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March 29, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kona Airport at Kailua

Interisland air travel was initiated in Hawaiʻi on November 11, 1929, by Stanley Kennedy, a WWI aviator who acquired two Sikorsky S-38 Amphibian aircraft and initiated direct service from Honolulu to Hilo (3 times a week) via Maʻalaea, Maui, and to Port Allen, Kauai (2 times a week). Later, service was added to Molokai.

For a number of years, Kailua-Kona was only serviced by seaplanes. Then (after clearing an area of rocks the week before,) on August 21, 1935, Alfred W Smith landed his single-seated monoplane about a mile north of Kailua, the first airplane ground landing ever made in Kona.

By the late-1930s, there was a public push to provide an airport at Kailua, Kona. An area parallel to the beach, previously used for small aircraft operations, and known as Kailua Airstrip, was determined to be the only suitable area in the vicinity. It was located about 1½-miles northwest of the Kona Inn.

“It is believed that the proposed airport would result in a great increase in tourist interest in the area and also in the development of vacation homes for residents of Honolulu,” stated a Department of Public Works report.

“The general opening up of the area by providing means for quicker transportation to Honolulu would tend to interest young people of Oahu in the possibility of establishing themselves in the Kona area (where land is relatively available) and thus help solve the land scarcity problem which is critical on Oahu.” (hawaii-gov)

“The shipment of Kona fruits and vegetables to Honolulu by air freight would be economically practicable both for sale in Honolulu and, during certain periods of the year, for trans-shipment to California.” (hawaii-gov)

In late-1940, applications were prepared and processed under the provisions of the 1940 National Airport Act. The next year funds were allotted, but construction never started. Finally, in 1944 the Post War Planning Division of the Territorial Public Works Department proposed proceeding with the airport when the war was over.

Surveys were made and plans prepared by the Department of Public Works, and in May 1948 bids were opened for construction of a runway 100-feet wide by 3,500-feet long, an aircraft parking mat and an access road connecting the main road through the village of Kailua.

Work was started June 10, 1948. Due to the multiple ‘Kailua’ names for various items, including airports (there was another private airport at Kailua, Oʻahu,) on February 7, 1949 the airport was named Kona Airport.

On July 10, 1949 between 3,000 and 4,000 people gathered at the new Kona Airport for the official opening and ceremonies. Acting Governor Oren E Long officially declared the airport open for commercial air transportation, and said he “hoped that in spite of the trade and prosperity that the district would inherit, Kona would remain noted for its hospitality and not become a Great White Way marred by neon signs and a Coney Island atmosphere.” (hawaii-gov)

Hawaiian Airlines President Stan Kennedy announced that additional weekend flights would be made by his airline on the Kona Coaster every Friday afternoon from Honolulu and returning every Sunday afternoon. “Kona will become, now more than ever, a must for the tourist as well as for local travel,” Kennedy said.

Hawaiian Airlines was the first commercial plane to arrive at the airport from Honolulu via Molokai at 11:30 am bringing a full load of passengers and the first direct air mail from Oahu. It took off at noon bound for Honolulu with passengers and air mail.

Over the next few years the facility was expanded and the runway lengthened. However, the location of the airport, with planes flying over Kailua-Kona and nearby residences, started to raise concerns – especially with the increasing number of flights and the need for further expansion with a longer runway to accommodate larger aircraft.

Less than 10-years after it opened, in 1957, there were discussions and planning for the relocation of the airport. Part of the plan was to sell the old airport site for the development of a tourist resort, in order to fund construction of a new airport to replace those facilities.

However, in the interim, in 1966, the runway was lengthened as a stop gap measure to accommodate the growing size of the interisland carriers’ planes.

On June 30, 1970, Kona Airport was closed and all operations were moved to the new Keāhole Airport with operations beginning at the new airport on July 1, 1970, with the new Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway built to that point.

For three summers, I worked for Aloha Airlines, starting at the “Old” Kona Airport – initially throwing bags, then as a ramp agent greeting and saying farewell to the planes as they landed/departed.

