Flying Santas, Writer Michael Morgan on HULLMAgazine.com

For nearly 80 years, he has arrived, bearing gifts and smiles. Sometimes he even gets to visit the place where he lives and works. During three weekends before Christmas this year, Santa Claus will visit the U.S. Coast Guard’s Point Allerton Station in Hull, and some 30 other lighthouse and Coast Guard locations - from Jonesport, Maine to Jones Beach, New York. We know how Santa gets to all these places - he can fly; not only by sleigh, but in small airplanes and helicopters. And on a few occasions, Santa has been known to appear by car or boat.

This Christmas season, Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) Tom Guthlein, who oversees operations at Point Allerton, will don a Santa suit - as he has done since 1997- and visit several coastal locations. He will be joined in this effort by recently retired Coast Guard CWO Dave Waldrip, who has essayed the Santa role many times since 1994, when he was Chief of the Coast Guard’s Aids to Navigation Team in Boston. Between them, they will visit and provide toys for some 550 children, continuing the Flying Santa tradition, which began on Christmas Day 1929. The visits, now all made by helicopter, include not only Point Allerton, but also Boston Light, staffed by Coast Guard Auxiliary member Sally Snowman (a member of the Flying Santa Board of Trustees) and her husband, as well as Hospital Point Light in Beverly, MA, the home of Rear Admiral Timothy Sullivan, the Commander of the Coast Guard’s First District.

Brian Tague is president of the Friends of Flying Santa, Inc., a non-profit corporation established in 1997. A professional photographer who produced a lithograph of all the Massachusetts lighthouses, which were being sold in their bookstore, he said he first became involved with the Flying Santa late in 1991. He said he got a call from the Lifesaving Museum in Hull, which - since 1982 - had been home to the Flying Santa program. The Museum, located within the Point Allerton Coast Guard Station, “was selling my book in their bookstore and they asked me if I wanted to photograph their trip” that Christmas. Tague would document that year’s visits to lighthouses and Coast Guard stations, remarking “I had spent a lot of time working with Coast Guard units throughout New England and seen firsthand their dedication and professionalism,” in performing duties ranging from maintaining aids to navigation, patrolling in shore and offshore waters and “tackling less glamorous administrative responsibilities.” He joined the Flying Santa Board of Trustees in 1997 and became its president in 2003.

Tague is happy to point out that over the years, while the number of stops may have decreased, “we’ve increased the number of kids” who receive the visits and gifts and “kept the same number of stations” in recent years. He noted that in the early years, a plane would land on a remote island “to visit a couple of kids. But now we can land on a (Coast Guard facility) lawn and see 75 kids.” And while there has been a trend towards visiting larger groups of kids and their Coast Guard member families, he said “the focus is still on lighthouses.” The stops tend to be 15-20 minutes in length, when Santa and his pilot emerge from their helicopter. Santa calls out the name of each child, and presents a small gift. Then he talks about the history of Flying Santa and takes questions from his eager audience.

Hull, of course, has long played a key role in protecting the safety of mariners and those who help them. Point Allerton Lifesaving Station opened on October 15, 1889, under the auspices of the U.S. Lifesaving Service. In 1915, the latter agency was replaced by the U.S. Coast Guard, which continued operations at this location until a new facility was built in 1969. But the Coast Guard was not the only organization to perform lifesaving functions at Point Allerton. In late 1981, the latter was also about to become the home of the Hull Lifesaving Museum. The museum’s founding director, Hull resident Judeth Van Hamm, had been considering a ceremony to honor author-historian Edward Rowe Snow, who had been the face of Flying Santa for nearly 50 years. But that year Snow suffered a stroke and it looked as if the tradition of aerial Christmas visits would end. Van Hamm figured the best way to honor Snow was to keep his program going. She approached his wife, Anna-Myrle Snow (who with her daughter, Dolly, had often accompanied both her husband and the pilot on these trips), to offer assistance.

