Misadventures of a Grumman Albatross

[Rajay]

Saturday, June 27, 1987

Man Guilty of Trying to Smuggle 7,000 pounds of Cocaine
Pilot Conspired to import drugs onto Lake Okeechobee
By Carol Marbin
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

FORT LAUDERDALE – Glen Avery Degelman, a West Palm Beach pilot accused of ferrying tons of cocaine for a Colombian drug dealer, pleaded guilty in both state and federal court Friday to conspiring to import 7,000 pounds of cocaine onto Lake Okeechobee.

Degelman, 34, signed a plea agreement in federal court, but U.S. District Judge Jose Gonzalez ordered that the deal be kept secret. According to testimony, Degelman will serve no more than 10 years in prison, the plea stipulates.

Degelman probably will be called to testify against his associates in a failed conspiracy to import 7,000 pounds of cocaine to Martin County using a Grumman Albatross seaplane, assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Cornell said in court.

In state court, Chief Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Mark Johnson read into the record the provisions of a plea agreement approved by Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Tom Johnson. Johnson said Degelman will serve no less than five years – and no more than 10 years – in prison.

He also will be required to testify in state court against his associates in the abortive smuggling run.

Cornell said Degelman paid nearly $40,000 to a Vancouver company that was refurbishing the Albatross.

The owner of Viking Air, the Vancouver company that outfitted the seaplane, told prosecutors “it struck him as somewhat unusual” that Degelman always paid in cash, Cornell testified. “He sometimes took the money out of his cowboy boots, and he always paid in cash,” Cornell said.

A second man, Alphonse Kohl of St. Louis, also pleaded guilty Friday to making thousands of dollars in payments to Viking Air. Kohl, 69, a retired dentist, is the father-in-law of Rodger Vance Davis, the alleged mastermind of the Albatross conspiracy.

Both Davis and Loren Lynn Florey, a Minneapolis pilot, are fugitives from both state and federal smuggling indictments. The statewide grand jury indicted Davis, Florey, and Degelman in October, but Florey and Davis had fled before they could be arrested.

A federal grand jury indicted Davis, Florey, Degelman and Kohl the following March.

Customs agents seized the seaplane Oct. 14th at Bowing (she obviously meant "Boeing") Field in Seattle, where it had been taken for a Federal Aviation Administration certification. It was flown to New Mexico to be stored as evidence, but the following month it was nearly destroyed by a bomb blast.

Degelman is scheduled to be sentenced by Gonzalez Aug. 7 at the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. He was released on his own recognizance Friday after serving four months at the Palm Beach County Jail.

Kohl also was released Friday.

I have two questions:

1. Does anybody know or remember which Albatross that was that apparently exploded in New Mexico in November 1986? (or it could have actually been as early as November 1983 - the very first indictments were handed down in Dec. 1983.)

2. Why was one of the guys who was involved in, indicted for, and presumably convicted of multiple federal narcotics trafficing and smuggling felonies allowed so many years later not only to keep his FAA airman certificates but also to buy another Grumman seaplane of his own in Florida?
(Ref. http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=47714)

Last edited by Rajay on Sat Jun 15, 2013 9:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[PbyCat-Guy]

Too bad this wasn't recent, I'd go to the federal auction to try to buy the Albatross.

[WallyB]

Which HU-16 was/is it?

With the reference to Viking Air, who by the way are in Victoria not Vancouver, I'd guess N7927(?).

OT geography lesson:
Vancouver is not on Vancouver Island, Victoria is.
Victoria is not on Victoria Island, nothing is.

[P51Mstg]

I can think of a couple nameless people in Miami who went to prison for drugs and I'd assume got to keep their pilot's licenses.

On the other hand, I believe that CURRENTLY if you have a drug or smuggling conviction the pilot's license is gone. Of course if you get out and plan on smuggling drugs again (didn't learn your lesson) is the lack of a pilot's license going to make any real difference?

BTW if you are wondering... Glen Degelman was released by the Bureau of Prisons Dec 6, 1989... The newspaper article was dated June 27, 1987. I'd say he didn't report to prison until August 1987, so only served 28 months.

Mark H

[Rajay]

Which HU-16 was/is it?

With the reference to Viking Air, who by the way are in Victoria not Vancouver, I'd guess N7927(?).

OT geography lesson:
Vancouver is not on Vancouver Island, Victoria is.
Victoria is not on Victoria Island, nothing is.

