Hamilton Cove Seaplane Base
In 1931 the seabase was taken over by Wilmington-Catalina Airline which was owned by the Wrigley family, which owned much of the island. With the start of World War 2 all civilian air traffic stopped. All Catalina Island airports were shut down in September 1942. The US Coast Guard took over the Hamilton Cove Seaplane Base. In 1945, after World War 2 the Hamilton Cove Seaplane Base reopened but did not offer regularly scheduled flights. In 1947 the Hamilton Cove Seaplane Base closed as there was now a land-based airport, Catalina Airport (The Airport in the Sky) and a new seabase in Descanso Bay south of Avalon, home of the Saint Catherine Hotel (1918-1966). The hangar was moved to the land airport and all other traces of the terminal at Hamilton Cove were demolished for the condominium complex built in the early 1970s, the Hamilton Cove condominiums.
The Hamilton Cove Seaplane Base service had only one accident, on November 2, 1933 a seaplane with no passengers crashed. The plane after taking off in the morning overturned and crashed. In the crash, Elliott McFarlane Moore, the manager of Wilmington-Catalina Airlines, and the co-pilot George R. Baker, were instantly killed. W. L. Seiler, the Senior pilot, was found unconscious and rushed to Catalina Hospital.
See also
- California during World War II
- American Theater (1939–1945)
- United States home front during World War II
References
- ^ "Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: California: Pacific Islands". www.airfields-freeman.com.
- ^ "pacificmarine". catalinagoose.homestead.com.
- ^ "westernairexpress". catalinagoose.homestead.com.
- ^ Catalina Air Crash Kills Two San Pedro (CA) News-Pilot, 2 November 1932
- ^ "wilmingtoncatalina". catalinagoose.homestead.com.