With less than a month to prepare, the museum crew set out to make the necessary arrangements. The most important task was acquiring a suitable and affordable “sleigh.” The museum was in its infancy and the budget was still somewhat small. After a number of phone calls, the services of three different helicopters were secured. Wheelabrator-Frye of Maine, Channel 7, of Boston television, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare of Yarmouthport, MA would provide their aircraft for the flights. A small ceremony was held at Logan Airport where Anna-Myrle and Dolly presented Snow's Santa suit to Ed McCabe, the newly recruited Flying Santa. Over 20 lighthouses, from West Quoddy, Maine to Warwick, Rhode Island, would receive visits that year.

McCabe, who still works at the museum, continued as a Santa for several more years, and was often joined on flights by Ona Jones, a museum volunteer. Van Hamm and the other founding members of the museum believed that the Flying Santa tradition was an important part of this heritage. Through their efforts, and others that came along over the years, the program would continue on as a favored New England tradition. In the first few years, the role of Santa would be played by a number of museum members. McCabe, Ben Blake and George Morgan were a few of the hardy souls to suit up for the Santa flights. Morgan, his wife, Jean, and their children would donate much of their time and talents to making each year's flights a success and he would eventually become the director of the museum's Flying Santa program. Additional support from the town has come from the students and teachers at the Lillian Jacobs Elementary School, where, for some 15 years, students have written letters to lighthouse keepers and Coast Guard personnel, with the recipients quickly writing back.

Since 1929, the Flying Santa has been delivering small gifts and large amounts of good cheer to lighthouses and Coast Guard Stations up and down the East Coast - and some times far beyond. It all began on Christmas morning that year, when a Maine floatplane pilot, Captain William Wincapaw loaded his small plane with a dozen packages of magazines, coffee, candy and other items, and conducted an airdrop in the Rockland, Maine area, dispensing Christmas gifts and spirit to the many families who staffed lighthouses on remote islands on the Maine coast. Word came back to him in the days that followed that his gifts of Christmas cheer were extremely well received. The keepers and their families were touched to be remembered on this special holiday. A simple gesture of thanks had made the day so much more special for the residents of these isolated outposts. Wincapaw quickly realized that this Yuletide flight deserved to be repeated as well as expanded to include more of the lighthouse families and Coast Guard stations along the coast.

Capt. Wincapaw, a native of Friendship, had been a pioneer in the early days of aviation and was well known around the Penobscot Bay area. He flew a variety of aircraft but was most at home in amphibious airplanes as befit the landscape of Penobscot Bay and its numerous islands and was overseeing operations of the Curtis Flying Service at the Rockland airfield as well as a nearby seaplane base. There were many occasions when he took to the air in less than ideal conditions to provide transport for sick or injured islanders, saving many lives. In those low-tech days before radar, and the electronic and digital equipment we now take for granted, many of his flights had only one means of navigation: the lighthouse beacons along the coast. His appreciation of the keepers and their dedication grew each time he found himself making a flight in bad weather. On calmer days, Wincapaw would often land at a local light, tie up his aircraft and spend some time chatting with the keepers.

The flights were expanded into Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Wincapaw was joined on the lighthouse trips by his son Bill, Jr., an aspiring pilot. Eventually Wincapaw began to dress for the role, with Santa suit, whiskers and all. By 1933, the family had relocated to Winthrop, MA. Their Christmas flights now took them to as many as 91 lighthouses and Coast Guard stations from Maine to Connecticut. Bill Jr., received his pilot’s license in 1934 at the age of 16 and was soon flying a Santa route of his own. Not only were the Wincapaws aviation and Christmas celebration pioneers, they were also among those engaged early on in local corporate sponsorship ventures. For several years, La Touraine Coffee and Bickford’s Restaurants provided products and other backing, and their logos were painted on the Flying Santa plane. The program would also benefit from Wiggins Airways - which had a sixty-year relationship with Flying Santa; and in later years, Channel 5 in Boston, which lent a helicopter over several Christmases, flying Santa to lighthouses and Coast Guard stations from Newburyport to Cape Cod. Other sponsors would include Gillette, McDonalds, Cape Cod Potato Chips and Bell’s Seasoning - and pilot Russ Johnson of East Coast Helicopters, who donated his services through much of the 1980s.

