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In 1944 he was drafted into the Navy where he was sent to electronic technician school and was discharged in April of 1946, moved to Levittown, New York, and went to work for Republic Aviation. During this time he attended Hofstra College, evenings, where he earned a Masters Degree in Mathematics.. He remained at Republic until 1955, when he left to devote full time to the Colonial Skimmer project. At no time was he involved with the Seabee program, but by the time he left Republic was the Project Structures engineer on the F105 Fighter Bomber. Mr. Lindblad was recruited in 1946 by David B. Thurston, whom he knew from New York University, to be the structural engineer for the Skimmer project along with several other specialists from Grumman. All worked on this project part time until March 1955. At this point Lindblad and Thurston went “full time” and they were awarded the type certificate during September 1955. At this point the need for a production facility was imminent and thanks to a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal, the Colonial Aircraft Corporation moved to the empty woolen mills of Sanford, Maine. Mr. Lindblad still lives in the Sanford area today along with his wife of over 60 years. For several years Colonial Aircraft produced the C-1 Skimmer and then the C-2 Skimmer and in the fall of 1959 the right to manufacture the amphibian was purchased by Jack Strayer and Lake Aircraft was formed. The name of the plane was changed to “Lake Amphibian”. David Thurston left at this point to pursue other interests while Lindblad stayed on at Colonial Aircraft as vice president of engineering, building amphibians for Lake Aircraft. Strayer was not successful and no aircraft were manufactured in 1962. Thanks to government contracts, Colonial Aircraft remained operational. After many financial and organizational convolutions Lake Aircraft emerged again with a different sales group. In March, 1963 Mr. Lindblad formed Aerofab, Inc. which was under contract to produce the Lake Amphibian, successfully, for many years to come. He retired in 1985 after selling Aerofab, Inc. to Armand Rivard, albeit consulting for another five years. He, and those at Aerofab, were responsible for the many changes to the Lake Amphibian for over 40 years. [John H. Staber 2003] |
Mr.
Lindblad was born March 19, 1919 in New York City, and grew up in the
small town of Oyster Bay on Long Island, about 30 miles east of the
city. He attended local schools and graduated from high school in 1936.
The next 4 years were spent at New York University preparing for a
degree in Aeronautical Engineering which he received in 1940.