OCThen reader Marc offers up memories of watching Los Angeles Airways fly their helicopters to and from Disneyland...
Okay, here's an obscure one for ya:
I moved to Anaheim in 1967. We lived off of Wilhelmina, near Sycamore and East Street. On weekends we would go to the Disneyland Hotel and watch helicopters taking off from a large, paved heliport across from the Hotel. Does anybody remember this?
The helicopters were from Los Angeles Airways and they were silver. They were Sikorsky S-61 models I believe. They used to provide service from/to Disneyland Hotel from the Los Angeles area.
There were two or three serious crashes in the late 60's and they went out of business and bulldozed the heliport. It became parking for Disneyland hotel and today is under the outdoor parking net to the gargantuan new parking structures that serve Disneyland. Great memories watching those helicopters come and go. It seemed so exotic to us kids then.
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| Photo courtesy of AirlineSafety.com |
Another OCThen reader, CoxPilot, offers up a memory of his own...
I took one of the L.A. Airways flights from Disneyland to L.A.X. in 1960. In those days the helo took off from the Disneyland parkinglot, just next to the employees entrance. They used the old piston driven Sikorsky H-34 machines then. I think they upgraded the following year when they moved the landing pad over to the hotel.
Another reader, George Anstadt recalls the same...
I remember there use to be a helicopter shuttle from Disney Hotel to LAX. It was a big chopper that held about 30 people. That was a fun ride before the big plane ride which as a kid made the event more special.
George Anstadt
Finally, Buck Kharma weighs in...
Who remembers the horrific helecopter crash in the Downey area? The helicopter left Disneyland and went down killing all on board. My aunt worked at Wonder Bowl in Downey, and the crash site was near there, as I walked over and surveyed the wreckage. The crash was in LA County, but departed from Orange County, 1968 or 1969, I still have the news story, somewhere.
You can read more about Los Angeles Airways and the crash of Flight 417 here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Airways_Flight_417
I'm a blogger and internet marketer, motorcycle rider, and craft beer lover.
I rode those a couple of times. You always felt like your life was in danger. They were a horrible uncomfortable ride, Noisy and shuttering.
ReplyDeleteI used to ride them too but my memories were from the Disneyland Hotel. If you had an American Airlines ticket, they would fly you from Anaheim right to the tarmack at American. Weren't they discontinued when people were shooting at them? During some kind of riot? I was very young then so my memories might be a little off.
ReplyDeletei went into the army in jan of 1967 and did basic training at fort ord ca,when we got leave i would fly down to lax on united and ride these things down to disneyland (i lived in santa ana)i remember boarding one on the trip back to lax and noticed red fluid leaking on the ground and pointed it out to the crew chief/flight attendant who rode onboard,his response was"its no big thing they all do that"had i known back then what people killers these things were i would have never set foot on one,man was never ment to fly in a super sized beer can suspended by a whirlling palm tree
ReplyDeleteLong before Disneyland LA Airways 'copters flew between LAX and Santa Ana - as well as about a dozen other cities in the LA Basin. The heliport in Santa Ana was on the east side of Santiago Park - near what was the old shooting range where Santiago Ave cut through the park. After Disneyland opened a stop on the Santa Ana/LAX route was added there. Eventually Santa Ana was abandoned in favor of Disneyland.
ReplyDeleteLike many air carriers LA Airways made its bread and butter hauling mail. When the mail contracts dried up so did LA Airways.
Ahh yes LA airways. I'm too young to have experienced watching helicopters taking off but I know I would be there just about every day watching them. The reason why I'm writing in is there is a bit of history about LA Airlines over at http://www.airfields-freeman.com/CA/Airfields_CA_OrangeCo_NW.htm Namely the locations of the 3 heliports, the types of helicopters they used (Mostly experimental) and the crashes that more or less ended the airline.