The 1930s saw Bill, Jr. introduce his father to Edward Rowe Snow, one of his teachers at Winthrop High School. Snow, a native of Winthrop, had a keen interest in the sea and ships and the history of the New England coast. He would eventually become one of the most well known maritime authors and historians, publishing more than 90 books. Wincapaw was looking for help with his growing schedule and in 1936, he flew the northern route, while Bill, Jr. and Snow flew to 25 stops in southern New England. Then, when Wincapaw’s aviation business took him out of the country at Christmas time, Snow took on a larger role with Bill, Jr. Within a decade, Snow would become the face of Flying Santa, a role he would fulfill and expand through 1980.

With the advent of World War II, the holiday flights to the lighthouses were curtailed. Bill Jr. became a lieutenant commander in the Navy and was stationed at the Quonset Naval Air Station in Rhode Island, while Bill Sr. joined him as chief of maintenance. The end of the war in 1945 saw a return to lighthouse flights and 1946 had the Wincapaws and Snow reunited in the effort on two different routes. In total, two days of flying covered 115 lighthouses and Coast Guard stations from Cohasset, MA to the Canadian border. Sadly, it was the last Christmas trip for Capt. Wincapaw. On July 16, 1947, he suffered a heart attack at age 62, shortly after taking off from Rockland Harbor. His seaplane crashed into the water, killing both him and a young co-pilot.

With the passing of Capt. Wincapaw, Snow was left to carry on the Santa flights and in 1947 he expanded the program, visiting 176 lighthouses and Coast Guard stations from Canada to Florida. What would make Snow's accomplishments even more remarkable was the fact that he was not a pilot. It was necessary for him to hire a pilot and plane for the majority of lighthouse flights that he made over the years. The packages from Flying Santa continued to be made up of products donated by New England sponsors and included coffee, tea, Gillette razor blades, rubber balloons and chewing gum. One item especially anticipated each year was a copy of Mr. Snow's latest book. He would also include with the packages a self-addressed card for the keepers to return, letting him know the success or failure of his deliveries.

On a few trips, the Coast Guard had provided Mr. Snow with an aircraft to assist in his deliveries. In 1953, he conducted a transcontinental Santa flight. He delivered packages to lights on the East Coast, then flew out to the West Coast to end the day dropping gifts to stations in California and Oregon. In subsequent years Snow would travel to a wide range of locations, making a Christmas visit to lighthouses as far off as the Great Lakes, Bermuda, the Miquelon Islands and remote Sable Island, 100 miles east of Nova Scotia.

By the early 1970s, the modest Boston Airport, from which Snow and the Wincapaws had flown, had become Logan International Airport, one of the nation’s largest. Due to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restrictions and ever-increasing insurance costs, Snow had to make visits to Boston Light, Graves Light and the Coast Guard stations in Hull and Scituate by boat and car. In 1973, he chartered a boat to make his rounds of the Casco Bay lights and was able to visit with over 100 children and their families. The Snows repeated the voyage in 1974 and that time were met by over 300 children. By 1977, flights were made only to airports at Nantucket, Block Island (RI) and Rockland, Maine. In 1978, Snow took to the air in a helicopter and flew to lighthouses from Massachusetts to Maine. The helicopter has served as Flying Santa’s sleigh ever since.

