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Topic: PT 557 WILDWOOD NJ |
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mcgovern61
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Posted on: Jul 18, 2017 - 8:03pm
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By the way, elsewhere on this forum, Chip Marshall has posted some good information regarding the 486 and 557. These boats were part of the Ron4 boats that were set aside by BuShips to be used for an OSS project. They were not used, but the 486 was already partially stripped and converted. Here is a quote from his post;
"Another group of surplus PT boats (by now stripped of weapons and electronics) was set aside by BuShips to act as remote control range boats for post war Test Charlie, the third atomic bomb test scheduled for Bikini Atoll. The reason for PT boats was their speed (they would be able to retrieve samples quicker. The boats were to be painted all yellow and operated from an overhead aircraft. One of the first decisions made was to release the BuShips hold on the Higgins PTs as they were deemed not suitable for the needs at hand. And, with the cancellation of Test Charlie, the Elco PTs were released and eventually sold off. The incomplete list I have of the PTs slated for Test Charlie is 456,486,487,505,557,559,614,615, and 618. "
Chip Marshall
This does coincide with the pictures we have of the 486 in 1944 being stripped down in VA for an "experiment". The pictures are dated 1944, but there is film of these same boats on the Hudson River in 1945. There is no doubt in the Hudson River pictures that the 486 is there.
These pictures are from elsewhere on this forum, but they are the PT-486 when she was being stripped down to be used for the OSS Project. The date stamp on the picture clearly shows it is the PT-486, but the date is 1944.
On a recent visit to the 486 up in Kingston, NY, I went through the boat and verified items in this picture:
Are also in this picture which I took inside of the boat June 2017:
All of the bolt holes for the cribbing are there behind the boards in the frames.
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TED WALTHER
TOP BOSS
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 Posted on: Jul 19, 2017 - 7:40am
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Gerry;
If that test went off, that would have been such a waste, that would have impacted the Sinn family business and Clark Gable at least. Contact me via the envelope, I want to see if you recognize the structure of another boat, that showed up in North Carolina around the time you said PT 557 disappeared.
Take care,
TED
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Drew Cook
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Posted on: Jul 20, 2017 - 2:03pm
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"...and Clark Gable at least."
Huh?
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Will Day
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Posted on: Jul 20, 2017 - 2:09pm
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The 615 became, at one time, GABLE'S DREAM...
Will |
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Drew Cook |
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Jul 20, 2017 - 2:12pm
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mcgovern61,
I still rely on emailed photos to our webmaster, Dick Washichek to post on the Forum for me.
He is going to slap me one day for continuing to do this, as I should've learned how to do it myself years ago!
I believe there are directions on how to post images on the Forum somewhere on the site...
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Drew Cook
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Posted on: Jul 20, 2017 - 2:15pm
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Copy, Will (GABLE'S DREAM).
Didn't know that Clarkie-Boy (as my smitten Grandmother always referred to him) had owned a PT.
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mcgovern61
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Posted on: Jul 21, 2017 - 5:51am
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Quote:
mcgovern61,
I still rely on emailed photos to our webmaster, Dick Washichek to post on the Forum for me.
He is going to slap me one day for continuing to do this, as I should've learned how to do it myself years ago!
I believe there are directions on how to post images on the Forum somewhere on the site...
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Drew, I see Dick is adding a gallery soon. As soon as it is up I will add photos. The other method is to use a hosting site, but I do not have and have not used a hosting site for pictures. I am very familiar with using the gallery in forums so I will wait a bit for the gallery to be made available. Then the pictures will always be here on the forum.
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mcgovern61
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Posted on: Jul 30, 2017 - 1:44pm
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I am adding pictures as quickly as I can!
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mcgovern61
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Posted on: Jul 31, 2017 - 6:00am
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Quote:
Gerry;
THANKS!!! keep going when you can, what happened to PT 557?
Take care,
TED
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Ted, I just came across this picture and it is George Sinn operating his original "Flamingo" sightseeing boat. The picture is dated July 1953 which is the correct date he was operating the ex-PT-557 as his sightseeing boat while Otto Stocker was using the 486 as the Sightseer as shown previously in the 1954 picture.
This is the first and only picture I have ever seen of the Sinn family using an actual 80' Elco (although it was cut down to less than 65' in length to reduce USCG regs of the day).
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TED WALTHER |
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Posted on: Jul 31, 2017 - 9:50am
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Gerry;
Thanks, I just wish there is someway we can find out what happened to 557. As I wrote you there were so many EX-PTs operating on the east coast in the 1950's and early 1960's its hard to trace them all. I know of at least 10 80' ELCO's that were used like this and almost as many 78' Higgins, but for some I have a name, and no number. Like DANCO which was owned by CAPT Red Willis, the first bottom fishing head boat out of Moorhead City, NC. DANCO eventually operated out of Atlantic Beach, NC in the summers and Marathon, Fl in the winters. DANCO had way more cabin than 557, so I really don't think its that boat. DANCO looked alot like the Question Mark(Ex- PT 139) originally did, which operated out of Ocean City MD its whole life.
Out of the RON 4 ELCO boats, 140, 141(sold at auction with 139 on SEPT 5, 1946 Brooklyn), 487, 559 are missing, as well as 13 of the 14 761 series boats (762-765, 767-775 unfinished hulls auctioned at ELCO on 12 FEB 1946), I don't know.
Take care,
TED
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