THC 002 - Fairchild C-119
(Home base: ENTO, Norway. Chief pilot: Sir Mike Skybuster)

Hey Jude is one of the two C-119 Flying Boxcar that were sent on duty to
Vietnam, before the AC-119 Stingers and Shadows came into service.
Not much is known about that time. We only know that on August the 12th
1969, the plane was reported MIA.
Incidentally, no C-119 or AC-119 gunship ever made it back to the States after Vietnam.

It turns out that the crew intended to fly back home and reach the Woodstock concert in time. The crew had taken with them a not so small amount of Cannabis (hash) that they intended to distribute at the concert. One of the items found on board was a membership card of the Amsterdam's "Melkweg" club that seems to indicate that the crew intended to stop in Amsterdam on their way.

What happened over the Swiss mountains, nobody will ever know. Did they became fascinated by the beauty of the glacier? Did they smoked too much of their cargo?

But the plane did land on the glacier. And stayed there for a long time. Nobody knows what became of the crew but everything seems to indicate that they all survived.

All I know is that some Swiss clock makers found the plane one day, and started the difficult task to put it back together again. Therefore the current saying that Hey Jude's engines are running like a Swiss clockwork.

When I met captain Habakuk the first time, it was a pleasure to see how his eyes started glowing when he spoke about the C-119. We were to take her into use and move her to Norway, where I would fly her for the dESPair company.

The problem was, we had no papers for her. So, we flew to Washington and met the DoD's representative, pretending we were two Vietnamese who found the plane in the jungle. Everything went fine until we found our way to the nearest bar, to have a drink with the representative and his secretary.

Cpt. Habakuk goes to the bar and order: "Four Martinis, please." The barman ask: "Martini dry?" And the Captain answer: "Drei? Nein, vier!" ... Thus revealing his Swiss origins and blowing our cover.

Well, Hey Jude has now Bahamian papers and no questions asked, please.

Note: Hey Jude is called this way because the name was written on her hull. There was several hippie graffiti written both on the hull and on the panel of the plane. Not all have been removed yet.

Another interesting thing found in the plane is a book about the ancestor of the pilot. It appears that this ancestor, a Flemish young man who became a Zenet - or sea nomad, in the 15th century, had an extraordinary life. His roots go all the way back to North Africa before the Islam invasion. It links these people to the Guanches of the Canaries Islands, to the Celtic culture of Brittany, and to a Norwegian princess.

But that is another story.

Captain Mike Skybuster