TO MOST OF US , FLYING is simply a fast and efficient way of getting from here to there . But it can be so much more . Accelerating across the water at the point of a sparkling vee of spray , lifting off to look down through big windows at the shining towers of a city beside a deepwater bay , skimming close over a jigsaw puzzle of islands and inlets , soaring around the ice-draped peaks and looming volcanoes that make up some of the most impressive mountains on the planet … Now that ’ s flying .
That this remarkable experience can be had by simply buying a ticket on Kenmore Air is due entirely to a single gust of wind which shortly before the outbreak of World War II flipped over a tiny , two-seat Aeronca floatplane on Seattle ’ s Lake Union . Seattle seaplane pioneer Lana Kurtzer salvaged the plane , stacked the pieces behind his shop and forgot about it until 1944 when a pair of young Navy Reserve aviation mechanics asked if he ’ d be willing to sell it .
Graduates of the Boeing School of Aeronautics , Reginald “ Reg ” Collins and Bob Munro were looking for an airplane rebuild project to hone their skills during their spare time . The fact the Aeronca was on floats was irrelevant since their post-war plan was to sell it and open a little aircraft repair shop . The agreed-on price was three hundred dollars and the restoration took a year .
In August , 1945 Collins and Munro began looking for a commercial garage to rent to house their repair shop . They found one on Green Lake Way just north of Lake Union , and then their longtime friend Jack Mines came home from flying anti-submarine planes in the Pacific and changed everything .
“ Why don ’ t you start a business with it ,” he suggested when he saw the assembled Aeronca in Munro ’ s backyard . “ Offer flight instruction , charter flights , things like that .”
“ Well , that ’ d be interesting ,” said Collins . “ But neither one of us knows how to fly .”
“ No , but I do ,” said Mines , and he outlined his idea . He ’ d do the flying while Collins and Munro took care of the repair work . The two mechanics were skeptical but Mines ’ enthusiasm finally won them over .
The first challenge was to find a place to fly the plane . Mines found it at the north end of Lake Washington , an abandoned shingle mill on a boggy mudflat in front of the town of Kenmore . The owner was willing to lease the property , so the Aeronca was disassembled , trucked to the site and reassembled . Its first flight was on March 21 , 1946 . Mines made several flights that day , including giving Munro his first flying lesson . As they were pulling the plane out of the water a man drove down from the highway and asked if they ’ d be selling flight instruction . Kenmore Air had its first customer .
In addition to the mill the property featured a house with a separate garage and a small building that had apparently served as a chicken coop . Collins and his wife moved into the house , the garage became the repair shop and the chicken coop was slid over next to the garage to become the company ’ s headquarters .
The instruction side of the business boomed almost overnight thanks to the demand from returning GIs . The forty-horsepower Aeronca was too underpowered to be an effective trainer so the company acquired a more powerful Taylorcraft . In a pattern that would be repeated time and time again they got a deal on it because the plane was heavily damaged , but Kenmore ’ s skilled mechanics returned it to pristine condition in no time .
A lot happened in 1946 . The company ’ s fleet grew by several more planes as the instruction business took off . Additional instructors and mechanics were hired . But the year also saw the departure of two of the company ’ s founders . Jack Mines was killed when an inadvertent stall caused him to hit the trees while airdropping supplies to a search party in the Cascade Mountains . A few months later Reg Collins announced he was moving to California . Less than a year after they ’ d started Bob Munro was left to run the company on his own .
Kenmore Air may have been propelled into existence by a gust of wind but it was accelerated down the road to success by a fish . For years Enos Bradner , an avid fly fisherman whose day job was being the outdoor reporter for the Seattle Times , had been hearing rumors about big steelhead trout that spawned in the rivers on Vancouver Island before speeding back to salt water to grow even bigger . In 1950 he decided to find out if the rumors were true , so he called Kenmore to arrange a charter flight . Munro had continued taking flying lessons after Jack Mine ’ s death and had become as accomplished a pilot as he was a
Top photo , the rebuilt Aeronca Model K in Bob Munro ’ s backyard , 1946 . Second from top , starting one of the Taylorcrafts for an instruction flight , 1946 . Third pic down , a successful fishing charter . Bob Munro ( second from right ) and the company Seabee . Bottom pic , Kenmore Air in 1948 . As you can see , the abandoned shingle mill became a thriving hub .
kenmoreair . com
35