The summer of 1970, we moved the airline office furniture and supplies, slowing moving with our tugs and baggage carts piled high along the new Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway to the new Keāhole Airport (extension of Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway to Kawaihae was completed in 1975.)

After the old airport’s closure, its runway was used as a drag strip until the State and the County converted it to a recreational park around 1976. The runway is used as a parking area and access road for the former State park area.

While the State still owns the site, while I was at DLNR, the Board of Land and Natural Resources approved the set aside (assignment of management jurisdiction) of the former airport site to the County of Hawai‘i for park and recreational purposes.

In October 2010, the State completed the Kona International Airport at Keāhole Airport Master Plan which provides a long-range vision of the developments on airport property. Recently (March 2013,) an EIS preparation notice was filed for proposed airfield improvements and airport facilities related to that plan that are anticipated to be implemented within the next five to ten years.

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4 At Kona
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Air lanes between the principal Hawaiian islands-1930s
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Baggage claim, Kona Airport-(hawaii-gov)-1960s
Governor John Burns dedicates Keahole, Kona, Airport
Hawaiian_Air-Convair_640-(Machado)-1953-1973
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US mail plane takes off from historic Kailua Bay, Island of Hawaii, landing place of pioneer American missionaries over 100 years ago.
US mail plane takes off from historic Kailua Bay, Island of Hawaii, landing place of pioneer American missionaries over 100 years ago.
Kona 1950
Kona Airport freight terminal-(hawaii-gov)-1966
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Kona Airport, Kailua, Hawaii-(hawaii-gov)-July 12, 1950
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Feb 1950 Landing strip for Kona Airport
Feb 1950 Landing strip for Kona Airport
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Filed Under: Economy, General, Place Names Tagged With: Kailua-Kona, Hawaiian Airlines, DLNR, Keahole, Aloha Airlines, Hawaii, Hawaii Island, Kona

February 11, 2020 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Samuel G Wilder

Samuel Gardner Wilder was born June 20, 1831 in Massachusetts. Wilder arrived in Honolulu in the clipper ship White Swallow in the year 1857, that same year he married Elizabeth Kinaʻu Judd, daughter of missionary doctor and politician Gerrit P. Judd.

Their honeymoon voyage to New York on the chartered White Swallow went via Jarvis Island, where Wilder picked a load of guano for sale on the continent.

“Samuel G Wilder has had the career of a man of more than ordinary ability and energy whose private enterprises and public services have both in a large degree been a benefit to the country of his adoption.” (Hawaiian Gazette July 31, 1888.)

Upon returning to the islands, in 1864, Wilder and his father in law (Judd) set up a partnership for a sugar plantation at Kualoa, and built the mill and the stone chimney together.

The mill is associated with a tragedy when Willy Wilder, the nine year old son of Samuel Wilder, fell into a vat of boiling syrup during processing. He died a few days later from his severe burns.

By 1867, the decision to end the Judd-Wilder venture at Kualoa was made. The mill ground its last crop during the summer of 1868. After the failure of the plantation, the land was used a pasture for cattle and horses under the name of Kualoa Ranch.

He was later in the lumber business, but his wealth and prominence started in the interisland steam transportation business. Starting with the Kilauea, then the Likelike, then many more, he formed a flotilla of interisland carriers and later organized them under the Wilder Steamship Company.

The Wilder organization had strong competition from the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, which developed from the activities and interests of Captain Thomas R. Foster.

In 1905, the Wilder Steamship Company merged with the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, forming the largest fleet of steamers serving Hawaiʻi. That company started the first scheduled commercial airplane service in 1929 as Inter-Island Airways and became Hawaiian Airlines in 1941.

His life included politics and King Lunalilo appointed Wilder to the House of Nobles. King Kalākaua later appointed Wilder to his Cabinet, where he served as Minister of the Interior from 1878-1880.

