Interocean, a DC-4 operator, became the second of the five carriers to order the Carvair by way of associate company Intercontinental. Both Carvairs were for Interocean but one was ordered by Intercontinental and the other by Winston Factors. The U.S. carrier Intercontinen- tal, Luxembourg based Interocean and financing group Winston Factors all shared corporate officers and owners. They were also closely associated with U.S. Transport Corporation, which was the registered owner of another Intercontinental DC-4. The two carriers were short lived yet played a major role in the Carvair story.
Intercontinental operated as a passenger and cargo charter airline depending on mass movements as the primary source of revenue. Interocean concentrated on the annual pilgrim- age to Mecca and United Nations relief missions. It also pursued minor charter contracts such as transporting gold for the British Monetary Authority.
Interocean was registered in Luxembourg in March 1960 naming John Chapman as Pres- ident. Service was launched in June with two Intercontinental DC-4s. Intercontinental began operations in 1959 under the same owners and management. Financial backing came from three New York attorneys, Benjamin B. Peck, Bernard Nathanial Goldberg, and Lawrence M. Kessel- man, who were also officers of Winston Factors. Interocean management was shuffled late in 1960 when John O’Connell became president and John Chapman moved to Director of Oper- ations. Captain Gerry Morris, who was formerly with TWA became chief pilot. Both airlines operated the readily available DC-4s, which were inexpensive to operate and easy to repair with an abundant supply of spares on the market. Interocean rapidly became a growing
charter carrier in Europe and secured United Nations relief work contracts in Africa transport- ing equipment and passengers.
Seven Seas Airlines, also based at Findel Airport, was a major bidder on United Nations contracts. It ceased operations in 1961 leaving a clear opportunity. With less competition Inte- rocean purchased four more DC-4s in order to fill the void left by Seven Seas for the lucrative contracts. Interocean needed aircraft with more cargo capacity to insure growth and bid on spe- cialized cargo charters. Intercontinental could no longer rely on charters to Mecca for its pri- mary income. The management team was aware the relief work in Africa would eventually end and considered equipment for future cargo charters in Europe. In June 1962 Intercontinental placed an order with Aviation Traders for two Carvairs with an option for a third. Preliminary talks were held with automobile manufactures to transport assembly parts after the Congo work was completed.
Engineers at ATEL were experimenting with an onboard ramp system that got the atten- tion of Peck and Goldberg. The prototype system employed the old Bristol loading ramps with a new fabricated top extension. Both aircraft were ordered with special features for use at unim- proved fields, which included an improved version of the self-contained ramp system. The Inte- rocean ships are the only two Carvairs fitted with these units.
Interocean expressed an urgent need prompting the acceptance of two Carvairs in progress off the line rather than wait to have Interocean DC-4s converted. After securing the United Nations ONUC contract Interocean had acquired three more DC-4s, LX-BBP, -BNG, and -LMK, for African work.
When Interocean placed an order for two Carvairs in June 1962, ATEL was developing an on board ramp system. On 14 February 1962 this experimental ramp was tested. The upper section is longer but closely resembles the production model developed for Interocean. The lower section is the Bristol load- ing ramps (courtesy Guy Craven)
Flight crews were dispatched to Southend for Carvair training and certification. On 04 October 1962 Interocean Congo Division General Manager Walter B McCarthy requested UN identification for flight crews. The list included the first three Interocean pilots to qualify on the Carvair, Gerry R. Morris, Arvid P. Fairchild, and Robert Dedman.1 The trio arrived from Luxembourg on 12 September 1962 on board Benjamin Peck’s Aero Commander N9378R. Crew training was conducted at Southend, Stansted, and Manston. After training Fairchild was made Director of Congo Operations division for a short time. He was replaced by the well respected Captain Morris, who was a very capable operations manager. Dedman took all his training at Stansted between 16 and 20 September before going to the Congo to train other pilots and later became the sole pilot for Benjaman Peck’s Aero Commander. He eventually left Interocean and flew for TWA for 28 years.2Fairchild was involved with at least three other Car- vair operators later in his career. Morris became the first American to hold an FAA certifica- tion for the type.
Interocean traded in to ATEL two standard DC-4s, LX-BNG (BNG the initials of Bernard N. Goldberg) in August and LX-BBP (BBP the initials for Benjaman B. Peck) on 11 November 1962. LX-BBP was actually a substitution for LX-LMK (LMK the initials of Lawrence M. Kessel- man).
Intercontinental purchased Carvair four on 20 September 1962. It received United States registration N9758F. The second Carvair, conversion five, was purchased 20 November 1962
The final design of the ramp system was tested on N9758F prior to delivery. The two Interocean ships were equipped with the system, which proved to be heavy and difficult to set up. The door mounted toilet is in place but the privacy curtain has not been installed (courtesy Terry Leighton/Aviation Traders Ltd.).
and registered as N9757F. Interocean listed seven DC-4s with Luxembourg registrations and the two Carvairs with U.S. registrations allocated to the Congo contract.3Two months later, December 1962, N9758F was registered to Interocean as LX-IOG. In January 1963 it was trans- ferred to Interocean and registered as LX-IOH. The registrations were reversed on the paper- work and it was easier to change the letters on the aircraft rather than try and sort out the applications. The LX-IOG registration was used for the second time and given to N9757F, which was purchased by Interocean on 17 December 1962.
The dual registration of the Carvairs was only for a short time as verified in a letter from Bernard Goldberg to the FAA dated 25 February 1963. Long after the demise of Interocean the registration is further noted on a title abstract dated 29 March 1985 when the aircraft returned to the U.S. after being sold to Ruth May for Falcon Airways. The title had not been cleared and the FAA was not notified for more than 20 years.4In February 1963 Intercontinental also trans- ferred to Interocean DC-4 N30042 prior to sale to Aviation Traders.
Intercontinental and Interocean were so closely associated that administrative changes affected both companies. Benjamin Peck, an original financial backer of Intercontinental, became president succeeding John O’Connell. Henry Pransky assumed the Managing Director position at Interocean. The management team was planning expansion with additional Carvairs. Air Pic- torial Magazine reported in May 1963 that Carvair nine would probably be for Interocean assum- ing the carrier would exercise the option for a third conversion. Aviation Traders did not publicly mention it again and Carvair nine went to BUAF.
Interocean was awarded a new United Nations contract effective 01 May 1963 while Cap- tain Morris was Director of Congo Operations. He informed the UN three DC-4s, LX-IOA — LX-IOE — LX-IOF and the two Carvairs, LX-IOG — LX-IOH would comprise the Interocean Congo fleet reducing the compliment by four DC-4s from the original commitment.5
Intercontinental, the parent company, was under scrutiny in the U.S. by late 1963 for alleged violations of its passenger transport licensing authority. Efforts were made to circumvent the problem by forming a third airline company in early 1964 named Tran-State. Captain Robert Dedman was called back from the Congo to assist in setting up the U.S. airline.6The plan was to assume all of the Intercontinental contracts. The Intercontinental certificate expired in March 1964 and the CAB refused to renew it. With the U.S. operating certificate denied the Intercon- tinental operations ceased on 17 March 1964 leaving Interocean to survive on its own. The air- line continued service mostly in Britain and the Continent actively pursuing both military and civilian contracts.
During the summer of 1963 Alisud, a small Italian carrier based at Naples, signed a con- tract with Interocean. Alisud operated in the Naples to Palermo market with one leased Car- vair from BUAF. The carrier planned to expand service with three Carvairs. Because of licensing problems the expansion never materialized and Alisud terminated the service after only five months. The two Interocean Carvairs were once again out of work. Interocean appeared to be holding on, but its fate had already been cast.
In addition to owning the two Carvairs Interocean leased a Constellation, DC-6, and DC- 7, which were painted in very smart new liveries. It was only a matter of time however before the Carvairs as well as the airline became history. The Carvairs had originally been delivered to Interocean via Intercontinental in very subtle white upper fuselage. The idea was to be incon- spicuous because of the politically sensitive contracts the aircraft were flying. The Congo liv- ery for the Carvairs consisted of white upper half, thin blue stripe and bare metal bottom with no logo or lettering. During United Nations operations in Africa, ONUC was added in large white letters on the forward lower bare metal fuselage. After the Congo the ONUC was removed and Interocean Airways was added to the upper sides of the nose along with the blue and white stripe arrowhead logo and red lion. The exact date of this change is not clear but the new liv- ery was applied to the aircraft by mid 1964.
