New Bern's hopes soar into the blue with a seaplane named Lady Baltimore
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| Morning New Bernian, Tuesday, 28 March 1922. |
by John B. Green III
Late in the afternoon of March 27, 1922, a white vision roared out of the sky above New Bern. Landing on the Trent River and taxiing to the dock at the foot of Middle Street, the vision was revealed to be a seaplane, the Lady Baltimore II. The six-passenger craft was the flagship of the newly-born Easter Airways, Incorporated, P. Ewing Easter, President and chief pilot.
Lady Baltimore II photographed in Palm Beach, Florida, 1922. From Aircraft Year Book 1922.
The plane was a war-surplus Curtis HS-2L open-cockpit flying boat rebuilt for passenger service by the Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company. Based in Baltimore, the fledgling Easter Airways hoped to establish regular passenger service between Baltimore and Norfolk, eventually adding more stops along the eastern seaboard. The Lady Baltimore II had a wing span of 74 feet, three inches, and was powered by a 400 horse-power Liberty engine mounted in a rear-facing "pusher" configuration.
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| Morning New Bernian, Saturday, 1 April 1922 |
P. Ewing Easter, his mechanic, and the Lady Baltimore were on an exploratory and promotional journey to scout promising commercial routes for Easter Airways. The entire trip, as planned, would cover 9,000 miles. Starting from the Hudson River in New York, they would fly south along the east coast to Key West, Florida, then on to Cuba before turning west and crossing the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans. From there they would shadow the Mississippi River north to St. Louis, then fly along the Ohio River to Pittsburgh. Returning to the Mississippi the craft would then fly north to the Great Lakes, eventually returning to the Hudson and New York before ending the trip in Baltimore, the home base of the airline.
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New Bern was the second of three planned stops in North Carolina, the others being Elizabeth City to the north and Wilmington to the south. Ewing Easter and his seaplane remained in New Bern from March 27 until April 3, flying local dignitaries and the general public high above the town and up and down the rivers. The fare for the public was five dollars a person with a special, Saturday only, half-price fare for children. The Local newspaper reported that "scores of local citizens have availed themselves of the opportunity to go up in the air." On the third day of the visit Mr. W.C. Walker was taken up by Ewing Easter so that Walker could make "a series of panoramic photographs of the city proper and points of interest on the outskirts."
Local dreams of New Bern becoming a regular stop on the route of the new airline faded after the Lady Baltimore sailed away south. Easter and his seaplane did make it as far as Palm Beach, Florida, but it is unclear whether the entire 9,000 mile journey was ever completed. The airline itself seems to have gone out of business sometime in 1923. The Great Depression and a world war would come and go before New Bern would finally receive regular commercial air service.
