Treasure of the Sahara

Chapter 1

Chapter 1Jeri Richards, my business and personal affairs manager, looked up as I walked into the office and said brightly, "Good morning, Mr. McGregor."

"Morning," I said curtly, and slammed the door of my own office behind me. Once inside I felt a bit ashamed. It's a bad boss who expends his temper on the staff and Jeri didn't deserve it. I snapped down the intercom switch, "Will you come in, Jeri?"

She entered armed with her most needed weapon -- a dictation recorder and notepad. I said, "Sorry about that; I'm not feeling too well this morning."

Her lips twitched in a faint smile. "Having a bad day already?"

"Something like that," I agreed. "What's in store this morning?"

"Charlie Davidson wants to meet with you this afternoon to select the new paint schemes for both choppers and both of the jet. He also wants to set painting dates for each aircraft."

"Anything else?"

"Sam Peters called a few minutes ago. He wants to meet with you this morning."

I grinned, "Is it anything important?"

"All he would tell me is... it is very important, it is very lucrative financially and that time is running out," the expression on Jeri's face told me that she thought my bad mood this morning was getting the better of me. "He said he'd be here in 10 minutes," she said dryly.

"Anything else?"

Wordlessly she pointed to my overflowing in-tray. I looked at the in-tray distastefully and said, "You're a slave-driver. When Sam gets here, I'll be in Charlie's office."

Sam was always coming up with these hare brain ideas. I wonder what he has that is so important. I stepped into Charlie's office and said, "Morning Charlie."

"Good morning, JB."

I said, "Sam will be here shortly and I'd like the three of us to decide on the paint scheme." I noticed Charlie had about eight easels setup in his office. They must be for displaying the different paint schemes. "On second thought, let's also get Jeri's opinion on the paint scheme too."

"Sounds great! We also need to come up with dates for each aircraft to be painted." Charlie pressed his intercom button and said, "Jeri, JB just mentioned he would like you in my office too!"

"We will both be there momentarily Charlie. Sam is standing in front of me now, with coffee and donuts for all," Jeri said.

* * *

By the time everyone assembled in Charlie's office, he had paint scheme examples mounted on each of the easels. Charlie then said, "These are only example paint schemes. Each of the paint schemes can have any color combination or stenciling pattern you can imagine. There is also another option we have. That would-be vinyl wraps. They can do almost anything with vinyl wraps because the wrapping film has the text, images, and color printed on instead of paint. The aircraft wraps can be any pattern you can imagine or have any image or photo applied. Most vinyl wraps I've seen look 3-dimensional. One nice thing about aircraft wraps, they weigh a lot less than paint, so there is a significant savings on fuel cost. I also have a web site where you can customize your own design theme for paint or for wraps. For the paint, you just point and click, for wraps, you can upload images to try out or mess around with the preloaded designs and patterns."

I said, "I think we should go with something simple. Something that fits well with all our aircraft. We each should consider the low fuel cost option. Lower fuel cost means less emission. We all need to address issues with our carbon footprint. We need to decrease that footprint. Before we choose, why don't we all look at the options? Charlie can send us all the web site URL. After we all agree on something, we can then set dates for the work to be done on each aircraft. We might even want to consider something for the yacht, motor boats, jet skis, and the pontoon boats."

Charlie said, "Well JB, that's about all I have to show. I will shortly send each of you the web site."

Jeri spoke up saying, "For the aircraft, I think we should have a solid color, maybe even black or maybe have a carbon fiber look, and on each side of the fuselage a large crest or shield with the letters JB written on it. The shield could have a wooden 3D look that appears kind of like weathered wooden slats. Maybe with rusty nail holes in the slats. The tail of each aircraft could have the same shield, but smaller in scale. For the jet skis, speed boats, and pontoon boat, they could be completely wrapped in the 3D looking wood and have JB written on each side. The yacht should remain the way it is, but simply add a shield to each side."

"Wow Jeri, it's almost as if you've done extensive research on vinyl wraps. I really like your ideas," said Sam.

"Me too!" I said. "Great ideas!"

"I make a motion that we go with Jeri's idea and just fine tune it. Charlie can then get our request to the company to print the film and when they can apply it. I suppose they will need to take measurements," said Sam.

Charlie said, "OK Folks, that's a wrap!"

Sam leaned over to me and asked, "Can we meet now in your office? I've got some very interesting things to discuss. We might want Jeri to be in on this too!"

I said, "Sure, not a problem."

* * *

The three of us were seated in my office near the southern bay window. The bay window overlooks the bay area between St. Thomas and St. John islands. Scott Johnson, the captain of my yacht, walked in. All of us greeted Scott and welcomed him back to the island. I knew Scott and Sam were both itching to tell us their story, so I said, "OK Sam, tell us what you've got."

