Now I've got a lot of rides on airplanes under my belt. In the Arctic I flew on skis many times. I flew on floats and landed in lakes and rivers. I flew on wheels and landed on dirt and grass strips . I had to good fortune to fly on all kinds of small planes with floats or skis or wheels.
However my first ride with Johnny May was not because of Johnny May. It was the landing.
So I'd had a wealth of experience but I had never landed on the sea! I had no idea what to expect. We were flying in an old Beech 18 which was 1930's technology. This was a twin engine with Johnny May as pilot.
We made the approach to Wakeham Bay and lined up. There was a swell of about 5 feet. Being a prairie boy I knew nothing about the sea or tides or swells. When these pilots had to land with swells they would very slightly touch the top of the first swell and then skip from the top of each swell until they lost air speed. The plane was then tossed around in the swell. The tricky part was to turn across the swell and get to the dock.
I was not prepared for any of this . I really wondered if we were going to make it. These landings had been done many times and pilots like Johnny May were very skillful at it.
So here's the old Beech 18 after making another successful landing