Obviously the article was written by an American reporter and we have all heard just how bad American "students" are on the subject of Geography. Remember, she also didn't have a clue about "Bowing Field" in Seattle. And didn't Viking at least at some point have an address in Sidney, BC too? Maybe earlier on, back in the 1970's perhaps?

In any case, I no longer wonder so much how Viking Air managed to expand as much as they did back in the 1980's. They say that most of the high-end real estate in Miami was financed the same way....

I also very much doubt that the Albatross in question was N7927 (HU-16C c/n G-400; ex-USN Bu. no. 137927) because AFAIK it has never been bombed or blown up. (Did you miss that little detail about the Albatross in question?)

In any case, N7927 was Dennis Buehn's personal bird in the Navy - and for many years afterward. It wasn't so long ago that he finally sold it to someone else - or at least the registration changed to a Delaware registered corporation. Apparently, it is still an active and airworthy Warbird.

[The Inspector]

Which HU-16 was/is it?

With the reference to Viking Air, who by the way are in Victoria not Vancouver, I'd guess N7927(?).

OT geography lesson:
Vancouver is not on Vancouver Island, Victoria is.
Victoria is not on Victoria Island, nothing is.

Obviously the article was written by an American reporter and we have all heard just how bad American "students" are on the subject of Geography. Remember, she also didn't have a clue about "Bowing Field" in Seattle. And didn't Viking at least at some point have an address in Sidney, BC too? Maybe earlier on, back in the 1970's perhaps?

In any case, I no longer wonder so much how Viking Air managed to expand as much as they did back in the 1980's. They say that most of the high-end real estate in Miami was financed the same way....

I also very much doubt that the Albatross in question was N7927 (HU-16C c/n G-400; ex-USN Bu. no. 137927) because AFAIK it has never been bombed or blown up. (Did you miss that little detail about the Albatross in question?)

In any case, N7927 was Dennis Buehn's personal bird in the Navy - and for many years afterward. It wasn't so long ago that he finally sold it to someone else - or at least the registration changed to a Delaware registered corporation. Apparently, it is still an active and airworthy Warbird.

Sidney is a suburb of Victoria B.C. and where you get on/off the Washington State Ferry to/from C eh N eh D eh and Anacortes,WA.
You can walk on the ferry for lots cheaper than driving your car, enjoy a nice sail in the Salish Sea through the San Juan Islands, and catch a city transit bus into Victoria where your car is more of an impediment.

[Rajay]

So far, I have 2 likely candidates in my effort to ID the Albatross in question:

N48318, HU-16B c/n G-244, USAF s/n 51-7187
SALE REPORTED
5951 S WILMOT RD
TUCSON, AZ 85706-8873
History:
MASDC as HP0056, then to civil registry as N48318, ZP-TWV, N48318 again in 1987, but seized by US Marshalls. N187JK no longer reserved. Ex-Jay Koven, Montclair, NJ; Sale reported to Western International Aviation


N3JY, HU-16B c/n G-211, USAF s/n 51-7161
Registered 8/13/1986 to
CORPCON BUSINESS SERVICES INC
(John Yost, Registered Agent, President/Secretary/Treasurer)
3015 N OCEAN BLVD SUITE 116-284
FT LAUDERDALE, FL 33308
Note: Corpcon Business Services involuntarily dissolved 11/16/1987
History:
USAF to Spanish AF as AD.1B-11, then to civil registry as N29850, G-BMDX, N2ML, N23ML, & finally N3JY (8/13/86)

The reasoning behind the first one is obvious, but no mention was made in the records I found that it was "bombed" or blown up.
The second one might fit simply because of the dates, location, and the curiously "sudden" involuntary dissolution of the company.

Ray Wolfe's database has this notation regarding N48318 (c/n G-244) - "Reported in TUS being parted out due to airframe corrosion."
Maybe that is some more good, old "American" geography and the reporter (or the US Marshalls) just didn't know the difference between New Mexico and Arizona.
I also hear that conventional explosives residues can be quite "corrosive" to aluminum airframes.

[WallyB]

(Did you miss that little detail about the Albatross in question?)

I didn't know what to make of "nearly destroyed" and "bomb blast" in the context of this piece of journalism[sic]. I did assume that nearly destroyed means it actually wasn't.

I proposed N7927 because that's the only Albatross I ever recall seeing at Victoria, apart from Jerry Hanes' which obviously wasn't a candidate.