Kent
Ewing, retired US Navy Captain, Aviator, former Commanding Officer of
USS America (CV 66), has nice memories of his father's Seabee N6669K
from when he was a kid. After some research, it was found that
N6669K currently is owned by Mr. Henry Ruzakowski in Florida.
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The Ewing's Seabee
N6669K (s/n 946)
1957
Photo: © Kent Ewing
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"Our Seabee [N6669K
s/n 946] was found by my Dad in a barn in Indiana where it sat for a few
years after being landed gear down against the furrows in a farm field
with an oil leak in the prop hub (I remember him saying that all the
prop hubs leaked and to land that hull with the gear down was stupid in
a field!!) Anyway, the wings were in the garage, the fuselage in
our backyard while he rebuilt the original Franklin and Hartzell
propeller, the interior, the panel, and repaired the broken down lock
mechanism.
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N6669K (s/n 946)
South Dayton Airport, Ohio
29 June 1957
Photo: © Kent Ewing
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We towed it out to South
Dayton Airport, assembled it and flew it on June 29, 1957. I was
with him for his first water landing on the Ohio River a few days later
and we made a wonderful fishing trip to Canada where I remember fishing
out the bow door, bumbing a log in a lake once, and him learning a lot
from some young Canadian kid who flew a Bee with no landing gear on it!!
Appologize for the black
and white and poor photography, but what do you want from a 12 year old
with a Brownie!!?? The picture of my Dad next to the Bee was
in the Dayton Daily News when we ran up the engine in the backyard and
got a lot of neighbors attention!! We had a converted school
bus RV (way before Winnebagos) so we put the wings inside the bus, put
the tailwheel in the back door and towed the Bee about 8 miles to the
airport. Assembled it there and flew it from there. I
was aboard when Dad made his first water landing on the Ohio River about
two weeks later--all I remember is him saying over and over again
"well we should be touching down pretty soon".
I remember his favorite
saying: 'She climbs, cruises, and dives at 80 Knots.'
I
am a retired USN aviator with over 1100 carrier landings and former CO
of USS America. I just got my seaplane license in Minnesota and am
still riding high. It would be really great to fly my Bonanza down
to see the old girl in Florida if Henry still has it.
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The Ewing's Beech Bonanza
Photo: © Kent Ewing
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Dad was career USAF
officer, flew 50 missions in B17's in Italy WWII, retired as the Senior
Project Officer on the C141 Starlifter in 1968. We always had some
kind of an airplane while he was alive. The last pic is his 1953
Bonanza which he had from 1959 to 1963."
Kent
Ewing, May 2003
