On Nov. 17, 1956, several of 50-year-old Carris Penn’s brothers and stepbrothers from East End attended the opening of the clubhouse on Bellamy Cay, as recounted last Thursday in part 21 of this commentary series.
At the time, Polish sailor Wladek Wagner, who hosted the opening with his wife Mabel, was also hoping to move ahead with his plan to build an airstrip on Beef Island.
Ms. Wagner recalled later in her writings that a Trade and Production Committee had mentioned a Beef Island airport in a “Tourism in the BVI” pamphlet dated Feb. 17, 1953. On Feb. 4, 1955, Mr. Wagner sent Virgin Islands Commissioner H.A.C. Howard a hand-drawn map from his preliminary survey of the site to take to government officials in London.
Sir Alan Cobham (1894-1973) the famous British aviator, proposed an alternate site for the runway going east to west over the middle ridge of Beef Island and ending against the east hill at a height of 660 feet. But Mr. Wagner considered that Mr. Cobham had overlooked disturbing wind currents caused by the high hill.
He hacked uphill paths through the thorny brush and reported feeling calms and sudden gusts of wind coming from different directions that reminded him of the Chinook winds that blow down the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, which he had heard about as a student. Such “sheer winds,” he believed, would endanger unwary pilots. It would also be very costly to remove the rocky ridge.
In her later writings, Ms. Wagner describes her husband’s plan as showing the main direction of the runway being southwest to northeast so planes would approach along the windward coast of hilly Tortola with a full view of it, take off over Conch Bay just west of Tamarind Point, and then veer slightly into the east-northeast prevailing wind towards Virgin Gorda.
Surveyors
On Jan. 8, 1956, Mr. Wagner recommended a choice of two possible surveyors to conduct a formal survey: Edward De Castro and George Ely. Mr. Howard chose Mr. Ely and met him in St. Croix on Feb. 16, and they arranged to meet in Tortola on March 3. But the surveyor didn’t turn up or explain his absence.
Mr. Wagner then recommended Carlos Garcia from San Juan. On March 9, Mr. Howard agreed to hire him. Mr. Garcia stayed at Trellis Bay, surveyed the airstrip area, and submitted his report, which favoured Mr. Wagner’s plan. The commissioner forwarded it to London, and on June 9 Mr. Garcia was paid $750 for his services.
Late in November 1956, Sir Kenneth Blackburne (the governor of the Leewards from 1950 to 1956) sent Colonel E. James (the police chief in Antigua from 1953 to 1957) to a meeting on Tortola to plan the airstrip on Beef Island with Mr. Wagner and Geoffrey Allsebrook (the VI administrator from 1956 to 1959).
Credit extended
Mr. Wagner agreed to extend credit to the government in order to start the work on the airstrip. Ms. Wagner complained about delays occasioned by the succession of officials with whom Mr. Wagner had to deal and was shocked that they had been asked to finance the project themselves initially.
She was apparently unaware of some momentous constitutional changes. The Leeward Islands Federation was abolished on July 1, 1956, ahead of the formation of the ill-fated Federation of the West Indies, but the VI remained a British colony with an administrator reporting directly to the then-Colonial Office in London.
Mr. Howard was temporarily replaced by Edward Evelyn until Mr. Allsebrook arrived. While Governor Blackburne was visiting Tortola, he sent his report to London for final approval.
The agreement authorised Mr. Wagner to build the airstrip, bulkheads for a ferry connecting the East End of Tortola across the narrow channel to Beef Island, a dwelling for an immigration/customs officer, and a terminal building. He would be responsible to only the VI administrator and official government supervisors sent periodically to check the work and its progress.
Electricity
Just after Christmas in 1956, Mr. Wagner replaced the old kerosene generator at Tamarind House with a new five-kilowatt Sheppard diesel engine. That evening, the children played with their presents by bright electric light while their parents discussed the airstrip with Mr. Allsebrook, who had been relaxing on the beach.
There were further delays when the government tried to buy land for the runway from its private owners. Charles Georges, who owned the southern section, was agreeable to the administration’s offer, but not the family owning the other part, who lived in New York. Ms. Wagner believed the matter was finally settled in court.
Slow start
Work on the airstrip got off to a slow start in 1957, as the only tools and equipment that the Public Works Department could provide were picks, shovels, wheelbarrows and similar rudimentary implements.
Frustrated, Mr. Wagner decided to make a start on building three identical cottages along the shoreline opposite the clubhouse, each having a bedroom with bath, a combination living room/dining area, and a small kitchen with an entrance door opening onto a large patio covered by an extension of the main roof.