John Caruso wrote me in Feb.2006 for info on a Douglas DC-3 he had stumbled on and he felt he knew this old bird. Research provided an interesting career, and while this DC-3 at one time flew Ronald Reagan, it is better known by some as...
'The Turkey Hauler'!
This DC-3 is decorated with military serial 315728
(43-15728), but its official FAA tailnumber is N63440.
N-inquiry nov2014: N63440 15Apr1986, to expire on 30Apr2017, for Alaska Crew Incorporated (Anchorage,AK - John Aldrick?); their website www.alaskacrewtraining.org/ seems to draw a blank. So not sure how the ownership is arranged now, which could be of interest noting the construction going on here at Arlington - this DC-3 will be moved about a bit I think.
Caruso: Tom Smiley mob 425 985 7846 -jan 2015-
It seems one Tom Smiley is, and has been for a long while, the owner
Details on its history can be found: John Caruso on the Turkey Hauler
On a Facebook post in 2024 I read it was sighted on 17th July 2024, still stored here at Arlington (WA).
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'Patton's Ace In The Hole' has nothing to do with General George Patton of WW2 fame. Read John Caruso's
page on this.
Note the cooling vents on top of the fuselage, used to control the climate on board when it transported turkeys!
The faded tailnumber N63440.
N78724 is a Piper PA-11, manufactured in 1947, c/n 11-1476. It was reg'd 29Oct2014 to Justin Martel (Friday Harbor,WA).
I have a soft spot for the endearing Republic RC-3 SeaBee! How nice to come across two here at Arlington!
N6381K is c/n 610 and reg'd 30Nov1993 for John L. Dotson of Seattle,WA. I was told here that it was for sale but I cannot remember the price that was quoted.
This website www.seabee.info provided additional information-
NC6381K 1947-04-?? Manufacturing Date.
N6381K 1947-04-?? Test flight.
1947-04-08 Officially delivered from Republic Aviation Corporation to Seabee distributor Anderson Air Activities; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
1985-??-?? Lycoming IO-540 engine conversion by Transition Aircraft (Randy Komko); Washington, USA.
1993-11-30 John L. Dotson; 3216 West Viewmont Way W, Seattle, WA. |
N6704K is RC-3 SeaBee c/n 987, registered 09Dec2011 to Alpha Jets USA Inc (Wilmington,DE); their website is defunct.
There is an extensive history on www.seabee.info and I copied the following:
NC6704K 1947-05-?? Manufacturing Date.
N6704K 1947-05-?? Test flight.
1947-06-23 Officially delivered from Republic Aviation Corporation to Mr. W. Hunt as a demonstrator.
1947-12-30 Delivered from RAC to Richard W. Stanley; City island, New York, USA.
1956-10-19 A/W Date.
????-??-?? Richard B. Stanley; PO Box 69, Summerland Key, Florida 33042, USA.
1986-??-?? Hugh J. Donahue Jr. ; 295 Coconut Lane, Miami Beach, Florida 33139, USA.
1996-10-21 Baugh Aviation Inc.; 1325 6th Avenue North, Nashville, Tennessee 37208-2603, USA.
2001-04-05 Captain and Crew Aircraft and Yacht Sales; 300 Featherstone Drive, Gallatin,TN USA.
2002-02-20 Air USA Inc.; 1659 Highway 104, Quincy, Illinois 62305-0013, USA.
2007 For sale at www.raptoraviation.com
2008-02-17 Observed at Arlington Municipal Airport (KAWO); Snohomish County, WA, USA.
2010-06-19 Observed at Arlington Municipal Airport (KAWO); Snohomish County, WA, USA.
2011-03-08 For sale at www.airplanemart.com
Airframe time: 1725, engine time: 686 SMOH, Price: USD 79,500 or best offer.
Location: Arlington Municipal Airport (KAWO); Snohomish County, WA, USA. Contact: Craig Haws; Sagle, ID
2011-12-09 Alpha Jets USA Inc.; 3511 Silverside Road, Wilmington, Delaware 19810-4902, USA.
http://alphajetsusa.com (nov.2014, website no longer valid). |
North American NA-145 Navion N91581 (c/n NAV-4-362, manufactured 1946) presently de-registered, previously owned by Richard J. Luce of Bothell,WA
A photo on Airlners.net saw it visiting Oshkosh in july 2011.
