Colonial C-2 Skimmer IV    N255B      (c/n   115)

                     
                                       
                              
                                              The Colonial Aircraft Corporation was formed in 1946 to build the 2-3 seat Skimmer light
                                              amphibian aircraft.  The founders were two ex Grumman engineers, David B. Thurston and
                                              Herbert P. Lindbad who had developed the Grumman Tadpole.  The Skimmer was fitted with
                                              a pusher style 125 hp Lycoming O-290-D engine set up high to get it out of the way of
                                              seaspray.   Only 23 of the earlier C-1 and later C-2 Skimmer IVs were built, but the design
                                              went on to be further developed as the Lake LA-4.    This shot was taken in a remote corner
                                              of  Brackett Field, in San Dimas, Southern California, in 1958.   The airport backs on to the
                                              Puddingstone Dam and adjacent lake.  I also have a rare image of a Canadian registered
                                              earlier C-1 Skiimer (CF-IZS) in my Canadian civil aircraft selection.