"Honolulu International Airport - June 1984

There are many tropical Islands in the world that I would like to visit. One of these is the Hawaiian Island in the Pacific Ocean. During the summer of 1984 I made plans to visit the Oahu Island, which is the main Island, where Pearl Harbour and the main city of Honolulu are located. I saved up enough money and bought a roundtrip fare with accommodations with CP Air, which was probably the cheapest and easiest route. My flight routed from Amsterdam airport to Vancouver international airport with a short stop at Calgary, onboard a CP Air Douglas DC-10 series 30. At Vancouver we switched planes and flew onwards on a CP Air Boeing B747-200. I arrived late at Honolulu International airport and headed straight to my hotel, the Miramar-Hawaii located at the world famous Waikiki beach. This was going to be a three weeks holiday with a lot of sea and sun.

The next day I visited Waikiki beach for the first time and noticed how many Japanese visitors on the Island. Temperatures were already soaring up to the 30 degrees. The other reason to visit Hawaii was the interesting Propliner aviation scene at the time. Honolulu Airport was well known for having excellent outdoor viewing balconies along the piers, which offered great photo opportunities. Companies such as Hawaiian Airlines (MD80s), Aloha Airlines (B737-200s) and Mid Pacific Air YS-11s were seen through out the day. Across the airport lies Hickam Air Force base and numerous military movements mixed into the civil stream. The more interesting area, the Cargo Centre, lies in the south along the Lagoon Drive and Keehi Lagoon.

After a few days relaxing on the beach I decided to explore the Island and rented a scooter. My first visit to the cargo ramps proved to be successful. At the time the local Propliner cargo community was busy with Beech-18s, DC-3s, DC-6s and ATL-98 Carvairs flying on a daily basis. At the end of the lagoon I discovered a Propliner bone-yard with a C-54 Skymaster, a stripped out DC-6 and two DC-3s spending their last days in the weeds. On the active ramp I saw two green coloured Air Molokai DC-3 (N104PR and N162E) awaiting a load of cargo. Down the ramp were two DHL Island Cargo Douglas DC-6s standing idle in the midday heat. Apparently most flight where carried out during the night. The next ramp I visited offered even more Propliner delights. Pacific Air Express piston engine fleet lay at rest. Its single Douglas DC-4 (N301JT ex: Air Distributions) was being washed down while the two ATL-98 Carvair N55243 and N103) were being inspected. With its giant nose door open, the unique Carvair looked very impressive.

During my second week I decided to visit another Island, there were many tours to choose from. I decided to book a 1-day visit to the neighbouring island of Maui, which included a tour of the Islands Ian Needle Park and the impressive Haleakala National Park. As a bonus I got to fly onboard one of Aloha Air classic Boeing B737-200 twin jet. The flight to Maui was very short; I believe it was only 40 minutes. We landed safely at Kahului airport and I was picked up by the local tour operator. We first visited the Haleakala Crater which lies on the South East part of the Island. The small mini van takes about an hour to reach the summit at 3050 meters. We spend some time taking pictures of the massive volcano crater. The temperature was a rather cool 10 degrees. After lunch we headed to the Iao Valley state park, which is a deep valley surrounded by the walls of the Puukukui crater. I walked along the valley tropical forest and natural water pools.

Colour drawings: 1977 - World Airline Colour Schemes (Volume 2)