Cayman Islands, January 1993 - Part One, two and THREE

[acklington]

In early January 1993 we stayed with friends on the Cayman Islands, a British Territory in the Caribbean south of Cuba. We flew there via Miami, arriving after dark, and our aircraft was an all-white Boeing 737 VR-CRC of Cayman Airways, I never saw it again.

VR-CRC, Cayman Airways, Miami to Cayman, 1 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr

The following slide photos were taken during several visits to Cayman's airport, but please bear in mind that the lighting conditions were generally abysmal! There was a nice roof terrace on the Terminal (since replaced by a new terminal), but photography was into the sun, and every day a big black cloud would form over Island, turning into a thunderstorm in the afternoon. So, back-lit photos were the norm, and it was into the second week before I switched to early morning or late afternoon visits.

C-GLMO, Cayman, 3 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
EI-CBX, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (3) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
EI-CBX, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (4) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
EI-CBX, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (6) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
HK3752X, Cayman, 4 Jan 93 (1) fw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
HK3752X, Cayman, 4 Jan 93 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
HR-IAH, Cayman, 4 Jan 93 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
HR-IAH, Cayman, 4 Jan 93 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
HR-IAH, Cayman, 4 Jan 93 (3) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
HR-IAH, Cayman, 4 Jan 93 (5) fw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
HR-IAH, Cayman, 4 Jan 93 (6) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
It's a Fairchild FH-227, the give-away is the air-conditioning vent in the tail

N34CD, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N78TT, Cayman, 16 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N285AT, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N326UA, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N326UA, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N326UA, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (3) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N326UA, Cayman, 11 Jan 93 (4) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N600VF, Cayman, 3 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N705ML, Cayman, 2 Jan 93 (3) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N705ML, Cayman, 2 Jan 93 (5) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N705ML, Cayman, 2 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N705ML, Cayman, 6 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N731AA, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 pfw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N731AA, Cayman, 11 Jan 93 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N731AA, Cayman, 11 Jan 93 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N731AA, Cayman, 11 Jan 93 (3) aw1 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N870TA (KY-2 OT-CDB), Sky Truck, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N870TA (KY-2 OT-CDB), Sky Truck, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (2) fw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
This has surprised me, 30 years later, when I looked up its history. I had assumed that it was an ex-USAF C-118, but it was a DC-6A that I had seen and photographed several times before as Belgian Air Force OT-CDB / KY-2 at Newcastle Airport, and at Brussels Zaventum. Then it was in passenger configuration, later converted to a freighter.

N872AA, Cayman, 16 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr

N874TA (53-3270, C-118A), Sky Truck, Cayman, 16 Jan 93 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
This one has also surprised me, 30 years late. I grabbed the photo of it shortly before we departed Cayman, assuming that it was the same one as earlier. But it is a different airframe, this one is an ex-USAF VC-118A 53-3270, both aircraft bear the same name "Sky Truck" on the nose. I also wonder if the "Trans" titles mean that it is trying to self-identify as an L-1049 Connie??

The very careful pre-flight walk-around by the full crew shows that they didn't trust it to behave?

Part-two of this thread will follow in a couple of days.

[ian531]

Brilliant - great set of images

Ian

[ronturner]

Thanks for this brilliant contribution.

[Deleted]

Great stuff acklington. It looks a lot busier than when I was there in the mid-80s, although I suppose it's all relative. We did a demo to Cayman Airways with the 748, who were interested in connecting the three islands.

Re the rain. We were based in the BVI at the time and bizarrely, it used to rain about 1600 every day for about 20 minutes and that was it!

Look forward to the next batch.

[acklington]

PART TWO

Many thanks for the comments, and here is the next batch, all arranged in registration order

N896AA, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N955N, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N955N, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N955N, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (3) aw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N1552S, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (3) aw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Never saw many of these Beechcraft Starships over the years, the manufacturer bought them all back and scrapped them.

N1964, Cayman, 3 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N2718B, Cayman, 15 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N3160M, Cayman, 11 Jan 93 (3) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N6167D, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N6167D, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (3) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N6167D, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (5) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N8189M, Cayman, 6 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
TG-RIF, Cayman, 11 Jan 93 fw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
USCG 2129, Cayman, 3 Jan 93 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
USCG 2129, etc, Cayman, 2 Jan 93 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-BMO, Cayman, 16 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CAA, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CAA, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 (3) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CAA, N705ML, N731AA, Cayman, 11 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CAK, Cayman, 6 Jan 93 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CAK, Cayman, 6 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CAK, Cayman, 16 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
This was the Government's 'bug bomber' on permanent standby to spray the mosquito infested lagoons. Before this arrangement the local population used to retire indoors at dusk and light very smokey fires indoors with no chimneys!