"Scott and I met an interesting guy by the name of David Wade while attending the Yachting and Boating convention in West Palm Beach. The three of us teamed up each day during the convention and also had dinner and drinks at the hotel each evening. Our first evening at the hotel, David told us a very interesting story that began sometime during World War II. Legend has it that the Nazi officials, along with Benito Mussolini's officials, hid tons of confiscated gold and diamonds in the mountains of Northern Italy. The Nazi's allegedly also hid an entire train load of gold inside a mountain in Poland. There was also the Amber Room, which was a chamber decorated in amber panels that were backed with gold leaf and mirrors. The chamber was located in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo near Saint Petersburg. The Amber Room was looted during World War II by the Army Group North of Nazi Germany, and brought to Konigsberg for reconstruction and display. The dismantled wall panels and furniture never reached its destination in Konigsberg. The current whereabouts of the dismantled pieces of the Amber Room remain a mystery to this day."

Sam continued, "David said his grandfather first learned of these lost treasures in the early 50's and began some extensive research. David's father also became involved with research after he graduated from college. About 1975, out of all of the lost treasures they researched, they chose to find the crash site of a DC-3 airplane. In 1953, the plane was hauling a load of gold and other precious metals from the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa to the United States. The cargo was believed to be some of the confiscated treasure hidden during the war. The DC-3's flight plan was to have a fuel stop in the town of Lubumbashi located in the southern end of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). From Lubumbashi, they would head for Kinshasha, located in the northwestern region of the DRC to refuel again. From Kinshasha, they would head to Abuja, Nigeria for more fuel, then on to Agadez, Niger. The last leg of the flight through Africa was to land in Algiers, Algeria. In Algiers, they would transfer the load to a ship and then on the states."

After pausing to clearing his throat and to take a sip of his coffee, Sam said, "The big problem was shortly after flying over Abalessa, Algeria, a huge sand storm built up. The storm came about so quickly, making it too late to circumvent the storm. They headed towards Tamanrasset because it looked as though the storm was lighter in that direction. They managed to make contact with the authorities in Tamanrasset and gave them their coordinates. That was the last contact of the aircraft. Authorities searched inside and outside the boundaries of the Parc national culturel de l'Ahaggar, but no trace of the aircraft was found. The search was by air and by ground. That entire region around Tamanrasset, about 212,000 square miles, is extremely rocky and very difficult to travel by foot or camel and next to impossible by motor vehicle. The DC-3 aircraft could be as close as 25 feet away from you, but be completely hidden from view by the enormous boulders."

"Isn't the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa where there are several gold mines and some diamond mines?"

"Yes, however the treasure was hidden in the neighboring mountains close to the Witwatersrand Basin. A few months after the DC-3 crash, a geological exploration team discovered the cave where the treasure had been hidden during the war. The various mining companies in the Witwatersrand Basin declared the treasure did not come from their mines. Other interesting things to note, the DC-3 was apparently owned by the group of people recovering the treasure, but the aircraft registration number filed in the flight plan was a fake. The fuel costs and runway fees at each airport were all paid with cash, so all traceability was eliminated. As far as we know, an insurance claim was never filed and nobody was ever reported missing. We believe there were only four people involved with renting a truck, then loading the treasure they recovered in the mountain cave, and finally off-loading the treasure into the aircraft. At least one of those four people was the pilot. The aircraft most likely had an auxiliary fuel tank because the first leg from the Witwatersrand Basin to Lubumbashi is about 1400 miles and the range of a DC-3 is a little less than 1500 miles. Likewise, the distance on the last leg from Agadez to Algiers is a little over 1700 miles. If an aircraft is loaded down with very heavy gold, the range diminishes tremendously. Having auxiliary fuel tanks is a must with the distances between the airports they planned on for fueling. If you are wondering about rust, since the plane has been sitting in the desert for so long, the plane will probably be in fairly decent shape, even after 65 years, because of the dry air in the desert."

I said, "Scott, do you have anything to add?"

"No, I think Sam covered everything very well. If there is a decision to find the plane, I suggest we fly David Wade out here or we can travel to him. David did say that his grandfather had passed away in 1975. David's father could not raise the money to finance an expedition. David's dad passed away about 3 years ago. One of the last things his dad said to David was to try to find the plane. Do something good with the money. David also mentioned he has an army buddy that retreated to Algeria after the Vietnam War. His army buddy might be able to help."

"Sam, why don't you make arrangements for David to come out here? See if he can stay at least for a few days, but let him know he is more than welcome to stay as long as he likes while we decide what to do. Maybe we can do some preliminary planning and then make a formal decision on whether to pursue this adventure. Let him know we'll cover all of his expenses. He can stay in one of the guest quarters. What line of work is David into?"

"He retired three months ago so most likely he will be available. Prior to retirement, he designed luxury yachts for the largest yacht manufacturer in the US. I believe he had a major role in the design of your yacht."