Page 28 - Dec 23

IN HISTORY
The Flying Santa
Have you heard of The Flying Santa flights that have continued uninterrupted for 94 years? They started on Christmas Day 1929 in a floatplane built by Travel Air, the airplane manufacturer started in 1925 by Walter Beech, Clyde Cessna and Lloyd Stearman.
Early aviation pioneer William Wincapaw loved flying, He took off and one-by-one, he dropped the packages to
especially amphibious airplanes that were practical for navigating the numerous islands in Penobscot Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Ocean in south central Maine. In 1929, Capt. Wincapaw was managing the Curtiss Flying Service at Rockland airfield and a nearby seaplane base while flying mail, medicine and supplies to remote coastal communities in a Travel Air A-6000-A outfitted with floats. Known for an adventurous spirit and his willingness to fly in less-than-ideal conditions, he was often asked to provide transportation for sick or injured islanders. He appreciated the lighthouse keepers whose tireless efforts helped keep him safe along the way by providing navigation along the coast. When he had time, he returned to the lighthouses to visit with the keepers and their families, whose lives were often thankless and lonely while living on an isolated island. He wanted to do even more to show his appreciation, and on Dec. 25, 1929, he loaded his plane with a dozen packages containing newspapers, magazines, coffee, candy and other items.
the lighthouse keepers.
The flight was an instant success and continued to expand each year to more lighthouse families and Coast Guard stations in Maine, plus Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The communities started to call Capt. Wincapaw The Flying Santa and Santa of the Lighthouses, and he began to dress for the role, with a suit and beard. Eventually, he was joined by his son Bill, Jr., an aspiring pilot who first flew routes with his father and then took on his own routes.
Each year the program expanded to new locations and more help in the way of pilots, organizers and sponsors to help offset the costs of the growing program were needed. By 1933, the Christmas flights visited 91 lighthouses and Coast Guard stations from the Wincapaw’s new home base in Winthrop, Massachusetts. In 1938, Bill, Jr., was in charge because his father couldn’t make it home from flying gold and mining machinery in South
26 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
DECEMBER 2023