Snow’s death in April 1982, and the Hull Lifesaving Museum’s birth that spring, began a 15-year official relationship with Flying Santa. By 1987, the automation of many of the Maine lighthouses resulted in the discontinuation of the Flying Santa visits up north and there were only 15 lighthouses visits that year. All involved could envision a day when Boston Light would be the last manned lighthouse in the country and the flights continued at this reduced schedule. Although the era of lighthouse keepers was coming to an end, the boat stations remained and many of the lights continued to be used for Coast Guard housing. There were also the beginnings of new policies that would transfer guardianship of some of the structures over to civilian organizations and caretakers. The need for and interest in the Santa flights were still apparent and the basic elements of the Coast Guard's mission warranted continuation of the Christmas visits. So as long as there were personnel connected to the lights, the Flying Santa would be there.

In 1994, David Waldrip, Chief of the Coast Guard's Boston Aids to Navigation Team, filled in as Santa for an injured George Morgan. His Coast Guard responsibilities involved maintaining the operation of the coastal buoys and lighthouses from New Hampshire to Cape Cod and his familiarity with many of the lighthouse residents lent a unique personal touch to the flights that year. Waldrip would return to the role in 1995 to fly to the Boston area lights, the same year that marked the return of the Santa flights to New Hampshire and Maine. There were now enough families connected to these northern lights to once again warrant a full day of flights. Waldrip and his family departed in 1996 for Coast Guard duty in Kodiak, Alaska but returned in 1999. He has served as a Flying Santa ever since and is also now the organization’s Treasurer.

The year 1997 was a momentous one for the Flying Santa program, as it had outgrown its position within the museum. A small group of volunteers banded together to form the Friends of Flying Santa, Inc., a non-profit educational entity. Staffed entirely by volunteers, the Friends set forth with a renewed energy in continuing the expanded lighthouse visits. The funds necessary for the program's operation were raised through a variety of activities. During the museum years, numerous boat cruises, bus tours and other activities were conducted for fundraising. These successes were carried over to the newly formed Friends, who also began sponsoring a number of raffles for helicopter tours, boat cruises and overnight stays at lighthouses. In addition, the Friends began publication of the Flying Santa News as well as a website (www.flyingsanta.org) to assist in informing the program's supporters of these fundraising events, narratives of the holiday flights and other activities.

Also in 1997, CWO Tom Guthlein stepped into the Santa role on the flights to Massachusetts' North and South Shore lighthouses. As executive petty officer at Coast Guard Station Gloucester, Tom had been residing at the Annisquam Lighthouse and was well acquainted with this holiday spectacle. His oldest son Joshua had his first visit from the Flying Santa six years earlier when Tom and his wife Vicki were stationed at Chatham. For the past few years, the family (with the addition of another son, Patrick), had been enjoying Flying Santa's Christmas visits to Gloucester. Tom reprised the role in 1998 but the Guthleins were reassigned to Virginia the following year, with the recently-returned Waldrip jumping back into the Santa suit. While away, he had kept in practice by performing as Santa for the children of the small villages on Kodiak.

In 2002 and 2003, the Friends greatly benefited from the donation of services from two Massachusetts helicopter pilots. Evan Wile flew a Massachusetts route and Glenn Hanson, along with his co-pilot Lou Belloisy, flew the RI-CT-NY route. This was done at absolutely no cost to the Friends and Wile has continued with the program, providing his services for all our southern New England stops. In 2003, Tom Guthlein returned to Massachusetts to oversee operations at the Point Allerton Station and, with colleague Waldrip, resumed the Santa role.

November 2004 was the time for a 75th anniversary celebration of the first Flying Santa flight. William Wincapaw III, the grandson of Capt. Wincapaw, joined Master of Ceremonies Dave Waldrip and about 100 revelers - including Hull’s Ed McCabe, who spoke at the event, as did Admiral Pekoske. In October 2006, Friends of Flying Santa dedicated a memorial plaque in honor of Capt. William Wincapaw in the exhibit hall of the new Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockland, ME. In a corner of the museum overlooking the original location of Capt. Wincapaw's seaplane base, a brass plaque depicts his plane flying over the Owl's Head Light.

