Mystery Privateer Fuselage

[connieman]

I photographed the remants of a PB4Y Privateer the other day at Chandler Memorial Airport. Can anyone help me with the ID of this aircraft?
Ralph

[Matt Gunsch]

owned by Robert Kropp, it crashed in AZ yrs ago. Robert has the Harpoon there as well

[connieman]

Would you know the N-number?

[Todd Hackbarth]

I believe this is from BuNo 59905, N6816D which burnt out on the runway at Wenatchee, Washington on 27 July 1972. Robert Kropp owns, or at one time owned, the outer wing panels from this aircraft. I photographed them at Chandler Memorial Airport in December of 1990. I don't know who has them now.

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/b24regis ... 59905.html

http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=66153&key=0#

http://www.ronsarchive.com/oou05/pages/ ... 2-1081.htm

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/thirdseries6.html
BuNo 59905 to Naval Air Reserve at Miami, FL. (NARTU Miami was established at Master Field in 1946 and disestablished June 30, 1959), 1958. Registered as N6816D, Wenairco Inc, Wenatchee, WA, 1963-1972. Flew as tanker #42. To Hawkins & Powers Aviation. W/o after it burnt out on runway, when the aircraft had caught fire in flight on a landing go-around. Flames destroyed the aft section of the fuselage forward of the tail at Wenatchee, WA (EAT), on July 27, 1972. Removed from US Civil Registry, Dec. 1977. Rear fuselage and parts noted, Buckeye, AZ, Jan. 1979

http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac3/X ... B4Y-2.html

[connieman]

Thanks much Todd

[Larry Kraus]

When I flew as co-pilot for Ralph Rensink in a B-17,he told me about the firey landing in the 4Y in Wenatchee.He said that Dempsay (Bill Dempsay,the owner of Central Air Service) tried to wet wing the airplane and it didn't work.Ralph said that he smelled gas on a long final for landing and started to get out of his seat to see where it was coming from.There was gas sloshing around in the center section where the wing spar passed through the fuselage.At the time that he looked back,a patch over a lightening hole let go and a stream of raw fuel poured right onto a hot microswitch and lit off into white flames with a loud "Whoosh".Ralph and his co-pilot got out of the airplane before it stopped rolling on the runway.By the time the local Fire Brigade showed up,the airplane was destroyed.

A few years ago,when I was based at Moses Lake Tanker Base,our tanker base manager,Bob Pell,managed to get a copy of the local newspaper account of this accident via the newspaper's archives.The Wenatchee World had the story along with a couple of pictures that showed everything except for the rear portion of the fuselage,the outer wing panels and the engines as a pile of melted slag.Ralph said that the Wenatchee Airport Manager sent Dempsay a bill for several thousand dollars to cover repairs to the runway.

[Chad Veich]

I remember running into a gentelman at Falcon Field who had a hangar full of Privateer parts including all or most of a fuselage. Might that have been Mr. Kropp or is their someone else here in AZ gathering Privateer/Liberator stuff?

[RMAllnutt]

I remember running into a gentelman at Falcon Field who had a hangar full of Privateer parts including all or most of a fuselage. Might that have been Mr. Kropp or is their someone else here in AZ gathering Privateer/Liberator stuff?

I would imagine that was probably someone else, since the fuselage was almost completely destroyed.

One thing I noted from the photos of the aircraft in its fire bomber guise was that the engine cowlings were stock, rather than the ones (B-25?) which were used on Hawkins & Powers birds... did these cowlings survive the fire?

Cheers,
Richard

[Ryan Keough]

I remember running into a gentelman at Falcon Field who had a hangar full of Privateer parts including all or most of a fuselage. Might that have been Mr. Kropp or is their someone else here in AZ gathering Privateer/Liberator stuff?

Sounds like Robert... or "Pooner" as he goes by here on WIX. He has a PV-2 that has been mentioned in recent threads at Memorial as well.