VR-CAY, Cayman, 6 Jan 93 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CCH, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CGL, Cayman, 6 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CGL, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CII, Island Air, Cayman, 9 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CIN, Cayman, 15 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CIS, Cayman, 16 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CIS, N2467V, Cayman, 3 Jan 93 fw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CYB, Cayman, 3 Jan 93 (3) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CYB, Cayman, 4 Jan 93 (3) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CYB, CNN, Cayman, 8 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr

The 3rd and final part of the trip will follow next - a "U-2" style spy flight over Cuba.

[acklington]

Departure day from Cayman, and this was our transport back to Miami

VR-CNN, Cayman to Miami, 16 Jan 93 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CNN, Cayman to Miami, 16 Jan 93 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr

VR-CNN, Cayman to Miami, 16 Jan 93 (3) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CNN, Cayman to Miami, 16 Jan 93 (4) fw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Take-off towards the East over the lagoon. Just about visible in the centre of this photo is the airport's fire practice aircraft. I can't make out what it is, other than possibly a Piper Chieftain.

VR-CNN, Cayman to Miami, Cuba coast, 16 Jan 93 (5) fw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
The routing Cayman to Miami was directly across the centre of Cuba, then very much a Soviet satellite with Fidel Castro still in charge. The transit height seemed pretty high, presumably a deliberate condition of being allowed such a direct routing. Anyway, I was not happy, and even less so when I saw this line of Cu-Nimb thunderstorm clouds all along the spine of Cuba, and right across our path. A rough ride was guaranteed.

VR-CNN, Cayman to Miami, Vilo Acuna, Golfo de Cazones, 16 Jan 93 (7) fw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Just offshore is a line of Cuban islands, this one is on the Gulf of Cazones, and a chance for a quick photo of a prominent airfield, Vilo Acuna. Enlarging the photo, no aircraft are visible.

VR-CNN, Cayman to Miami, over Cuba, Jovellanos top left, 16 Jan 93 (7) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Further inland was the next gap in the clouds and I took this photo for no other reason than to show that I had seen Cuba. The small town of Jovellanos is visible top left, but as I scanned and restored this photo this week, I noticed several groups of silver coloured sheds, which seemed possibly military. They are arranged around an open central area with regularly spaced short roadways, each leading to a bunker-like structure. Somewhat akin to a site such as this,
US Nike Hercules Missile site - Miami Life website by Philip Pain, on Flickr
This photo is of an American Nike-Hercules site, but definitely similar. So, had I got a photo of a Cuban Missile Crisis site? Much googling followed, and the mystery deepens as I can be pretty certain of the location, but it is not marked on any of the 1962 USA maps and U-2 spy flight documents that are now in the public domain. Perhaps this site is post-1962, but the Missile Crisis is supposed to have resulted in such missiles being withdrawn from Cuba. Or alternatively it might be a SAM site (air defence missiles), but again none of the de-classified USA documents show anything in this location. Another option is that it was a 1962 site under construction, but never became active, thus not being shown by the Americans. A final 'conspiracy theory' could be that the Americans deliberately showed the wrong locations on their 1962 'evidence', perhaps to mislead the Soviets as to the accuracy of their intelligence?

I then had a look on present-day 'google earth' satellite images. Most of the silver-coloured sheds have gone, and the whole area is now heavily forested, so nothing can be made out at ground level.

VR-CNN, Cayman to Miami, Varadero, Matanzas Bay Cuba, 16 Jan 93 (8) fw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Our flight continued, coasting out near Matanzas Bay, and another large airfield, Varadero, appeared but again with no aircraft visible on it.

VR-CNN, Cayman to Miami, 16 Jan 93 (9) fw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CNN, Cayman to Miami, 16 Jan 93 (10) fw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VR-CNN, Cayman to Miami, 16 Jan 93 (11) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
And then it was the Florida Keys, and downwind for Miami Airport, in the centre of the last photo.

N8866E, from VR-CNN, Miami, 16 Jan 93 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Final photo from VR-CNN was of a nice 727 as we parked alongside.

That's it folks, thanks again for looking.

[Deleted]

We transited Cuba quite a few times in the 748. There wasn't a lot of radio traffic. We would report at the entry point and then at the reporting point at the other end of the corridor and that was it. Much less formal than flying in Russia and the former Soviet Republics. It always seemed to be cloudy when we flew over, so we never saw anything of interest.

[ronturner]

I enjoyed the background stories to this.