm, made for the first time the Wilmington, Delaware-Maiquetía non-stop flight which took 7 hours 20 minutes, to cover 1,900 miles, seting a world-wide mark for this type of airplanes. Today these flights are made routinely. Fifty five years of activity are by itself a significant record. If to this one adds the complete safety, result of the maintenance and continuous care of personnel and equipment, the trustworthiness, punctuality and friendly treatment of crews and mechanics, the record is still greater, and makes our air group one of the most qualified and reliable in any Venezuelan or world company.

 NS: This article compiled from the Lagoven publication  "Cachipo Early Dawn: 55 years of Lagoven Aviation”, that will circulate in the next month of February of 1985.

 

Figure 1 – 1936 – The Lockheed 12 in the Grano de Oro terminal in Marcaibo.

 

Figure 2 - 1936 - A very frequent scene in those times: Loading combustible manually. Jerry Warner on the airplane Fairchild F-71. The geologist Larry Hart, on the light truck, and Carl Dit Dalmus raising the fuel hose. Note on the light truck a fuel barrel and a manual pump.

 

Figura 3 – 1936 – In the Aerial Photo lab of Cachipo, the map specialist Otto Lillhart making a “mosaic” of aerial photos to obtain detailed maps of the eastern Venezuela region. Note the superposition of ten of photos which edges had to be carefully filed to obviate the joints.

 

Figure 4 – 1935 – Loening Seaplane

 

Figure 5 – Don Provost, fueling up his  Fairchilf F-71 plane, in the usual way of doing it in 1937. The can seen on the top of the wing was a oil pail turned into a funnel to ease the fueling operation.

 

Figure 6 – 1938 – Mechanic Milton Getker (left) and the aerial photographer George de Witt (right) next to the Lockheed 10 rudder at the Intl. Cachipo Airport, Monagas State.

 

Figure 7 – Gerald E. Warner, pilot, and N. Mungee next to the Lockheed–10 Electra in 1939.

 

Figure 8 - 1937 - A Sikorsky S-43 of the Pan Amerícan Airways leaving the water to the sea and air terminal incline Bella Vista in Maracaibo. Photography taken from the Plaza del Buen Maestro.

 

Figure 9 – 1947 – The cargo DC-3 (C-47) in Maiquetía.

 

Figure 10 - 1947 - Loading the Lockheed Electra.1 in the airport of Cachipo. Note the hatchway and the ample cargo space in the wings.

 

Figure 11 – 1948 – The “Executive” DC-3 in Cachipo

 

Figure 12 – 1948 – The Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina, twin engine seaplane, of long flight range. It was purchased to serve the eastern region, especially in the Pedernales area. It was used in Venezuela since April 1948 to December 1950.

 

Figure 13 – The 3 Grumman Gulfstream 1 of the actual Lagoven fleet.