ReplyDeleteWe called them the Disneyland Helicopters and
ReplyDeleteat certain times we would see them fly low on
the western horizon between houses. They must
have flown along the Santa Ana River or Harbor
Blvd. One of my neighbors was on the helicopter
flight the day before it crashed. It was a real
big deal. Another was on a Arro or Arrow Airline
OC to LAX one week before they had a crash. Big
Deal in the neighbor hood as well.
William Henness,
ReplyDeleteI flew the helicopter service in 1967 after getting out of the Army. Back from Vietnam I flew home a day early to suprise my folks. I flew almost every day in Vietnam, I was never as worried as I was on that ride from LAX to Disneyland. That chopper vibrated so bad and I was so glad to get off it in Anaheim, and almost got off at LAX. Was not to long after that when they had the crashes from main rotor failure.
When I was a kid my dad would take me to the heliport on Cerritos Ave and walnut street to watch the helicopters. When I couldn't go I could see the helicopter flying into DL from my front yard. I really do miss that helicopter.
ReplyDeleteWe lived in Anaheim near the corner of Beach and Ball. My dad worked for NCR. A few times a year, we would take him to the Disneyland Helipad, where he would take the helicopter to LAX which would then fly him to NCR in Dayton, OH.
ReplyDeleteThank God he was done with that before those accidents. He said the helicopters were noisy and that there was some vibration, but he was used to it, as a Korea vet he had blown up hillsides and rode in DC3s for hours!
I remember riding with my parents to the Disneyland Hotel to drop off my dad for the helicopter ride to LAX - 1969.
ReplyDeleteMy dad took us three kids to the heliport to pick up my mother who was arriving from LAX, we stood waiting and then watching all the families and kids with disneyland ballons and souveniers board going to LAX.After being there about 30 minutes, we noticed my dads reactions and mood change, and the people running the heliport said all flights had been canceled. My dad drove us home in quiet, we were asking a million questions, where's mom??, he sat us down and turned the TV and the news man said the helicopter had crashed coming from LAX, we starting crying, neighbors came in to comfort us, we were hysterical about losing our mother, this went on for over 2 hours, it was terrible, and then out of nowhere my mother walked through the front door, she had missed her flight! It turned out to be the flight of children and families that we saw board the helicopter, it was sooo sad. It was the worst day of our lives, and then the happiest day of our lives! We will never forget it!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Mike Minear, I was the Station Mgr of the Anaheim/Disneyland Heliport. We carried over a million passengers to Anaheim alone. Some have indicated the fares must have been very expensive. They were in the $15.00 range and with joint-fares with the major airlines from free to around $5.00. LA Airways was a full fledged airline, we just flew helicopters.
ReplyDeletei TOO REMEMBER THE LA AIRWAYS COPTERS. fOR ME THE WOULD FLY OVER MY HOUSE ON THEIR FINAL TO RIVERSIDE HELIPORT LOCATED NEXT TO FAIRMONT PARK. iT WAS PROBABLY MID TO LATE 60'S i EVEN USED TO GO HANG OUT WITH THE TICKET AGENT AND WAIT FOR THE COPTERS TO SHOW. i CAN STILL SMELL THE AV GAS THEY WOULD BURN. tOO BAD FOR ALL THE PEOPLE THAT DIED IN THE CRASHES. i THINK THE PATCH OF ASPHALT IS STILL THERE.
