How History Links Things

I've really been struggling with keeping up with other's blogs and feel uncomfortable about posting an entry of my own when I am behind with yours. I have also gotten a bad case of writer's block lately, so between the too, this entry has been long in coming.

About a week ago, I attended an airplane show in Marathon, Florida (in the Keys) and was interested in climbing aboard an old DC-3 which I had noticed at the airport a couple years ago.

From Wikipedia, we lift the following:

"The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven airliner, the speed and range of which revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made."

My personal memories of the DC-3 include flying one over the mountains in Taiwan (also known as Formosa or the Republic of China) as a wide-eyed 10 year old looking down on lush, green covered mountains on a China Air Lines flight. The plane I flew on had served flying supplies over "the hump" (the Burma Road) to the Flying Tigers in the early days of WWII.

Later, I was to take one of the last commercial flights into Marathon, Florida on a DC-3 (sometime in 1980s). I remember mostly the sharply inclined floor to my perch like seat, the loud noise generated by the two large radial engines and propellors and a landing into a near hurricane gale that I would be happy to never repeat.

At the air show was a typical much-storied DC-3.


This particular DC-3 was completed on March 11, 1942 and used by the US Navy for training and transport at various US Navy bases.

In the spring of 1947 Continental Airlines bought the plane for $25,000. Continental Airlines flew it's new acquisition to Stapleton Field in Denver, Colorado, where the main cabin was converted (Douglas provided modification plans for conversion of many of these ex-military planes) for use as a commercial airliner.

Southern Airways purchased the aircraft in 1949 for it's southeastern United States and Central American routes. The aging DC-3A flew passengers until 1966 when it was sold to National Aircraft Sales of Dallas, Texas. Coffield, a Texas businessman, used the aircraft primarily for transportation of personnel and equipment to oil fields and other business locations.

Source


While in Coffields possession, the plane was used in Preston Smith's successful campaign for Governor of Texas and also to transport Princess Grace of Monaco to a social event at Coffield's ranch.

While I "inspected" the inside of the airplane, I noticed this sign on one of the carefully protected seats.

"A part of history

This aircraft was once owned by Texas oil millionaire, H. H. Coffield. In the 1960s, movie actress Grace Kelly who later became Princess Grace of Monaco, was invited to the Coffield ranch of a social gathering.

This airplace was used to transport her to the event."

After Coffield's death in 1983, the plane was transferred to Tradewinds Aircraft Sales, and from there changed hands a few times before ending up in Marathon, Florida as part of a personal collection in 2009.

In the cabin of this 88 year old airplane, I mused on coincidences and how this airplane has a link to my hometown.

Princess Grace of Monaco was born Grace Patricia Kelly on November 12, 1929, to John Brendan Kelly and Margaret Majer Kelly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father was a rich contractor and an Olympic gold medal winner for sculling and her mother an equally athletic and attractive woman. Grace grew up in an Irish-Catholic family in Philadelphia with her three siblings Margaret, Elizabeth, and John (Kelly Drive in Philadelphia is named after this John, who grew up to be a Philadelphian councilman).

I've written about Fairmont Park in Philadelphia - where you can see sculling take place today, along Kelly Drive, focusing on the Cherry trees (here and here)

After her graduation from American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, Grace moved to Hollywood, California, where she landed her first major movie role in the 1952 picture "High Noon", in which she played the young bride of a sheriff played by Gary Copper.

Grace starred in a few of Hitchcocks films, including "Dial M for Murder" (1954), "Rear Window" (1954), and "To Catch a Thief" (1955). Co-starring with some of the biggest names in Hollywood and starring in major films now reserved Grace a place as one of Hollywoods icons of the 1950s.

1954 was a busy year for Grace. Besides starring in "Dial M for Murder" and "Rear Window", she filmed "Country Girl", for which she won an Oscar for Best Actress. 1954 also brought about the films "Green Fire" and "The Bridges of Toko-ri".

Although she had only been in the film industry for four or five years, Grace was a huge sensation. Beautiful, popular, and elegant, Grace had already been linked to the actors, designers, and celebrities Clark Gable, Ray Milland, William Holden, Oleg Cassini, Jean-Pierre Aumont and Bing Crosby.

Source

Grace headed the US delegation at the Cannes Film Festival in April 1955. While there, she was invited to participate in a photo session at the Palace of Monaco with Prince Rainier III, the sovereign of the principality. After a series of delays and complications, Grace met the prince in Monaco.

After her marriage to Prince Rainier III of Monaco on April 18/19, 1956, she become Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco. After the wedding, Prince Rainier banned the screening of Kelly's films and she gave up her acting career, having made 11 films.

She and Prince Rainier went on to have three children - Caroline, Albert, and Stephanie.

Princess Grace was killed in a car crash on September 14, 1982 after her car went off a road over a cliff in Monaco at the age of 52.