Tague noted that Flying Santa “still stops at many of the same lights and stations visited by Capt. Wincapaw over 70 years ago.” He said the aerial Santas, as well as the modes of transport, have changed over the years, but that the end results remain the same, adding, “The volunteers and donors involved with Flying Santa are honored to be a part of this tradition of appreciation for the Coast Guard personnel and their families. In return, these deserving recipients continue to show their heartfelt gratitude for the annual visits of the Santa of the lighthouses.

Tague and his friends continue to believe in Santa, but in recent years, there have been some changes in the mission, and in the ways it is supported. Instead of packages of food and treats for lighthouse families, the Friends of the Flying Santa now focus on providing toys and other small gifts for the children of Coast Guard families. This relationship has been enhanced by the prospect of two college scholarships that the Friends expect to award to the dependents of Coast Guard enlisted personnel early next year.

Although the Friends have, through the years, organized boat and bus tours to lighthouse destinations throughout New England (and even as far away as Bermuda), Tague said the organization “took this year off” to evaluate fundraising strategies and events. “When we started, we could fill a boat with 250 people and make $6,000” he reflected. “But now the cost of boats has increased so much that we could risk losing money” on some tours. Still, he noted that new trips are being planned for 2008 and information will be provided in the newsletter and on the website. Tague said toys, helicopter fuel and scholarships comprise the organization’s largest expenses, along with fundraising activity costs.

Today, the Friends of Flying Santa try to make their way in the manner of so many non-profit organizations, and have also had to deal with changing economic realties in the business world. While founder William Wincapaw was a pioneer in enlisting corporate sponsorships, Tague pointed out that, “Nowadays, we do the toy shopping ourselves. It’s a tremendous task.” One reason for the shift to toys is that, for the most part, corporate sponsorship has gone away. “There have been mergers and acquisitions,” he observed, including Gillette’s, which have resulted in a lack of local corporate ownership - something which has also had an effect on Greater Boston’s business and civic life. He added that a New Hampshire company, Fisher Scientific, had formerly supplied a helicopter but recently “they were bought out” and the new management plans to dispense with the use of helicopters. Still, he noted that at least one local company is considering some sponsorship of Flying Santa’s efforts and hopes the Friends continue as a recipient of largesse from the helicopter industry and its pilots.

While planning new bus trips and cruises for 2008, Tague said the Friends of Flying Santa has begun marketing on its website a Harbor Lights Collectible, the first of a series. This year, it’s an illuminated replica of Hospital Point Light, replete with a Flying Santa plane (a Cessna T-50) that represents what he termed “the Edward Rowe Snow years” of the 1940s. Next year, he expects to have a replica representing the Wincapaw era, including a Maine lighthouse and the founder’s plane. A third will eventually encompass what he termed “the (Lifesaving) Museum years” and include a helicopter and lighthouse replica. He also noted the Friends currently sell on-line a variety of polo and T shirts, baseball caps and coffee mugs, all with the helicopter and lighthouse logo.

Tague believes not only in his Flying Santa, but in his organization’s future. He pointed out that this year, Snow’s daughter, Dolly Snow Bicknell, will be on some of the Christmas season flights. He noted that she is also on the Board of the Hull Lifesaving Museum and that the Friends connection with the museum “is growing.” Last year, the organization’s former home hosted a presentation and display on the Flying Santa. In the years ahead, he hopes the organization can give out “more scholarships with larger amounts,” while also “working on gaps” in the organization’s history. “We’re widely known within the Coast Guard,” he concluded. “We want to maintain a tradition.”

For further information on the Friends of Flying Santa, visit www.flyingsanta.org - or write to Info@flyingsanta.org (or Friends of Flying Santa Inc., P.O. Box 80047, Stoneham, MA 02180-0001); or call (781) 438-4587.

Michael Morgan is a Boston-based public relations consultant and freelance writer. He thanks Brian Tague for allowing him to incorporate parts of the organization’s history, as posted on the Flying Santa website, into this article. Michael can be reached at morganhp@aol.com

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Flying Santas

By Michael Morgan