ReplyDeleteThey didn't fly along the Santa Ana River. I lived in Santa Ana right next to the river bed. Never say the Disneyland helicopter--just a lot of Marine helicopters.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 9 years old, my grandparents were visiting from New York and they liked to play miniature golf. There was a mini-golf and driving range right next to the LAA heliport west of Disneyland (where the parking structure is now). When we would visit the mini-golf park, I would see the LAA Sikorsky S-61 helicopters approach and land. I would run over to watch, enthrilled by the feel of the prop-wash and the smell of jet exhaust. On my 10th birthday in February of 1968, my parents took me for a ride on the helicopter down to Newport Beach to LAA's heliport at the Newporter Inn. I remember the 'copter as being very loud and vibrating inside. When we took off from Anaheim, we flew directly over the Disneyland hotel - I thought we were going to hit it! I was as excited about being aboard the helicopter as I was frightened by it. Nonetheless, I decided right there I was going to be a pilot for LAA when I grew up. Three months later in May 1968, they lost their first ship in the Paramount crash. I was absolutely devastated, as this was going to be my dream job. Then they lost another ship that Fall in Compton. That ended my dream for flying for them, and ultimately was the end for their operations. I've never forgotten how cool those helo's looked and sounded,and never forgotten the memory of those who lost their lives. I had hoped that someone would have written a book about the history and story of LAA, and a tribute to the memory of the lost lives. I missed the doomed flight by a mere 12 weeks, and I'll forever be haunted by these childhood memories.
ReplyDeleteIt was most of my fathers parents generation that died on he first crash in may. A whole generation. Of kids that lost their parents and grandparent. I would love to know the actual site of the crash to pay my respects.
DeleteI remember the Heliport very well. My mom would take me and my brother to the Disneyland Hotel just about every Friday night, it was free entertainment and really was alot of fun. We watched The Dancing Waters show over at the Hotel ( always ended the show with The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the water turned red,white and blue.... this was late 60's early 70's. My brother and I took the helicopter to Newport Beach one time, I still remember how cool all the swimming pools looked at night... seemed like just about every house had a pool in the backyard. Also remember the Miniature Golf place next to the Heliport....looked like a little Disneyland. Great memories of growing up in Anaheim.
ReplyDeleteI flew on LA Airways several times, but I never had a good feeling about doing so and I was a young pilot too.
ReplyDeleteI flew airplanes and Bell 47 helicopters but these concerned me. I even had a chance to work for LA Airways, but after going to their hanger at LAX I decided not to get hired there.
In May 1968 when the first Helicopter crashed I was near the crash site and arrived shortly there after. I was a sad site to see. There was nothing left but the engines, rotor hub and twenty-three bodies all sitting in a cow pasture surrounded by bales of hay.
The next crash was only three months later. My boss was in his van when the helicopter crashed only a hundred yards away. That helicopter crashed in a city park. Later I read that the young grandson of LA airways owner died in the last crash. Shortly after that LA Airways went out of business.
To this day I still like flying helicopters, but I'll never forget the felling of dread while I fell in LA Airways Helicopters. The Sikorsky is a good machine, but there were problems with the blade spindles that were refurbished and failed on the second helicopter. The reason for the first helicopter crash was never really discovered.
Do you know the exact location of the crash site?
DeleteSorry Buck, but I lived in Downey and the two crashes were in Paramount (Alondra & Garfield) and Compton (Lueders Park near Rosecrans and Long Beach Blvds) about eight miles from the Wonder Bowl on Firestone Blvd. So I don't think you walked over the crash site. You must be thinking of something else.
ReplyDeleteI remember the Disneyland helicopter, it used to fly over our house every day, we lived off Euclid and Crone. I never flew in it, however my uncle used to take us over to watch it land and take off a lot. We used to love to fell the wind off the helicopter blades when it landed or took off. Even though the building structure was torn down long ago, up until they built the new Disneyland parking structure a few years ago, you could still see the landing circle where it landed and took off.
ReplyDeleteAfter moving to Corona del Mar in 1967, and starting my teaching career at California State College at Fullerton (name then), I continued as a consultant in computing for Sandia Labs in Albuquerque, NM. Several times I flew there on TWA from LAX, twice flying Los Angeles Airways helicopters between the Newporter Inn and LAX - the first time BEFORE their first crash and then the LAST time BEFORE their last crash, which ended Los Angeles Airways' operations. I guess I should have been worried but all I recall was that very unique travel experience from Newport Beach to the tarmac adjacent to the TWA terminal at LAX.
ReplyDeleteRon Miller cdmagfox@hughes.net