Quote:
Originally Posted by KittyHawk
Information, stories, history and photographs sought:
I purchased an old biplane, a 1931 Viking Kitty Hawk with registration number NC975M. Researching its history as part of the restoration process, I learned that it spent most of its flying life on EDO 2260 floats, flying sightseers over Lake Winnipesaukee from the mid-1940's to 1974, when it crashed in a field after taking off from Paugus Bay Seaplane Base. It was in storage from 1974 until I began rebuilding her in 2011.
The owners while she flew visitors to the lake were William Harman, then Bill Muzzey and back to William Harman thru 1974. I am attempting to locate these gentlemen for their input, of course. While that plays out, I am asking Forum members to search their memories and photo archives to see if anyone has info to help me with this quest. I will try to attach a photo of the plane at Paugus Bay with this post to refresh 40 year memories. If you can help, PM me, please!
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At the Wolfeboro library, a recent publication has appeared—courtesy of the Town of Wolfeboro.
I looked through my copy of
Bob Fogg and New Hampshire's Golden Age of Aviation and didn't find this photo—
below—which appears within this current Wolfeboro pamphlet.
Labeled "
Lakes Region Air Park", the name apparently refers to the
Laconia "Seaplane Base". The
Wolfeboro name "
Lakes Region Air Park" was adopted before 1979 because the signage at
Wolfeboro's Little Airport showed "
Lakes Region Air Park" printed in large letters on its present-day hanger.
(Remnants of the sign "
Lakes Region Air Park" remained legible for years).
Had it been
Wolfeboro's "
Lakes Region Air Park", I should have remembered the occasion at the (later-day) "Air Park", but that photographed occasion (below) may have been too brief. OTOH, the purported location seems to be
very different in its later-day surroundings—we never had such a "crowd" at the shoreline, the horizon's tree-line is very different, and
somebody's moved that boulder!
So, to appear in a Wolfeboro-produced pamphlet, the caption is likely misleading—perhaps, instead, it taken at Merwin Horn's
downtown Wolfeboro location. (
I think the photo likely refers to a location
other than Wolfeboro). But the important thing is to add still another photographic piece to the history of Lake Winnipesaukee's own Kitty Hawk—
NC975M.