A Pilot’s Dream; La Compagnie Aérienne Antillaise (CAA)
D.C Van Romondt eventually moved back to St. Maarten1, but not before selling Tintamarre to Louis Constant Fleming. In turn, L.C Fleming leased the island to Rémy de Haenen, a Franco-Dutch artist and audacious aviation pioneer, established on St. Barth’s since 1938.
At the end of WWII, De Haenen noticed that while British and U.S governments secured airport facilities on St. Maarten and on other islands, the French islands were still behind and reliant on Martinique’s single airport. Tintamarre’s flat grounds were perfect for his next endeavor! De Haenen invested “Flat Island” with its own 1600-feet dirt-track runway (487m) and started La Compagnie Aérienne Antillaise (CAA)2.
At first, De Haenen used his private Rearwin Sportster, as well as a Vought OS2U-Kingfisher, a small seaplane with which he delivered Saba’s post. He further invested in two “larger” planes (6 and 10-seaters) bought from Caribair.
In 1947, the company’s success came to a tragic halt following a chain of accidents which depleted its fleet, drained its resources and cost the lives of three of its pilots. The small airport closed down in 19523.
Today, there is but little proof remaining of CAA’s existence on Tintamarre, but a walk through time along the old air strip just to the south of the former Van Romondt farm looking for clues…
1 St. Maarten spelled this way stands for the Dutch Side of the island.
2 Eng.; Antillean Air Company.
3 Unverified date, should be considered approximate.
SOURCE: KOBBE Montague, A Spec of Romance in the Caribbean (art.), published online on September 19th, 2012, Caribbean Beat , September/October 2012 issue, consulted online on 08/18/2024 on memofromlalaland.wordpress.com