After the closing of Antilles Air Boats it certainly left a void in downtown to downtown air transportation between the islands. The expertise in flying and maintaining seaplanes was certainly available as was the Grumman Mallard. Virgin Islands Seaplane Shuttle came at the right time for the many Virgin Islanders both as passengers and employees.
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The PT-6 Turbine conversion made the Grumman Mallard a much better aircraft for commercial service with the increase in available weight as well as its reliability. It all came at a price.
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It was unfortunate timing that a number of aircraft were out of service and could not fly out to avoid Hurricane Hugo.
The last of the hull seaplanes in service between the islands. Enter Seaborne.
J-4
J-9
J-10
J-11
J-28
J-32
J-38
J-51
J-55
J-53
VISS begins...
46 King Street, Christiansted, St. Croix
Don, Micky and Vince
.The new start-up of the Virgin Island Seaplane Shuttle began in the Penthany Building on King Street with just a handful of employees. Photo of the three new owners; Don Lewis, Mickey Braunstien and Vince Condello. Julie Rasmussen was employee #1 with Charlie Freehling #2, Nick Castruccio #3 and Glenn Blair #4.
The initial team worked with the multitude of agencies to gain the approvals to begin service on
March 15, 1982
Julie Rasmussen
Glenn Blair
photo credit Michael Prophet
photo credit Michael Prophet
N604SS - 10/28/86
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photo credit Charlie Freehling
St.Croix Terminal Grill
photo credit Matt Rodina
N611SS was spared by Hurricane Hugo in St. Croix in 1989 only to be destroyed by Hurricane Wilma in Miami in 2005
J-11
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Mfg. 12/31/46 NC2948
June 1947 Air Commuting Inc. - NY, NY
June 1948 Texas Co. Inc - NY, NY
Reregistered N1628 (6/63)
Ferried to Houma, Louisiana
Sept 1983 Dean Franklin - Miami, FL
Reregistered N76DF
1984 Virgin Islands Seaplane Shuttle
Reregistered N611SS (3/21/85)
May 1990 Caribbean Airline Services. Inc. - P.R.
Dec 1991 Sea Air Shuttle, Inc. - P.R.
May 2000 U.S. Distributors, Inc. - Miami, FL
Severely Damaged by Hurricane Wilma 2005
on Watson Island,
April 2006 Lake Air, Inc. - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
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Registration expired in 2011 / Current status unknown.
N2948 - Texaco
N611SS Watson Island, Miami, FL
photo credit Matt Rodina
N609SS J-9
photo credit Bill Bailey Collection
Grumman G-73 Mallard J-9 was manufactured in November of 1946 and used as a demonstrator for two years out of Bethpage N.Y.
In November of 1948, J-9 relocated to the west coast with 20th Century Fox to appear in the movie "Slattery's Hurricane". It saw service with Pacific Western Airlines. BC Air Lines, West Coast Air Service in Vancouver, BC before heading south to Chalk's Flying Service in Miami. Frakes Aviation converted J-9 to G-73T (PT-6 turbine conversion) before it arrived at Virgin Island Seaplane Shuttle in 1984.
NC2946 / N2946 / CF-HPU / N123DF / N609SS
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photo from Tom Anusewicz Collection / Alamy license
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The VISS Mallards in various state of un-airworthiness looked for an operator that could bring them back to the skies of the VI.
Read more below and at (VISS)
J-9 was charted for a flight to Venezuela were it was listed as damaged beyond repair after being blown ashore while anchored off shore in that South American country. Aircraft was dismantled and reported to have been taken to a "military airport". Presumed rebuilt and still airworthy but not registered. Cancelled from U.S. Civil Aircraft Registry 2012.
Virgin Island Seaplane Shuttle evacuated N690SS along with 2 other Mallard aircraft to Puerto Rico as Hurricane Hugo (Sept. 17, 1989) approached the Virgin Islands. After the storm, VISS operated for about 10 days before it closed its doors due to the severe financial issues.
Caribbean Airline Services, Inc. - Carolina, Puerto Rico
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Anthony C. Tirri, President. Leased the Mallards to Sea Air Shuttle Corp, headed by Armaldo Delio and dba Virgin Island Seaplane Shuttle . At the end of 1990, Caribbean Airline Services (CAS) joined Sal Labate's Labate Aviation, Inc. in co-ownership of the seven Mallards (J-9, J-11, J-28, J-32, J-51, J-53, & J-55) abandoned by Virgin Island Seaplane Shuttle to the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company. The aircraft were in varied condition, from airworthy to un-repairable . CAS then put forward a proposal to the Virgin Islands Port Authority (VIPA) in competition with two other bidders, to lease seaplane ramps at St. Thomas and St. Croix, and thereby continue the interisland air service. After much backroom political maneuvering . VIPA awarded the right to negotiate for the lease to Caribbean Air Boats who had no aircraft and no experience of seaplane operations. Not surprisingly, Caribbean Air Boats were not able to provide a servcie and after several years the lease was put out to tender again. This time the lease on the seaplane ramps was awarded to Caribbean Airline Services, Inc., but again, after two years the lease was nullified for lack of performance. A few more years passed and finally the lease was awarded to Seaborne Seaplanes who had operated between St. Thomas and St. Croix with DHC-6 Twin Otters on straight floats, After some ten years (circa 2001),the seaplane ramps were rebuilt and put into use together with floating docks to support the DHC-6 operations.
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the above comments from "The Grumman Amphibians"