He was a businessman rather than a politician, and his watchword was efficiency and economy in administration. He applied to the business of government the same ability and energetic leadership that won him success in his private business enterprises. (Kuykendall)

Mr. Wilder’s administration of the Department of the Interior was characterized by a well-defined policy of extensive internal improvements. Wilder vigorously pushed forward the construction of roads and bridges with other public conveniences, including the Marine Railway. (Hawaiian Gazette July 31, 1888)

During his term in office that Kulaokahuʻa, the “plains,” between Alapaʻi and Punahou streets mauka of King Street in Honolulu, was opened for settlement. Work on ʻIolani Palace was begun and preliminary railroad surveys were made on the island of Hawaiʻi. Wilder’s influence was felt in all departments of the government. (Kuykendall)

In 1878 Wilder established the first telephone line on Oʻahu, from his government office to his lumber business. King Kalākaua then purchased telephones for ʻIolani Palace. (Charles Dickey in Haiku, Maui had the first phones in the islands (1878;) connecting his home to his store.)

In 1881, Wilder initiated a railroad connecting the Mahukona port with the plantations in North Kohala on the Big Island (Niuliʻi to Mahukona;) he later bought the Kahului Railroad Company.

Wilder was appointed and later elected to the legislative assembly and served as its president. “He was a practical parliamentarian; just, prompt and precise in his rulings combining rare tact with energy in the dispatch of business.” Hawaiian Gazette July 31, 1888)

At this time, the Bayonet Constitution was enacted which created a constitutional monarchy much like that of the United Kingdom – this stripped the King of most of his personal authority and empowered the legislature.

The 1887 constitution made the upper house of the legislature elective and replaced the previous absolute veto allowed to the king to one that two-thirds of the legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom could override. Wilder supported the monarchy and told the King that he did not think the monarchy could last much longer. (Kuykendall)

Mr. Wilder had advised the King to enter at once into negotiations with the United States to part with the sovereignty of the country while he was in a position to do so with advantage, and before affairs became more complicated. Kalākaua did not follow the advice given to him by Wilder. (Kuykendall)

King Kalākaua conferred upon Mr. Wilder the distinctions of a Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Kalākaua and Grand Officer of the Royal Order Crown of Hawaiʻi.

“This generous and many-sided man tended with loving care to the deserving, with charitable purpose to the poor and with patriotic conscientiousness to the wants of his country.” (Daily Bulletin August 7, 1888)

The former Kaʻahumanu Wall, from Punchbowl to Mōʻiliʻili, followed a trail which was later expanded and was first called Stonewall Street. It was also known as “Mānoa Valley Road;” later, the route was renamed for Samuel G. Wilder (and continues to be known as Wilder Avenue.)

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Samuel_Gardner_Wilder
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Honolulu Harbor Wilder's Steamship Company structure on far right-(HSA)-PP-39-10-026-1890
Honolulu_Harbor_to_Diamond_Head-Wall-Reg1690 (1893)-(portion_development_in_Kulaokahu‘a-and-wetlands_below_in_Kewalo)
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'Marine Railway'-north_end_of_Kakaako-1885
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Railroad from Kahului to Wailuku, Maui-(HSA)-PPBER-2-8-006-1895
Railroad tracks and harbor at Mahukona Landing, Kohala, Hawaii-(HSA)-PP-88-3-025-1882
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Filed Under: Economy, Prominent People Tagged With: Hawaiian Airlines, Samuel Wilder, TR Foster, Marine Railway, Mahukona, Kahului Railroad, Hawaii, Kualoa, Inter-Island Airways

April 11, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1940s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1940s – bombing of Pearl Harbor, Honolulu Marathon starts and Tripler Hospital is dedicated. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

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Timeline-1940s
Timeline-1940s

Filed Under: General, Economy, Buildings, Military, Place Names, Prominent People Tagged With: Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu Marathon, Timeline, Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Hawaiian Airlines, Pan American

November 17, 2015 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Pualani ‘Flower of the Sky’

Hawaiʻi’s first interisland passenger service was launched on November 11, 1929 when Inter-Island Airways flew 13 passengers in a Sikorsky amphibian from Honolulu to Hilo; the flight took a total of one hour and 40 minutes (they touched at Maʻalaea along the way.)

