PBY pen

Description

PNWNAM certifies that the metal in this pen was sourced from PBY-5 described below.

PBY-5A Bu33968 was built by Consolidated Aircraft Corp. in San Diego, CA in 1943. One of the earliest PBYs to carry radar, she was originally named Radar Rachel. Following a short period at NAS Whidbey Island for crew training in 1943, she served in the Aleutian Islands with VP-43.

Later in 1944, she was transferred to the Coast Guard and based at Port Angeles, WA. After WWII she passed through a variety of civilian owners ending up in Lewiston, MT in the early 1980s. Destined for an Israeli museum, Radar Rachel crashed at Lewiston’s airport in 1985, thus ending her Israeli prospects.

Brought to Skagit Regional Airport in Washington, she was largely restored by Alan Hodgkins of Oak Harbor, WA. In 2010, she was purchased by the PBY Memorial Foundation and airlifted to the NAS Whidbey Island Seaplane Base by Chinook helicopter of Columbia Helicopters.

She was renamed Gerral’s Gir (or GiGi) to recognize CAPT Gerral David, CO of NAS Whidbey Island, who was instrumental in bringing her to Whidbey. In 2015 she was moved to downtown Oak Harbor, WA where she became the signature display aircraft of the Pacific Northwest Naval Air Museum.