Kermit Weeks buys Howard Hughes S-43 Seaplane

[Sky Quest]

Looks like Howard Hughes S-43 seaplane will fly again after all. Kermit Weeks just purchased this great aircraft, and it will finally get the love and attention it desperately needs. They say they will take it apart and build it to its original grandeur. Can't wait to see that done.

http://youtu.be/S6Hj_KcE7_M

[tom d. friedman]

wow!! that is great news!! i just can't believe it languished for so long. i thought evergreen would snap it up for sure to put next to the h -1 hercules. it's still going to a great home, & you can be certain that mr weeks will preserve all of it's aviation history that the aircraft is steeped in.

[TD McCoy]

Good to hear. Kermit knows what he is doing. This story is a bit apocryphal. Back in the late 1940's
an S-43 made an precautionary landing at Port Orford, Oregon. supposedly it was Howard Hughes and some starlet. It made the local paper and little else. My source was an old Crabber who is now departed.
Knew this guy well and he was not one of the "This is a Whale of a Tale and I swear it's true!" types..
they Landed in Garrison Lake which is big and deep enough. docked and stayed over night at the local
lodge-burned and gone years ago. This may have been before he crashed his prototype recon plane..
might be worth doing some research on..

[Mike]

Hughes crashed this one too, killing a couple of people on board at the time.

[Rocketeer]

Anyone have any pictures of the different paint schemes N440 has worn over the years?