Celebrate Cayman
A History of Aviation in the Cayman Islands
How Caymanians used to fly to Florida. Prelude to the five hour flight was a trip in Benny Ross's boat out to the mooring in North Sound to board the Caribbean International Airways Catalina amphibian "Santa Maria". The "Santa Maria" later made the historic first landing in George Town's new airport. (Photo courtesy of The Nothwester Magazine)
Before the development of civil aviation, the only people who visited the Cayman Islands arrived and left by boat. This necessarily kept the number of recreational visitors very low. Though a cruise ship first visited Grand Cayman in 1937, the cruise industry was small and exclusive for many decades, limited to those people with both wealth and a good deal of leisure time. Private yachts occasionally dropped anchor here-but the Cayman Islands were not well known and were too remote to attract any but the most adventurous mariners. In the years following World War Two, however, the Islands were discovered by adventurers of another sort: wartime pilots and flight crew who saw the possibilities in civilian air transportation and took the risks required to bring that potential to the world's attention.
· Except for a floatplane that visited briefly after the '32 Storm, the first planes to "land" in the Cayman Islands were amphibious military planes known as "flying boats". These PBY Catalinas operated out of the North Sound and were connected with the U.S. Navy base Baldpate, which was located in George Town for several years during the Second World War.
· Civilian air travel in the Cayman Islands had its beginnings when an American veteran of the Royal Air Force bought a surplus flying boat from the Canadian government. King Parker, Jr., believed that there was work to be had in the Caribbean for an experienced pilot. He was offered the franchise for a regular commercial service between Kingston and Montego Bay, and formed a company, Jamaica Air Transport Ltd. In November 1946 he started a weekly service between Kingston, Grand Cayman, and Cayman Brac.
· Once service to the Cayman Islands was established, the Cayman Islands government decided to make use of it for mail delivery and offered Parker a small subsidy. He then changed the company's name to Cayman Island Airways Ltd. and began selling 10-shilling shares to Caymanians. CIA made its inaugural flight on 20 October 1947, and passenger service to Grand Cayman was a reality.
· Travel to Grand Cayman in those days was a true adventure. With his wife as stewardess, Parker flew out of Tampa and landed in the North Sound. Normal flight time was five hours, and mechanical problems and weather conditions frequently caused delays and even cancellation. Upon arrival, the passengers were ferried in Benny Ross's motorboat between the flying boat-first a Stranderry biplane and later a Catalina-and a thatch-roofed pier, where Customs officers were stationed.