I love that nose art!
The Navion is a US single-engine, unpressurized, retractable gear, 4-seat aircraft originally designed and built by North American Aviation in the 1940s. It was later built by Ryan Aeronautical Company and the Tubular Steel Corporation (TUSCO).
The Navion was envisioned as an aircraft that would perfectly match the expected postwar boom in civilian aviation, similar to the Republic RC-3 SeaBee.
The Army Air Force ordered 83 of the NA-154 version, designated the L-17A, to be used as a liaison aircraft, personnel and cargo carrier, and trainer for the university-based Reserve Officers Training Corps flight training program, 35 of which were later converted to L-17C standard by the Schweizer Aircraft Company by fitting them with L-17B model features such as an auxiliary fuel tank.
[ Wikipedia] |
It seems there once was a museum here..
The history of this Grumman S-2 Tracker I found on www.s2ftracker.com/IronLadyHistory.htm (dead link, 02-2024).
The above mentioned webpage has an extensive photographic history of BuNo 136427 while in Anderson,IN and from the time before she (as N8112A) arrived at Anderson Darlington Airport in 1996.
BuNo 136427 was sold by the US Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola,FL to Airplane Sales International Corp. of Beverly Hills,CA. on 13Oct1988.
The sale was not filed with the FAA until 28Mar1995 and then recorded by the FAA 19Apr1995.
Somewhere around 25May1995 it was then flown out of Davis-Monthan AFB. In between that time it apparently was moved on 18May1989 to Dross Metals (now DMI Aviation, which is a scrapper to the west of Davis-Monthan) along with 8 other Trackers and put in storage.
In 1996, while now registered as civilian aircraft N8112A, it was purchased by The Museum of Wings & Things in Santa Monica,CA (29Apr96)
From 1996 until July 1999 the Tracker was able to fly out to the air shows to represent Naval Aviation history to the spectators at these events.
The S-2 Tracker was then sold to David Jackson (dba as The Tracker Air Group), who sold her on to Abbatare of Arlington,WA in 2004.
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Grumman S2F-1 Tracker (converted to US-2B) 136427, 'The Iron Lady', was owned by the Webmaster www.s2ftracker.com (changed to www.grummantracker.com), David D Jackson, from 2000-2004 (dba The Tracker Air Group).
He was unfortunately not making sufficient progress in getting the aircraft back in the air as he had hoped for when he purchased it from the Museum of Wings and Things in 2000.
So he sold it to someone who could make it airworthy again and get it back in the air. This did happen and in September of 2005 136427 flew to her new home in Arlington,WA!
In 2009 Mr Abbatare sold 'The Iron Lady' to Air Station, Inc, which was apparently doing business as 'The Arlington Naval Air Museum', notinh the name painted on aircraft.
But it seems the museum ran out of steam, possibly closed down as early as 2005.
Mr Jackson's excellent website has an extensive record of images including 136427's military career and storage.
(I seem to have photographed it at Oshkosh in aug.1998 - I hope to add a scan at some later date). |
MAX HOLSTE MH-1521M BROUSSARD F-GIDJ (c/n 283)
Broussard means, I am told, 'Man of the Bush'! A true bush plane!
Here is a May 2008 image (also at Arlington), where F-GIDJ is in much better shape:
www.mh-1521.fr/index
It is or was probably part of the Arlington Naval Air Museum.
Showing the French regsitration F-GIDJ. Former pilot Commandant B.Chauvet (no idea what those insignias signify).
Charles Thompson offered: "it is possible that O+ is the blood group of the named pilot. Chauvet must be famous in France,
because another warbird Broussard, F-GIBN, carries exactly the same markings:www.pictaero.com see at
Lille Marcq (LFQO) in july 2007"
Beech G18S N103AF (c/n BA-526) was only recently, 26Jun14, reregistered: Point to Point LLC, Arlington,WA.
Flightaware.com showed a flight on 13Nov14 between Arlington (KAWO) and Klawock (PAKW), a flight of 3hrs57. So it is indeed fully operational.
To my own surprise I found I had come across it before: at Deer Valley,AZ on 22May2008 (probably stored at the time, not sure).
