Auction Brings $12,500 for DC-3, $6,500 for AN-24

Two planes hijacked and flown to Key West from Cuba, were auctioned on Monday, and a couple pilots from Colorado couldn't be happier.

"I've just always wanted to own a DC-3," said Wayne Van Heusden of Frederick (CO), whose bid, the 20th placed on the old bird, was the charm. The machine arrived in Key West March 19, directed by six hijackers armed with knives. The plane is believed to have once been in Eastern Airlines livery.

The much-newer (1970s vintage) An-24, a Cubana Airlines machine, showed up on April 1, after hours of failed negotiations that even reportedly included Fidel Castro himself. Matthew Overton of Greeley (CO) got 48 seats for about $135 each. "It's flyable," he said, noting the difference between "flyable" and "airworthy."

Related to the famous An-2 Colt...

The two airplanes were auctioned where they sat, next to the $27 million An-2 that belongs to Ana Margarita Martinez, the ex-wife of Cuban spy Juan Pablo Roque, who was instrumental in the shoot-down several years ago of the Hermanos al Rescate (Brothers to the Rescue) planes in Cuban waters.

Martinez will get the proceeds from the sales. She bought the An-2 (right) at auction herself in January, for $7000, but now owes the airport over $16,000 in storage costs, so the $19,000 from the two airliners will just bearly break her even. She didn't bid on the two machines, Monday, and said she'd like the Colt in a museum (sooner rather than later).

Such auctions are authorized because Cuba owes Martinez just over $27 million. Regardless the paint on the side of the "Air Cubana" plane, for instance, the plane belongs to the Cuban government, as does all property on the Communist island. Therefore, when the company loses the airplane, it's really the "government's" loss. Martinez is probably wishing her An-2 could get hijacked again...

FMI: