| |
T
O
M
F
E
N
W
I
C
K
|
|
ONA GOLD TRIP by TOM FENWICK,
RON ROBERTI AND TOM HUF
We loaded 26 000 pounds of gold in New York
and departed for the Azores, Mallorca, Ankara
Turkey, Tehran Iran, Karachi, Ceylon and
Singapore. We leaned on the regs and
"double crewed" so no crew rest till
Singapore! The closest to hijacking was in
TEHRAN. I had soft pedaled our cargo to the
authorites until TEHRAN when I was asked to
come into customs. Customs was on the upper
deck of the terminal which was buzzing as
all terminals do. When the customs official
asked "Captain is your cargo gold?" I started
dancing but he again asked and I had to reply
"Yes" When I walked out of customs ten minutes
later the terminal was quiet as an undiscovered
tomb and people were looking up toward where
we were walking. We were the object of
attention from there on and I decided nothing
would keep us in Tehran. Naturally we had a
runaway prop on takeoff and aborted.
Jerry Garner and I decided to go again and
"pitch lock" the prop on the next TO which
was unsuccess at about V-1. Jerry, Ron
and some Iranian dug into the prop and found
a bad seal which Jerry & I took to the supply
room of AIR MALAYSIA and started running thru
seals looking for something that would work.
I found one which was a little too small in
diameter and a little too fat but we guessed
that if it were stretched onto the part it
would get skinnier and fit well enough!
(To this day I'm sure Jerry and Ron pray that
the FAA doesn't learn of this). So it was on
to Singapore to unload then Hongkong, Bangkok,
Bombay, Dunai - ( AIN'T GOING TO NO STINKING
TEHRAN FIND ANOTHER AIRPORT !!) Rhodes,
Amsterdam, Shannon, Gander and good old
NORFOLK VA. Four trips were planned but after
the scary experience - I think NY was more
worried than we were - the last three were
put on DC-8s and flown NON-STOP (How boring)
Best from Tom
YOKOTA AIR FORCE BASE
Lockheed L-188 Electra
N284F at JFK in 1973
|
|
Tom Huf sent crew photo
to the left to
Ron Roberti
who relayed it to the ONA
Crew Web!
"From left to right up front
Tom Fenwick, Ron Roberti,
Dell Hollenbeck, two
unidentified navigators.
In the background from left
to right Tom Huf, Jerry
Garner and behind the two
navigators is Bill Fox.
Jim Whithouse was with us
and he might have taken the
picture.
Greetings from Tom Huf"
Tom Fenwick flew Electra,
DC-8, DC-9 and DC-10
Tom Fenwick and
Sue Hawkins
Cairo Egypt 1978
HONG KONG
IRELAND
|
|
O
N
A
-
C
R
E
W
-
F
R
I
E
N
D
S
H
I
P
-
R
E
U
N
I
O
N
-
|
|
Photo courtesy Ron Preed
|
|
"You are flying on one of ONA´s Bicentennial
Aircraft designed by one of our employees as
a symbol of our participation in the celebration
of America´s 200th anniversary.
In keeping with ONA´s role of promoting masstravel
for recreational, cultural and educational purposes,
we have named our bicentennial project "visitUS".
Through 1975, 1976 and 1977 the aircraft will visit
most cities in the US, Hawaii, the islands of the
Caribbean and many European countries extending an
ivitation to all people to "visitUS" during this
"Celebration America" period.
We hope this card will serve as a memento of your
flight and a reminder of the wonders of a free and
independent USA and its 200th Anniversary Celebration."
|