The first flight to Kauai was made the following day and all the Hawaiian Islands were soon receiving air service on a regular basis. During this time, the first inflight treat offered to passengers was a stick of Wrigley gum to relieve ear pressure. (Clark)

By 1936 there was a drastic upsurge in local passenger traffic. After seven years of scheduled service without an accident, the traditionally boat-minded islanders realized the safety of interisland air travel.

In 1941, the company’s name changed to Hawaiian Airlines, to pave the way for trans-Pacific operations; the Wings logo was adopted. (hawaii-gov)

Hawaiian hired its first ‘hostesses’ in 1943 to serve aboard its DC-3s. Before then, ticket agents in the Honolulu terminal would “change hats” and board the aircraft to take care of in-flight passenger needs.

Hawaiian converted five of its DC-3s into “Viewmasters” for sightseeing flights. It enlarged single windows and combined others to create 5-foot-long, panoramic windows.

In the first of its many fleet upgrades, Hawaiian introduced the Convair 340 in the early 1950s. Unlike a DC-3, it was pressurized and air conditioned.

Hawaiian brought the first interisland jet service to the islands in 1966 with the Douglas DC-9 (and adopted the Jetbird logo to symbolize change over to jet service.)

In 1973, Hawaiian Air introduced new colors and a ‘Pualani’ (flower of the sky) logo, with the profile of a woman against a red hibiscus, the state flower. (Smithsonian)

Leinaʻala Ann Teruya Drummond, a former Miss Hawaii (1964,) was the model for the distinctive island girl profile that adorns the tails of all Hawaiian Airlines aircraft.

She was born in 1946 in Puʻunene, Maui and educated at Kamehameha School (1963) and Cannon’s School of Business, and worked in the travel and hotel industry.

She married John Ian Drummond; they have two children, Christina and Kawika. She also served on the Maui County Council.

The Pualani logo had several iterations. At times the flower was a solid color; some dots were added to the center of it, and possibly a star.

In 2001, the logo was updated with the current Pualani. The new logo was an evolution of the original Pualani, which profiled an Island girl with a flower in her hair against a red hibiscus. In the new adaptation, the face has more character and represents the look of a 21st century Island woman.

Designed with input from the airline’s employees, the new Pualani is intended to reflect Hawaiian’s proud Island heritage with a sense of grace, elegance and caring. At the same time, her expression is seen to capture the strength, determination, spirit and confidence of the people of Hawaiian Airlines.

The contemporized island girl symbol is depicted in “a realistic, more genuine way, in keeping with the current Hawaiian cultural renaissance that has revived dance, music, language and other native traditions.” (Hawaiian Air)

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Leinaala_Teruya_Drummond-Pualani_model
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Timetable issued by Hawaiian Airlines (No. 146, "Effective September 8, 1964"). The cover features a boarding scene showing a man seated and looking out the plane door, a stewardess standing behind him holding newspapers, and another stewardess standing at the door to greet passengers. Inner pages feature timetables, fare tables, and a route map.
Timetable issued by Hawaiian Airlines (No. 146, “Effective September 8, 1964”). The cover features a boarding scene showing a man seated and looking out the plane door, a stewardess standing behind him holding newspapers, and another stewardess standing at the door to greet passengers. Inner pages feature timetables, fare tables, and a route map.
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hawaii-airlines-logo_1965-1973
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Hawaiian_Airlines-Jetbird
Timetable issued by Hawaiian Airlines ("Effective June 8, 1970"). The cover features the image of a stewardess, dressed in a bright floral dress, holding a tray of drinks. Her photograph is framed by an illustration of a watch. Inner pages feature timetables, fare tables, and a route map.
Timetable issued by Hawaiian Airlines (“Effective June 8, 1970”). The cover features the image of a stewardess, dressed in a bright floral dress, holding a tray of drinks. Her photograph is framed by an illustration of a watch. Inner pages feature timetables, fare tables, and a route map.
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Filed Under: Economy, General Tagged With: Hawaii, Inter-Island Airways, Hawaiian Airlines

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Images of Old Hawaiʻi

People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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