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#006 - N4507L
(somehow in the production S/N-006 got the 7L registration)
1974 purchased by Pastor Edmund Kalau's Mission in Yap, Micronesia
1994 retired by Pacific Missionary Aviation
1995 sold on Bill of Sale only (no transfer
of ownership with FAA) but abandoned after sale
2007 purchased by and registration
transferred to Jed Keck (site host)
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Current location - In Washington State awaiting restoration
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Rev. Edmund Kalau
2007
Edmund Kalau does not mince
words about his wartime past in his thick German accent. He was a card carrying Nazi, "I
hated the Jews with a passion". Itching to contribute to the war effort, he practiced flying gliders for
two years as a teenager until he was finally old enough to join the Luftwaffe. On the Russian front he flew the ME-109G.
There he escaped Russian capture twice but it was the British that got him. Not in the air, there was no fuel left for the
planes at that point and he blew up his on the airstrip to keep it out of enemy hands before retreating. "I
had vowed to kill as many I could and keep the last bullet for myself" but he was jumped by a British patrol
and ended up a POW. In the POW camp he surrendered his life to God.
"The only good thing that came out of that time was I learned how to fly". For some
50 years he served the small islands and founded Pacific Missionary Aviation www.pmapacific.org 30 years ago (now in the hands of his son Norbert "Nob" Kalau). It took him and
Maurice Pickard 110 hours of airtime to fly the Evangel eastbound from the U.S. to Yap. Today
two Queen Airs continue to operate off of the island serving the people there and the outer islands. Pastor Kalau
stays put in Guam now and
in his early 80's is pretty spry and can belt out sermon with the best. The message is not subtle -
"renounce your other gods and accept Christ, there is no other way to bring you life and life more abundantly".
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Rev Edmund Kalau
& Maurice Pickard before departing the U.S. eastbound for Yap
The 3 photos below are fom Norman Leask.
Norman writes, "I came across the attached photos the other day and that got me googling.
These are of #006 as it passed through Sumburgh Airport (EGPB) in the Shetland Islands North of Scotland on it's ferry flight
to Micronesia in 1974.Sumburgh was a regular fuelling stop for small trans atlantic aircraft but this one really raised a
few eyebrows! I often wondered what became of her as, needless to say, you don't see many of these in our neck of the woods.
Glad to hear she may again take to the skies although I don't suppose I will ever see her again"!
Inaugural Flight to Ulithi, July 1974
On the job in the outer islands, 1974
Loading up at the PMA hangar on the Yap
airfield and from Joel who took the photo "We were about to depart for Ulithi, it was the fall
of 1974 when I was newly hired as a grad assistant on the Bilingual Education and Teacher Training project for Micronesia
at the University of Hawaii. I remember sitting on the floor with beetlenut to chew for inflight refreshment".
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Jed's notes;
I
came upon #006 in June 2007 when my job had me at the airport on the island of Yap in Micronesia. Due to the Evangels
rarity was surprised to come across it and decided I could not allow it to remain to continue to rot away. Secured ownership
and in November 07 returned to disassemble and ship back to the States......It had set outside abandoned and unsecured for 14 years, yet storms and typhoons never
did much more than slide it a few feet, put a dent and cut in the top of the fuselage and damage the right horizontal
stabilizer. Of course it has corrosion but not as bad as one would think and if it casts a shadow, it can be rebuilt.
| A special thanks to Peter, Vince, Amos, Tommy & Grace of PMA for their
assistance on the tear down and shipping. |
In August 2008 my job had me at the Kajjanzi airstrip in Uganda. There I got to talking with local
pilot Jon Cadd and discovered Jon was based on Yap with PMA in the 70's and flew this plane for over 1,000 hours...........What
a small world it is at times......Below is Jon with #006
Jon's website with stories of his adventures in Micronesia and Africa
The day I found #006, June 4, 2007
Disassembly
November 2007
Tommy and Amos (on forks) from PMA
Headed for the States
Michael Gunberg and Jimmy Bryan who helped me
unload it from the container.
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