Seaboard Mystery Flight

On November 17, 1947, six months to the day after Seaboard's first revenue flight returned from Europe, the same DC-4 flew from Aruba to New York. The crew was most unusual. The two pilots and 2nd officer were all founders and executives of Seaboard. The two pursers were wives of two of them. If it was a revenue flight, it is the only known such flight flown by people who were not regular Seaboard crewmembers. It is approximately 1,720 nautical miles from Aruba to New York, most of it over open ocean. At the DC-4's cruising speed of 181 knots, it would take approximately 9½ hours one way, not much fun. It seems unlikely, therefore,that it was just a pleasure flight. It might have been a ferry flight, but that begs the question of what happened to the crew that took it to Aruba. Such questions might never be answered. The only information available to date is the crew manifest shown.

The manifest was prepared by Lois Goodey, age 18. In 1964, she married Seaboard maintenance man Frank Farella. She ultimately became secretary to Seaboard's last President and Chairman, Richard Jackson. Lois was probably the longest-serving Seaboard employee.

The crewmembers were (as listed):