Silent Super-8mm movie of a Capitol Airlines log flight departing Midway Island on runway 24 during 1974/75. Recorded during my 1974/75 tour on Midway with the Navy.
That was a rare takeoff. Most traffic went the other way on runway 06. During 1970-71 I was the CO of Navfac Midway Islands and my office was just south of runway 06's takeoff ramp. Funny story. A USAF COL who was the CO of a squadron of C-124's stationed on Okinawa had worked out a boondoggle for himself to ferry one of his planes back to CONUS for overhaul -- just before Christmas. He had to stop at Midway for fuel. I was watching as this monster taxied into position to takeoff on runway 06. One-by-one the COL ran up his engines (four Pratt and Whitney R-4360-63A Wasp Major 28 cylinder radial air cooled piston engines*).The first three were fine (sounded GREAT) but as the fourth one ran up -- BANG!!! Fortunately there wasn't a fire .The COL must've had apoplexy. He taxied back to the hangar area and telephoned Hickam AFB in Hawaii to ask for assistance. "No problem COL. We'll have an engine and an installation crew out to Midway tomorrow." They LIED. The COL stayed with his plane -- on Midway -- right through Christmas. He became a fixture at the O-Club bar where he specialized in "Very Dry Martinis". One of the bartenders told me that the COL came in, took a seat at the bar and ordered "the usual." The bartender volunteered "COL. since you like 'em very dry, why don't you let me hold the vermouth bottle and you can call when there's enough. He reached for the vermouth, but before he even touched the bottle, the COL said ,"That's enough!"
@gedstrom
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In 1974/75, I saw a lot of takeoffs in this direction on Runway 24.
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