Ted, you just keep right on “”remembering stuff”. I’ll read anything you care to share.
Gary
Here's one for you Gary!
Several years after the PT26 era my father had purchased the Cessna dealership at the Renton airport (Renton Aviation, Inc.) and my big brother Gary and I spen countless hours there including starting at well before Government approved ages sweeping hangars, washing airplanes, eventually gassing them, etc. Basic flunky duties. At that time on the East side (across the single runway from "Renton Aviation" there was a lengthy string of out of service PB-Ys and PB-Ms just sitting there daring young persons such as ourselves to sneak over and check 'em out....which Gary and I did! We spent numerous hours, sneaking across the north end of the runway and sitting in the cockpits of a few that allowed access, spitting on the windshields and "flying" them around the world...at least in our minds. It was great stuff and memories.
Alas, the ultimate downside was that at some point in time...can't remember when... they disappeared and I later learned they had been hauled out onto Lake Washington (the airport was on the southernmost end of the lake) and were "sunk" for "terminal" storage. AFAIK they still mostly continue to reside there.
More tails to come. Several even wilder than that!
Ted
p.s. Just found this link:
https://mynorthwest.com/1526776/boeing-aviation-history-renton-plant/? that gives much of the war/Boeing etc. history at the Renton Airport. Pretty much everything from about 1949 or until the early 1960s I was privy to and once in a while involved. PBYs, PBM, B29s, B50s, KC97s, Strato Cruisers, 707s etc. etc. Over a period of time I'll drop in a couple of memories of those years.