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Douglas DC-3 "Spantax", the flight that never returned...


Artie

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Hi all...I've been asked to build a 1/72 scale DC-3 in Spantax colours. Spantax was a well known spanish airline wich operated from 1959 to 1988. Amongst their routes, the flights between the Canary Islands were very appreciated.

On september, 16th, 1966, a DC-3 coded EC-ACX took off from Los Rodeos airport, Tenerife, en route to Mazo aerodrome, La Palma, with 24 passengers onboard, including a young girl and two toddlers. Soon after taking off, the plane got into a deep sea of clouds, and suffered an engine failure wich forced the pilot, Eugenio Maldonado, and co-pilot, Fernando Piedrafita, to make an emergency landing a mile off the coast of El Sauzal, a fishing village in the north of the island. Fortunately, all the passengers and crew were rescued by local fishermen, all but one who suffered a panic attack and a heart strike, being the only victim of the accident. Today, the wreck rests 90ft deep into the sea, upside down, and is must see for local scuba divers.

 

The plane, EC-ACX...

ECACX_R.jpg

The pilot, Mr. Eugenio Maldonado..

330x440EugenioUniformeSpantax.jpg

The co-pilot, Mr. Fernando Piedrafita..

330x440fernando%20piedrafita%20uniforme%

The flight assistant, Miss María del Carmen Vázquez..

330x440mcarmenvazquez.jpg

The accident site...

CroquisvueloECACX2.jpg

 A similar aircaft...

ScreenShot029.jpg

 

The kit I'm going to use...

i501409366.jpg?pictureSize=W640

 

431063_457936817561646_1749918882_n-1.jp

 

I hope to have it finished soon, it's a commision build and, despite not being used to build airliners, these classic machines are quite appealing......

 

Best regards...

 

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I have just returned from my annual holiday to Puerto de la Cruz and actually visited El Sauzal, not knowing anything about what has been lying at the bottom of the sea for so long.

I am aware of course, of the very sad history of several other crashes in Northern Tenerife, and have often thought about modelling the Dan-Air 727 that came to grief there. 

I will look forward to seeing your project progressing.

 

Dave

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Hope you enjoyed it in Puerto de la Cruz...You should had called us, and we'd gladly picked you up to show the island and, of course, invite you a few single malts in ouir LHS...!!!!

The sad story behind that Dan.-Air 727 is still crying here, and it was back in 1982, IIRC. If you take a walk to the crash site, you still can find the remains of the plane. There's a complete undercarriage leg, engine parts, seat frames, and even some suff wich belonged to the passengers lying there. Anyway, it's a frightening place, lots of white crosses hanging from the trees in that deep forest....not for the fainthearted.

Not to talk about the terrible crash that happened back in 1977 in Los Rodeos airport, when two Boeing 747 collided.....

 

Arturo

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This is how the DC3 is progressing so far.....

32629066418_20331c4dee_c.jpgWhatsApp Image 2018-12-28 at 13.47.00 by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr

 

Alogside the Heller Douglas DC6-B, another custom built for the same customer...

32629065988_b6550834b6_c.jpgWhatsApp Image 2018-12-28 at 11.57.18 by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr

 

Inkjet printed Spantax logos..

46450388852_82c8d93256_c.jpgWhatsApp Image 2018-12-28 at 13.51.55 by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr

 

Best regards

 

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On ‎28‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 17:15, Artie said:

Hope you enjoyed it in Puerto de la Cruz...

I certainly did thanks -I think that it was about my 25th visit there!

Wow!! the DC-3 and 6 are looking beautiful -really nice work!

 

Dave

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Well, we call it finally done. The customer came this evening to pick them up. So, a sad farewell was given to the Spantax airliners.

Sorry for the bad quality cell phone pics....

The models were built devoid of any aerials or antennaes, as the customer wants them to be displayed as "desk models", and didn't want any fragile part to be added. Even the propellers are glued in place.

Spantax was famous for being a "charter" airline for big companies. Amongst those companies, Ford España was one of the most prominent ones. They chartered "Bravo Bravo Kilo" to transport their staff and spare parts from Spain to other european countries, hence the "Ford Force" logo......

45605182515_01677ed4e9_c.jpgWhatsApp Image 2018-12-29 at 17.36.57 by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr

31578378107_c5dcdbe5b3_c.jpgWhatsApp Image 2018-12-29 at 17.36.46 by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr

44701410280_1b2194a302_c.jpgWhatsApp Image 2018-12-29 at 17.37.10 by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr

45605180095_00f0f714c4_c.jpgWhatsApp Image 2018-12-29 at 16.42.07 by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr

31578377627_413e18a45e_c.jpgWhatsApp Image 2018-12-29 at 16.42.06 by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr

 

Ok, some aftermarkets were used on this build

46518841101_1731b681cf_c.jpgWhatsApp Image 2018-12-29 at 20.29.42(2) by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr

Edited by Artie
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