The Slow Decay of the last 4-engine McKinnon G-21C

[Rajay]

I don't think that it cost them all that much when they did it in 1958. They also did it in the Pacific Northwest Region of the US (through the Seattle Aircraft Certification Office or ACO of the FAA.) Next to Alaska traditionally speaking, that has to be the "easiest" region in which to do "business" with the FAA. And of course, except for the 4-engine conversion itself, all of the other mods were independently approved first as STCs.

As for rudder area, it was actually slightly enlarged. It's just very hard to tell the differences when the McKinnon and Grumman versions are not side-by-side. McKinnon very slightly increased the chord and rounded up the area of the rudder, more than doubled the size of the rudder trim tab, added a fairing to increase the size of the balance horn at the top of the rudder, and also created a much enlarged dorsal fin to increase the overall area of the vertical stabilizer.

I didn't know that this forum had e-mail notifications. I don't ever get them except for a PM or two. I'll have to check those settings too.

[seawings]

Hi Bryan here:

Yes, we have email notifications. Go to your Profile section and enable them.

I wouldn't be without them!

Cheers,

[Rajay]

Thanks Bryan, I thought I found and fixed the settings in question right after my making my previous post, but on the other hand, I have yet to receive notification of your response! I'll check it again.

[seawings]

It's a black art but you'll get there !

While I'm on, would you be kind enough to email me off-board?

Nothing wrong, I just want to have a chat with you that might be of interest.

Cheers,

[Rajay]

I just received word from Willem Ronge, the guy from Belgium who travels to Bangladesh semi-regularly, that upon his recent return there last month it appeared that S2-AAD (McKinnon G-21C s/n 1202) had been completely scrapped. He told me that there was not very much left other than a couple of engines and propellers and a pile of broken-up sheet metal. They got rid of it to make room for some new hangars at the Dhaka airport.

It's quite a travesty because there was plenty of opportunity to save it. Ten years ago, somebody there took some money from someone I know here in the US to sell it - but the paperwork was never in order to have it exported and shipped back to the US. A couple of years later, I was contacted by a guy from Australia who claimed to have bought it. I told him, hey wait a minute - I know of someone else who "bought" it first. Apparently someone in Bangladesh was running quite a scam, selling the same airplane over and over again.

[MrWidgeon]

Damn !
What a waste.
Thanks for the heads up D.

[Rajay]

Here it is more than a year since the last post on this thread and this subject is still of great interest to me. I recently found a "new" Web site that belongs to a doctor in Bangladesh. He had one page on his site dedicated to this aircraft - McKinnon G-21C s/n 1202, registered in Bangladesh as S2-AAD. Apparently, his father was the chief pilot for both the Government Flight and the National Flying Club of Bangladesh which operated this four-engine Goose between 1967 and 1980 - and he himself got to fly on it often when he was young.

The photos that he had on his Web site were two that I had already seen - one of them even already posted here, too. I sent him copies of the photos that I have collected of it over the years, though most of them show only its tragic decline and neglect, especially in the 10 - 15 years. He told me that he has additional photos of it in his family photo album and promised to try to find them. I'm hoping that he can scan them and send copies to me as well.

It was nice to learn from him more about its actual service history while in East Pakistan and Bangladesh and I'm hoping that he'll share even more stories about it (and his father) with me over time. I guess that the next time I write to him, I should ask his permission to post some of his stories here.

In the meantime, you can see his Web site for yourselves here:

http://www.tnawaz.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=43&Itemid=63

[MrWidgeon]

Rajay, ask him if he has any photos of the Widgeons he describes in his article.
The Pakistani/Bangladeshi Widgeons are among the least photographed in the west, I've never seen any photos of them.
Nice find.

Bill

[Rajay]

Dr. Nawaz added a great photo of McKinnon G-21C serial no. 1202 to his personal Web site a while back and it only just recently occurred to me to link to it here. I believe that the photo was taken at the McKinnon facility in Sandy, OR prior to its sale to the Government of East Pakistan in September 1967. I believe that he said it was actually taken by his father (who was the Chief Pilot of this aircraft for the Government Flight*) or his chief mechanic who accompanied him to the US to pick it up. It is the only photo of it still registered as N3459C that I have ever seen.

*The "Government Flight" of East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) was their equivalent to the USAF's 89th MAW at Andrews AFB - they handled all of the air travel for senior government VIP's - or as Dr. Nawaz liked to say, the "VVIP's"!



BTW, folks - this is what a "real" 1959 McKinnon model G-21C looked like - all 12,499 lbs of it - and it had very little, relatively speaking, in common with the two later so-called 1968 model G-21C "Hybrid" twin-turbine Gooses that were really still just Grumman G-21A turbine conversions essentially identical to McKinnon's later 10,500 lb. model G-21E... (and that never really "conformed" as McKinnon model "G-21C" aircraft regardless of their turbine engine conversions supposedly per STC SA1320WE.)

[MrWidgeon]

As a capper on this thread I recently received the following 3 photos from Willem Ronge detailing the demise of this airplane.

The first from 24 November 2010;



The next from 7 December 2011;



And the last a week later on 20 December 2011;



What a waste.

Bill