In Latvia Mr. Cukurs built at least 3 planes of his own
design. In 1937 he made a 45,000 km tour visiting Japan, China,
Indochina, India and Russia, flying a C.6 wooden monoplane (YL-ABA) of
his own creation. The plane was powered by an 135 HP Gipsy engine.
He was awarded the Harmon Trophy No. 6 for this tour. Throphy No.
2 was Santos Dumont, and
Lindberg No. 3 or 4. This trophy, founded by Clifford Harmon, was issued by
Ligue International d´Aviation (France).
During the WWII Mr. Cukurs piloted Bristol Bulldogs and Gloster Gladiators.
After the war he came with his family to Brazil (first to Rio de Janeiro, then
to Santos and finally to Sao Paulo) and got immunity from the Brazilian
government. In Brazil he started his own seaplane air-taxi
operation in 1948, flying Seabees and renting out small boats to
tourists. However, on 23rd February 1965 Herberts Cukurs was murdered in
Montevideo, Uruguay. This very controversial murder has been widely discussed
in the press for many years.
PP-DKU
Photo: © via Richard Cukurs
After the death of Herberts Cukurs, his son Gunars Curkurs continued the Seabee air
taxi operations until 1996, when he retired. At his retirement Gunars had more accumulated more than 12 000 hours of Seabee
flying. Since 1948 the Seabee had made more than 50 000 flights
and transported approximately 200 000 passengers! Definitely a
Seabee World record!
During those years several engines had been tested on
the Seabees. When the crankshaft of one the Franklin engines
broke, the Franklin engine was replaced by an Argus AS10C engine from a
pre-WW2 Focke Wulf 56 aircraft! The engine had a power of 240 hp
at 2000 hp. Later a Lycoming GO-435 engine was installed from a
Pilatus PC3 aerobatic aircraft. Finally the now common GO-480-G2D6
engine conversion was installed.
PP-DKU and PP-DVV
Photo: © via Richard Cukurs
PP-DKU and PP-DVV
Photo: © via Richard Cukurs
Argus AS10C engine installation
Photo: © via Richard Cukurs
Lycoming GO-435 (?) engine installation
Photo: © via Richard Cukurs
Two of Cukurs' Seabees (PP-DVV and PP-DKU) were sold to VARIG captain
Silvio T. Comenho in 1998, and are currently under restoration at VARIG
maintenance facilities in Rio De Janeiro.
The wrecks of the rest were sold to the MUSAL (Air Force Museum) and are
still crated to be restored some day. They had an ex-Uruguayan
Seabee (CX-AID), which suffered an accident in 1954 in Sao Paulo (used for
spare parts). There is another Seabee that was being restored by Mr. Gunars Cukurs. This
particular plane has no Brazilian registration, as it was bought from
an Government auction. This Seabee had American registration, and was
arrested in the late 1960s for smugglers hands. The US registration
and the serial number is not known...
Gunars Cukurs and his Seabee
Photo: © via Richard Cukurs
Mr. Cukurs originally planned to equip this Seabee with a more powerful engine (260 HP Lycoming) swopped
from FAB´s Pilatus P-3 (he has 2 engines). However, by July 2005
he had completed the restoration of an original Franklin engine built
from parts from several engines. The restored engine looked like new!
(Photo below). This Seabee also was being restored with some improvements, that Mr. Gunars Cukurs learned from by flying
Seabees for more than 30 years. With more than 12,000 flying hours of
Seabee time, Gunars is probably the most experienced Seabee pilot in the
World !!!
Sadly, Gunars Cukurs passed away on 23
September 2010, before he had finished the restoration of his Seabee... A Seabee
legend is gone...
Franklin engine restored by Gunnar Cukurs for his Seabee
Photo: © via Richard Cukurs
Photos sent by Mr. Comenho in November 2003, indicate
that the restoration of PP-DKU (s/n 457) is progressing well. The
Seabee is restored from every rivet and up, so it actually looks more
like a 'remanufacture' than a restoration... The skilled people at
VARIG, Rio De Janeiro, are doing a great job!
The photos show that the Seabee will have a
Lycoming engine conversion installed. Silvio hoped that the
restoration will be finished by April 2004. However, later reports
from aviation enthusiast visiting the VARIG hangars 2005 suggest that
the restoration is progressing slowly or even has stopped...
13 November 2003
Photo: © Silvio T. Comenho
Thank you Mr. Gunars Cukurs, Ms.
Werena Cukurs, Mr. Richard Cukurs, Mr. Silvio T. Comenho, Mr. Hélio Higuchi,
Mr. Gary Kuhn and Mr. Wesley Minuano for your kind help! Please visit Gary's Latin American Aviation
Historical Society (LAAHS) web site at; www.laahs.com.
If any of you - visitors - can help me with any Seabee information and photos, please e-mail
me (Steinar Saevdal)!
