Charles F . Blair , Jr . Charles F . Blair , Jr . ( July 19 , 1909 – September 2 , 1978 ) was a United States Air Force Brigadier General , United States Navy aviator Captain , a test pilot , an airline pilot , and airline owner . He died in a Grumman Goose seaplane crash in the Caribbean . Life and career . Charles Blair learned to fly in San Diego and made his first solo at the age of 19 . In 1931 , he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Vermont , and the following year was commissioned an Ensign as a naval aviator . He served with the Naval Reserves at the same time as flying for United Airlines for seven years . In 1940 , Blair became a chief pilot at American Export Airlines , later renamed American Overseas Airlines , where he trained the pilots . In World War II Blair flew with the Naval Air Transport Service and the Air Transport Command as well as being a test pilot for Grumman Aircraft , testing the F6F Hellcat , F7F Tigercat , F8F Bearcat and the Martin Mars flying boat . Following the war , Blair commanded testing and the first scheduled flights of the Lockheed Constellation and Boeing Stratocruiser airliners of American Overseas Airlines as well as owning and operating Associated Air Transport , Inc . American Overseas Airlines merged with Pan American World Airways in 1950 , with Blair becoming a Pan Am pilot . Blair had purchased the P - 51 Mustang " Stormy Petrel " that Paul Mantz had flown to wins in the Bendix Trophy air races in 1946 and 1947 . Rechristened " Excalibur III " , Blair began setting records . On 31 January 1951 Blair flew non stop from New York to London to test the jet stream , traveling at an average speed of in seven hours and 48 minutes setting a record for a piston engine plane . On 29 May of the same year he flew from Bardufoss , Norway to Fairbanks , Alaska flying 3260 non stop miles across the North Pole . Captain Blair was awarded the Harmon Trophy from President Truman and the Gold Medal of the Norwegian Aero Club . The Excalibur III is now on display at the Steven F . Udvar - Hazy Center . Blair resigned his naval commission in 1952 and was later commissioned a Colonel in the United States Air Force Reserves while still flying for Pan Am . He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1959 . In the same year he led two F - 100 Super Sabre s in a nonstop flight from England to Alaska in the first jet fighter flight over the North Pole . Blair earned the Distinguished Flying Cross ( United States ) for the flight . Brigadier General Blair became a consultant to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1962 . He retired from Pan Am in 1969 , having founded Antilles Air Boats based in St Croix in 1963 with the idea of having a flying boat service from New York to and throughout the Caribbean . In 1974 Blair purchased two Sandringham flying boats from Ansett Airlines that had serviced the Sydney to Lord Howe Island route . In 1967 he also acquired the last Sikorsky VS - 44 " Excambian " that Antilles operated until it was damaged in 1969 . He co - wrote a novel with A . J Wallis in 1956 , " Thunder Above " , which was filmed as " Beyond the Curtain " in 1960 and wrote his autobiography " Red Ball in the Sky " in 1970 . Personal life . Charles Blair ' s brother was Robert Noel Blair ( 1912 - 2003 ) acclaimed itinerant painter and art teacher noted for his Battle of the Bulge paintings , painted during the action as a soldier . His sister - in - law Jeannette Blair and nephew Bruce Blair are also noted painters in the Buffalo area , where Charles Blair was born . On March 11 , 1968 , Blair married for the fourth time the actress Maureen O ' Hara , whom he had first met on a flight to Ireland in 1947 . Death . On September 2 , 1978 , Blair was piloting a Grumman Goose from St . Croix to St . Thomas when the plane crashed into the ocean due to engine failure . He and three passengers were killed , seven passengers were severely injured . He is survived by his wife and four children from two previous marriages : Suzanne , Christopher , Charles Lee and Stephen . His remains are interred in Arlington National Cemetery . Legacy . In 2006 , O ' Hara attended the Grand Reopening and Expansion of the Flying Boats Museum in Foynes , Limerick , Ireland , as a patron of the museum . A significant portion of the museum is dedicated to her late husband Charles . O ' Hara donated her late husband ' s flying boat ( Sikorsky VS - 44A ) " The Queen of the Skies " to the New England Air Museum . The restoration of the plane took 8 years and time was donated by former pilots and mechanics in honour of Charles Blair . A reproduction of Blair ' s red P - 51 used to be displayed on the roof of the Queen ' s Building at Heathrow airport . Charles Blair ' s Sandringham Flying boat VP - LVE " Southern Cross " has been the center piece of the Southampton Hall of Aviation since 1984 . Although it has been repainted in its Ansett colours and registration number VH - BRC " Beachcomber " Quote . " The sky is full of new frontiers . "