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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1089.PDF
/ LIGHT, 8 June 1950 685 Among the natives of the San Bias Islands the Piper Clipper has come to be accepted as a feature— and a very useful feature —of their daily lives. The "uniform" of its crew is in keeping with the holiday-like atmo- sphere of this scene. Aviation, which, has Penetrated Many Unlikely Spots on the Earth's Surface, Links a Chain of Islets off the Panama Coast SCATTERED like a miniature galaxy of stars in the azure waters ofthe Atlantic, from one to fifteen miles off the coast of Panama, lie theSan Bias Islands. The casual visitor—who would probably have to reach their shores by canoe from larger vessel anchored some distance out— would find these islands nowhere more than a few inches above sea-level. They are thickly covered with luxuriant tropical vegetation and palm trees, among which an occasional clearing can be found, dotted with straw-thatched huts. It is hardly the sort of territory in which one would expect to find an air service operating. Yet such is the case. Regular charter flights are made from Panama by a four-seat Piper Clipper, carrying medical and other urgently needed supplies, as well as passengers, to the Indian inhabitants of these swamp-ridden atolls. On some of them, the aircraft lands on strips cleared among the mango patches, on others the main-street of a native village serves as a runway—often not more than 80 yards long. Canoes provide " feeder-services " to those islands on which a landing is not possible. A typical island in the groupwith a " landing-strip " in the village street ; the dazzlinglywhite sand and limpid water again suggest holiday pleasures.The smaller picture shows some of the native canoes that arethe basic means of transport. tS O
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