Day #15 – Jamaica Mistaica

Day #15 – Jamaica Mistaica

Like the old saying goes, what do you do when life hands you lemons? You make lemonade!  JB’s version is more about making margarita’s out of bowl full of limes. Jimmy had a fairly terrible experience trying to land in Negril, Jamaica that day, but he didn’t seem to let it make him bitter. He just did what story tellers do, except he put his story to music. And it’s a pretty great song!

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Original post from 9/16/2023

Day #15 – Jamaica Mistaica

While JB has proved multiple times that he can write a song about rather ordinary, everyday circumstances, he also had quite unusual, extraordinary things happen to him. And of course, he wrote songs about those things too.

Not only was Jimmy a sailor, he was also a pilot, and probably his most memorable plane was the Hemisphere Dancer (what a great name!!!) which was a Grumann Albatross, a post-WW2 era amphibious seaplane. It was a US Navy search and rescue plane, retired in the 70’s and purchased and restored by Jimmy in the early 90’s.

In January of 1996, while flying from Florida to Jamaica with Bono (yes, that Bono from U2 fame) Bono’s wife and children, and a record company executive, just after landing at Negril, the Jamaican police, suspecting drug runners, opened fire on the people attempting to disembark the plane.

Bono said it was the most terrifying experience of his life, that time between when the gunfire started and until the time he made sure his wife and children were safe. Thankfully everyone was unharmed although the Hemisphere Dancer took several bullets and the windshield was shot completely out.

Never one to hold a grudge or not find a bright side, after the incident, Jimmy said “Like all things, it made a good song”, and make a good song he did. And officials in Jamaica were incredibly apologetic after the incident!

BTW, the Hemisphere Dancer lived on to fly on several more adventures, including a co-starring role in one of JB’s novels, before Jimmy gave her a sweet retirement at the “Lone Palm Airport” at Margaritaville Cafe Orlando, with bullet holes on display for the public.

Please enjoy Jamaica Mistaica, which was released on the 1996 album Banana Wind. I have included the link in the comments below.

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In honor of this plane, I thought I would skim into the history of the Grumann Albatross just a little bit. Officially, the Grumman HU-16 Albatross was a large, twin-engine amphibious seaplane used by the US Navy, US Air Force and US Coast Guard. It was designed for and used mostly for search and rescue missions, where the need to potentially land on the water was as likely as landing on the ground. It was also used to transport cargo. It was produced from 1949-1961 and the manufacturer lists the total number built as 466. The final Air Force flight was in July 1973 (the month and year I was born), the final navy flight was in 1976, when that plane was flown to Pensacola to be retired in the National Museum of Naval Aviation. I visited that impressive museum in 2000, and recall gazing at it and thinking, “oh, it’s bigger than it looks in pictures”. The Coast Guard used it last into 1983, then ending its career in US military aviation. I did find that the Navy of Greece used this model of plan up to 1995, which would have been about the time Jimmy was restoring his own Albatross.

The Grumman Albatross is listed as weighing over 20,100 pounds empty and up to a maximum load of 35,700 pounds. Its dimensions are listed with a length of 61ft, a wingspan of 80ft, and a height of almost 26ft. Later in manufacturing, a B-model had an increased wingspan of 96ft. Its maximum air speed was 250 miles per hour. It had a crew of 4 to 6 and could carry up to 10 passengers. They were affectionately referred to as “flying boats”.

Of the 466 Albatross’s manufactured, very few are still operational. The majority of Albatross’s are missing and presumed destroyed. The majority of the Grumman Albatross’s that are still flying are held in private hands, such as the Hemisphere Dancer, although it is considered officially retired.

Someday I hope to see the Hemisphere Dancer at her current location in Orlando. Here’s to hope I can make it happen soon, but until then, I have this song!

Stacy

Please enjoy Jamaica Mistaica. I have included the link below. Enjoy!

The link is from Jimmy’s official YouTube channel, which I have no personal affiliation with.