Seeking Help to locate Thomas W Kendall or family - PBY-5A

[Mark_Pilkington]

Folks,

I am seeking help to locate Mr Thomas W Kendall/Catalina Ltd or his family/children , of La Verne CA, who owned PBY-5A Bu 48397 N5593V that was abandoned in Saudi Arabia in 1960.

regards

Mark Pilkington






http://uk.geocities.com/kendo1938/catalina.htm

The Catalina has lain abandoned for over 40 years on the beach off the Strait of Tiran on the Saudi Arabia side of the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba.

The aircraft is a PBY-5A model and was bought from the US Navy by Thomas W Kendall, a retired businessman who converted it to a luxury flying yacht.

In the spring of 1960 Mr Kendall took a pleasure trip around the world with his wife and children together with his secretary and her son. A photographer joined the group to cover part of the trip for life magazine.

On the 22nd March 1960 they landed at the Strait of Tirana and anchored the aircraft a short distance from the shore to spend the night there. They heard someone shouting but did not pay any attention. In the afternoon of the following day they were attacked with machine guns and automatic firearms from a headland nearby. The children were able to swim back to the aircraft. Mr Kendal and his secretary were wounded while trying to start the Catalina but moved it about 800 metres, unfortunately it ran aground on a coral reef. The firing lasted 30 to 40 minutes and no fewer than 300 shots hit the aircraft. The fuel tanks were perforated and 4000 litres of fuel poured from the holes but miraculously the aircraft did not catch fire. The sea was only about 1.5 metres deep and all aboard managed to leave the aircraft and reach the shore. On the beach they were captured by a group of Bedouins attached to the Saudi Arabian army, who had taken them to be Israeli commandos. They were eventually taken to Jeddah, interrogated and finally set free with the help of the American Ambassador. The Ambassador protested to the Saudi Arabian government but they refused to accept any liability for the attack and consequent loss of the aircraft

.




Here is a Middle Eastern forum with more recent photos posted @March 2006 as per above.

(Note this forum has its vertical scroll on the LHS)

http://www.mekshat.com/vb/showthread.php?t=46312&page=1&pp=15


Much earlier photos exist on flicker prior to the wing collapse, taken in February 1995.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/kendo1938/112154359/in/set-72057594081556662

The photo's on Flicker are quite old and the aircraft is far more deteriorated as shown by google earth.

The Wing has toppled off the rear mount of the pylon due to the weight of the engines and is sitting leading edge down on top of the cockpit.

[daveymac82c]

I wish I could help you out, but this is actually the first time I've heard of this airplane.

Over the years I've grown really attached to the 'ol PBY's. Doing research, reading, and simply looking at pictures of them. From the people that I have talked to that have flown them, they were slow, slow, and slow, but they loved them.

I want my own.

Cheers,

David

[henry]

gee mark, anyone would think you had just picked up a PBY project or something

[Tulio]

I recall reading the story that LIFE magazine published, oh what? Forty or more years ago?

Saludos,


Tulio

[Mark_Pilkington]

tulio,

the event happened a long time ago, I suspect I am really seeking the grown up children or decendants?

Henry,
I dont think this one will survive the truck trip to Lake Austin, smiles


regards

Mark Pilkington

[Aircraft Mech Paul]

WHEW !!!

This old bird is a sad sight indeed. This is one of those projects that would make any airframe/structures guy cringe at the challehge of trying to even bring it back up to a static restoration. Sad as it looks, does ANYONE think that this old bird could be made airworthy ??

Paul

[Steve Nelson]

After that many years in salt water I'm amazed there's anything left at all! It'd probably crumble to dust if you sneezed on it.

SN

[Chris Brame]

Too bad this one wasn't recovered sooner... I wonder if someone was trying to dismantle it when the wing tipped over? Note how the wing-to-fuselage struts have been removed. As far gone as it is, I bet the turret nose would be of some use for patterns, and one of those cowl rings would look good in my living room ...

Can anybody translate some of the messages?

Edit: Here's the page translated through Google; the English, however, is often nearly incomprehensible (and sometimes pretty funny!):

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... n%26sa%3DN

And according to this link, Thomas Kendall passed away on April 10, 2003 in Costa Mesa, CA:

http://www.pbycia.org/WebMessages.nsf/d ... enDocument

[Tulio]

Mark,

I would guess that the people you would need to seek have to be the children (grown up by now) or their children's.

One week ago, during the Lake Austin's unloading event, we briefly touched the subject of this Catalina with Gary, who also seemed to remember the LIFE article.

This guy provided some information on Catalinas in the past:

Marc Commandeur <PBY@Catalina.demon.nl>

Good luck!

Saludos,


Tulio

[P51Mstg]

I think that the point everyone misses here was that the trip was an incredible adventure to start with. When the shooting started it just got a lot more intense. After they all got out, it was the vacation story that even Chevy Chase couldn't match.

Simply amazing.


Mark H

[Warhawk]

Edit: Here's the page translated through Google; the English, however, is often nearly incomprehensible (and sometimes pretty funny!):

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... n%26sa%3DN

I quite enjoyed trying to make sense out of the translation at times. I also nearly swallowed my gum when I saw that one of the posters did their research right in the warbird registry, They link back to the entry for that particular Catalina.

[Story]

Mark,
You should have an email.

Also, this should take you right to the article - with a color photo of Kendall's Catalina
http://books.google.com/books?id=7U4EAA ... ia&f=false

[Samnnic]

I am the niece of the grandson of Thomas Kendall

[agbalawi]

This aircraft away from my home less than 3 hours.
I was playing next to a year ago and I do not know her story.
I hope to find the owner or his family.

[BAJ]

WHEW !!!

This old bird is a sad sight indeed. This is one of those projects that would make any airframe/structures guy cringe at the challehge of trying to even bring it back up to a static restoration. Sad as it looks, does ANYONE think that this old bird could be made airworthy ??

Paul

I'll take an educated stab in the dark and say:

1) No...No
2) Snow Balls chance in hell

The corrosion at this stage would be savage and cancerous with the high salt atmosphere and sea water immersion at high tide.

Possible static if it could be held together when moved.