High school friends, Reg Collins and Bob Munro
worked as mechanics at Pan Am in the early
1940s. They purchased a wrecked Aeronca K in
1944. The hope was to rebuild the 40-horsepow-
er floatplane and go into business for themselves
fixing small airplanes. But when their fellow high
school buddy and pilot, Jack Mines, returned
home at the end of World War II, the business
idea expanded to include flight instruction and
charter work.
The company, founded years earlier
by the elder Wright as a small builder
before moving to Seattle, had already
made a name for itself when plans for
the World’s Fair began. The risk they
took in taking on this project paid off,
though, and the Space Needle became
an instant hit.
Postcards featuring the Space Needle
made their way to mailboxes around the
world. They still continue today, with
one distinct addition — the unmis-
takable Kenmore Air seaplane, caught
mid-flight, usually in the foreground of
the Space Needle.
TAKING OFF FROM
LAKE WASHINGTON
Bob Munro, Reg Collins, and Jack Mines,
had no idea what Kenmore Air would
become when they founded the com-
pany in 1946 at the edge of a bog in the
northern corner of Lake Washington.
The three friends had simply reunited
after World War II with an idea to create
a seaplane business in the Pacific North-
west. With one plane and a hangar, they
started making repairs and chartered
flights from the then-sleepy shores of
Explore the great values of Vancouver Island and the BC Coast!
Pierre’s at Echo Bay: Popular destination marina
providing substantial moorage facilities, accommo-
dations, general store, dining hall, liquor store and
regional post office. Also includes 2 substantial prop-
erties; a 3.8 acre island and a 10 acre oceanfront
property. In the Broughton Archipelago, approx.
48km NE of Port McNeill on Vancouver Island.
$1,900,000
Lot 10 Sharpes Bay: 2.84 acre lot beautifully
forested with a medium to moderate slope down
to the ocean. Power and moorage available. Exclu-
sive oceanfront estate community located on the
southern shores of the Malaspina Peninsula 8
km NW of Lund. This is an unparalleled commu-
nity development with only 23 outstanding ocean-
front and view acreages. $980,000
Quatsino oceanfront residence: 1900sqft
home on a 1.2 acre peninsula of land with spectac-
ular views across Quatsino Sound and up Ner-
outsos Inlet to the southwest. Home offers many
custom wood touches and finishings. Drilled well
and a septic system in place. Excellent deep-water
moorage. Quatsino is a west coast water access
community with power. $595,000
Bold Point Quadra Island: Amazing oceanfront
estate. Fully forested 50 acre peninsula with a spec-
tacular and elegant masterfully-crafted 4800sqft
residence with open living spaces, impressive timber
features and mechanical systems plus oceanside guest
cottage overlooking exceptional protected moorage.
24x50 shop. One of a kind Discovery Islands estate.
$3,900,000
kenmoreair.com
43