Page 33 - Photos by Friends and Guests

PBY Privateer at Galena AK

"This one was taken at the retardant mixing site off the edge of the Galena strip. I have a hunch H&P owned several PBY’s.
The airport airstrip was designed for F-4 Phantom jets so it was ideal for retardant bombers. The military guys must have loved to watch these things take off!
I also know the fueler, Ken Erickson, known as the 'Buffalo'. He worked as a contract fueler rather than a BLM employee. He lives in Leavenworth,Washington. I would bet he knows who all the pilots were and I would not be surprised at all if he knows the guys who died when PBY 123 went down."

Catalina at Galena
David H. Marion: "About the “Grumman Goos in the distant background, I am inclined to believe that I can see a dark smudge (under 400x magnification!) indicating the presence of the McKinnon STC SA355WE hull vent on that Goose. If that is so, that would mean that it is N642, i.e. a McKinnon G-21C (s/n 1204)." More below.

Galena AK
Richard wrote:" This Turbo Grumman Goose is photographed on the Kobuk river I think, near Noorvik."
See David's comment below, which includes the identity.

Grumman Turbo Goose
The Grumman Goose N640 being fuelled at Galena,AK.

Bill Bailey wrote in Sep.2012: "..the red/yellow Turbine Goose, shown refueling, is N640 (c/n B-123).
At the time it was owned by the US Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Not enough info to ID the other two photos, aside from the fact that it/they are also BLM airplanes.
It/they would have to be either N640 or N642 (c/n B-137) since they were the only 2 McKinnon conversions in those colors."

David H. Marion came to the rescue (18Dec12):
"With regard to the close-up photos of the two red and yellow turbine Gooses, the aircraft in the first photo (supposedly taken on the Kobuk River) is N642, nominally identified as McKinnon G-21C 'Hybrid".
This is a turbine conversion of a supposed model G-21C, even though it has never conformed as a 12,499 lb. model G-21C; it was modified with turbines per STC SA1320WE or not – it was really just a 10,500 lb. Grumman G-21A 'Hybrid' turbine conversion - or its McKinnon equivalent, the model G-21E, even though it was converted more than a year before the model G-21E was first approved!
In any case, I can tell it is N642 in particular because of the installation of the STC SA355WE Hull Vents (per McKinnon dwg. no. MPD-5260) which is visible just at the waterline behind the main landing gear.

On that 2nd photo the '..40' can be made out: N640.
Grumman G-21A N640 (s/n B-123) was converted the year before N642 (i.e. 1966-67, as compared to 1967-68; but -btw- which was never re-certified as a 'McKinnon' aircraft under TC 4A24 actually, by or as far as McKinnon himself was ever concerned*).
N640 never had that hull vent modification installed.
Hence the second close-up photo is of N640 'being fueled at Galena, AK'; also because instead of the McKinnon hull vent mod, the OEM Grumman G-21A extended primary hull step is still evident..."

("*Angus G. McKinnon died in November 1991 and it was not until May 2001 that the current owner of N640 started claiming, completely without any merit in my professional opinion, that it was an actual 'McKinnon' aircraft when really up to that point in time, it had been certified, registered, and otherwise officially identified only as Grumman G-21A s/n B-123.")

You may also be interested in seeing N640 in a photo sent to me by Greg Lee, former Alaska smokejumper, on Photos by Friends & Guests (41).

And here is a photo sent by Stanley Wanlass, who wrote: "I took this photo of Grumman Goose N640 in 1963 while working for the BLM in Alaska; it was taken at Spenard Field in Anchorage."
Stanley sent me a 2nd photo of N640 but it was too poor in quality to reproduce; it was taken on Engineer Lake, on the Kenai Peninsula.
Grumman Goose N640 at Spenard Field in Anchorage

Argosy in Alaska
"The Argosy; this plane probably later crashed at the Anchorage airport - no recollection of casualties from that."

"The pilot I knew , Rudy Parks, was a handsome young Steve Canyon-type, with the bomber jacket. The only thing he needed was a scarf, a dashing fellow! I wish I had pictures of him, am trying to track him down. However, I am betting Bob Butler, who was an assistant fire management officer or Steve Worden, a support guy, are some of my best leads. Candy and Alan Ewell in Honolulu have contacts with a lot of these people and so I am pursuing that first."

Richard's personal website is www.belterv.com

Vintage Transports, photos by Friends & Guests (33)

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