AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 57

restricted areas.” Most of Kenmore’s locations are fairly open, although charter flights are regularly made to destinations that use all the Beaver’s performance, something pioneered in the region by company founder Bob Munro. Munro acquired his first Beaver back in 1966. The company currently owns both the last piston-powered Beaver off of the de Havilland assembly line produced in 1967 (N900KA, aka Maggie, pictured in this story), and the last Beaver ever made, a turbine, in 1968. Over the years the company has developed a wide range of STCs for the Beaver and its reputation for rebuilding the legendary bush planes can often be seen when Beavers for sale are advertised as “Kenmore Beavers.” Gordy Barnes is the man who has spent his entire career helping to build that reputation. Barnes also recently celebrated his fortieth year with Kenmore Air. Pilot Bill Whitney and Barnes each say the other has been there longer; the difference is only about a week. “Usually we do one or two a year these days,” Barnes says of the rebuilds that take between 3,000 to 5,000 man hours. A peak year included five rebuilds. The company first started rebuilding airplanes for itself. The business expanded to air taxi operators in Alaska and elsewhere, then many of the fishing lodges in British Columbia and Alaska requested

rebuilt Beavers. Since the mid-1990s many of Kenmore’s customers have been private individuals, including actor and AOPA member Harrison Ford. More than 135 have been rebuilt on the north shore of Lake Washington. There are two turbine Beavers currently undergoing restoration in Barnes’ shop. “This one is completely reskinned,”

founder Bob Munro and was one of the Beavers he used to ferry geologists and supplies to nearby Mount Olympus where he would land the floatplane on snow-covered Blue Glacier. Munro performed many floats-on-glacier landings around Washington as well as Alaska. Bob’s son Gregg continues to fly Beavers in addition to his position as

“There’s a lot of times when I’ve had to land somewhere and I’ve just thought, ‘I’m glad I’m in the Beaver today,’” Munro says.
he says standing next to a fuselage that spent 25 years in Nigeria. “It had huge amounts of corrosion.” When properly maintained, Barnes says the de Havilland Beaver rarely needs any type of airframe maintenance. “We run engines out, that’s it.” He says an airplane at Kenmore might go 10 to 15 years with only engine work and the replacement of basic consumable parts such as pulleys. Eventually, though, the airframes are rebuilt. Some of Kenmore’s airplanes have been rebuilt more than once. The company’s first Beaver, N9766Z, was built in 1953 and has more than 37,385 hours as of August 10, 2011 (six to eight are being added each day). It’s been through two rebuilds in the past 25 years. 66Z was the favorite airplane of company chairman at Kenmore. At 64, the younger Munro has more than 15,000 hours in Beavers and he says the company his father built wouldn’t be the same without the DHC–2. “There’s a lot of times when I’ve had to land somewhere and I’ve just thought, ‘I’m glad I’m in the Beaver today,’” Munro says. Taxiing back into Kenmore’s docks, there is almost no wind, simplifying what is often the most difficult part of flying a floatplane. At less than 10 mph I pull the mixture, the engine falls silent, and we quietly drift in. With a gentle push of the right pedal we turn parallel to the dock, I climb down to the float, hop on the dock, and tie down the airplane. It’s a perfect ending to a first flight in a local icon. —Jason Paur

Bob Munro offered flight instruction in a Taylorcraft in 1949 (left). The leather-wrapped yoke of a DHC–3 Beaver (below), the airplane that has served as the backbone of Kenmore Air’s fleet since the early 1960s.

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AOPA PILOT • 57 • NOVEMBER 2011

AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011