Magazine advertisements of 1963 showed one aircraft in the new livery and the other with Interocean Airways in large dark block letters with a slim V shaped arrow in a circle on the for- ward fuselage. This livery and logo was a re-touched photo and never applied to the aircraft. Examining the “W” in “Airways” further supports this argument. The “W” was always made by laying two “V”’s one over the other to form a “W.” Another print advertisement photo from 1963 has the correct printing and logo. However, the lettering is much smaller and high above the cheat line. Both aircraft returned from Congo United Nations work in Plain white. In a rush to generate business with print advertisement it was easier to add a logo to an existing photo than wait until the aircraft was painted. A limited number of charters were operated before repainting and the installation of the rear passenger cabin and windows.
Interocean operated other aircraft but was primarily a DC-4 operator. The Carvair being a derivative of the DC-4 easily fit its maintenance program and shared standard DC-4 parts. The Carvairs were not generating sufficient revenue by 1965. Adding to the problems a leased Interocean Constellation LX-IOK, inbound from Dublin, crashed on landing at Addis Ababa Ethiopia on 02 October 1964 with one crew fatality. With this loss Interocean was again a DC- 4/Carvair operator.
During the summer of 1963 both Carvairs were back at Aviation Traders for maintenance and a retro fit of car-ferry standards with the addition of the rear passenger cabin and galley. Both were originally delivered as pure freighters with self contained ramp systems. The print advertisement of August 1963 emphasized their versatility with the portable ramp systems. Even with the passenger cabins Interocean was unable to generate enough business to support the Carvairs and they were put up for sale. Both ships ferried to Stansted on 28 April 1965 where they underwent maintenance checks prior to the purchase by French operator Cie Air Transport (CAT). LX-IOH, was delivered to CAT on 31 May and LX-IOG followed on 19 June 1965.
After the sale of the Carvairs, Interocean continued to slip downward, operating only three DC-4s, one leased DC-6, and one leased DC-7. By September 1965 the entire Interocean fleet was only two DC-4s insuring the end was near. Interocean ceased operations in March 1966 after six years, marking the end of one of only five original Carvair operators.
It is noteworthy that three Interocean DC-4s were converted to other Carvairs. Both LX-BNG and LX-BBP, which were added to its fleet in 1961 were traded in on Carvairs four and five and became conversions seven and ten. The third DC-4, LX-IOF, was purchased by Interocean in 1962 and operated in the Congo beside the Carvairs before becoming conver- sion seventeen in 1964. Ironically LX-BBP, which became Carvair 10, did United Nations work in Rhodesia as a DC-4 during the UDI blockade. Overall Interocean operated two Carvairs and 13 DC-4s making it a major player in the history of five Carvairs. Another DC-4 LX-LMK was sold to ATEL in 1964 but instead of being converted it was re-sold to Trans-Australian Air- lines.
Interocean DC-4 LX-BBP, Carvair ten, returned to Africa in 1975 and passed through sev- eral owners in Zaire and the Congo. It was fully restored in 1993 and operated by EclAir on tobacco distribution contracts in Zaire. In 1995 after only two years it was withdrawn from serv- ice. It was destroyed in Kinshasa (formerly Leopoldville) Zaire later that year.
Interocean DC-4 LX-IOH, converted to Carvair 17 passed through many owners until pur- chase by Bob McSwiggan for Custom Air Service. It was broken up at Naples Florida in 1993 for spares to support Custom Air Service Carvair five, which was built originally for Intercon- tinental/Interocean as LX-IOG. Spares from Carvair 17 were also used to support Carvair seven which was converted from Interocean DC-4 LX-BNG.
Interocean ceased operations in 1966 after only six years, its aircraft were 25 percent of the Carvair fleet continuing to be a part of the Carvair story for another 30 years.