Reg'd 21Jan12 to N103AF LLC of Englewood,CO.
Previously N103AF was registered to Catalina Flying Boats of Long Beach,CA (since 24Nov2000).
From its base here at Arlington N103AF operates routes between Seattle area airports and Alaskan destinations.
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Update 03Mar2017.
"2 survive ditching and sinking of plane off Ketchikan...
Both crew members on a plane that ditched in waters near Ketchikan on Friday morning (March 2nd 2017 / webmaster) were able to escape with only minor injuries, according to federal officials.
Clint Johnson, the National Transportation Safety Board's Alaska chief, said the plane went down shortly after 8 a.m., when it failed to land at the Ketchikan airport during an instrument approach in snow showers.
The aircraft set down off Annette Island.
Noreen Price, the NTSB investigator assigned to the incident, said that the Beech 18 — a twin-engine propeller plane operated by Washington-based Point to Point Air — was on a flight from Klawock to Ketchikan at the time of the landing. No passengers were on board, Price said the company told her.
Alaska State Troopers identified the crew members as 68-year-old pilot Steven Hewitt of Seattle and 23-year-old Grant Hasting of Auburn, Washington.
"On the radio, the crew reported that they had an engine failure during that missed approach," Price said. "They could not maintain altitude and they made an emergency landing."
-Chris Klint, Jerzy Shedlock - www.adn.com/alaska-news/aviation/2017/03/03/2-survive-planes-emergency-ditching-sinking-off-ketchikan/
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Must have been a few years since this former waterbomber, Consolidated PBY-6A N85U (c/n 2112,'Tanker 85'), actually flew.
Here is an image by Terry Green where N85U display as water drop: 500px.com
This is from David Legg's 'World Catalina News - Oct.2009':
"The last active PBY water bomber in the world, unless another example is resurrected, was PBY-6A N85U, a Wright R-2600 Cyclone-equipped Super Cat operated by Flying Fireman Inc in Washington State in the USA. Although apparently retired from active fire fighting some months ago, it is still very much airworthy and has been active this summer in the Pacific Northwest. On Friday September 18th, it flew into the old US Navy seaplane base at Whidbey Island, landing on the water and then taxiing up the old flying boat ramp before an appreciative crowd. After a week’s stay it moved on to Paine Field, Washington for the Vintage Aircraft Weekend there and during the displays it carried out two water drops." ./end quote
From the same source, dated nov.2012:
"Meanwhile, over on the west coast at Arlington, Washington State, the Cyclone-powered PBY-6A Catalina N85U is still kept airworthy although has not carried out any water bombing of forest fires for some time now. Its owners Flying Fireman Inc of Spanaway, WA keep the Cat' at Arlington and occasionally exhibit it at local air shows.
(Its previous homebase seems to have been Deer Park, north of Spokane. I should have checked it out as I may have found another SeaBee there I think. Oh well. -Webmaster)
As recently as this August, Tanker 85 flew at the Vintage Aircraft Weekend at nearby Paine Field, carrying out a water drop on the airfield before an appreciative crowd." ./end quote
UPDATE: A video link late March 2015 sees T85 going airborne @Arlington; no date to the video, nor any details: a departure or a testflight?
In may, on Facebook, another update on N85U T85 Catalina, as it was seen on 06May15 @Thun Field, being prepared for repaint, for part in a film about USS Indianapolis.
Interesting!
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This pig boat seems to have no.1 engine dismantled: going away for overhaul or waiting to be reinstalled?
Super Catalina PBY-6A N85U got itself into a less fortunate condition here!
UPDATE july 2015
Taken from a news item on the internet, on Fox10tv.com; N85U was involved in filmwork and took on water (29Jun15). First attempts, the next day, to salvage failed.
The reason behind this poor situation, taking in water, was quoted as "a hasty restoration job" for this
film.
The location being Orange Beach,AL and the film 'USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage' featuring Nicholas Cage (details per allthingsaero.com = dead link 02-2024, 'allthingsaero.com has expired').
Another source mentioned for the location: "Flora-Bama Lounge & Oyster Bar in Perdido Key, FL (right on the Florida-Alabama border)."
An update showed another salvage attempt failed and led to a total loss when the aircraft broke apart.
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The restaurant requires a new owner.
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Photos © R.Leeuw
