On August 6th we were part a joint operation with the U.S. Army to make the day special for Austin Binkard
His wish included Planes and Boats
The Binkard family. The young man wearing the Gamewardens Black Beret is Austin. He is 12 years old, to his left is his mom Val ,on the right his sister Alicia, his brother Alex and his dad Greg. Behind Austin is LT C.J. Simonsen a Blue Angels pilot.
We had a lot of work to do to get ready for the big day.
First the Army had to move our boat from Jim Creek to the Renton Air Field and the sea plane piers
Next working parties lots of them with Alan Stephens taking the lead
ENCS Jerry Patterson and ENC Alan Stephens our two Northwest Chapter engineers
Al and I on the back of the PBR. I have him with me so I can prove that I did some work
Leonard Emry working on our PBR
We also enlisted father son teams ENC Bill Swindle Ret and his son Mike Melvin. We also had Pete Quinton on our team.
COL Coffey and myself. COL Coffey was in charge and got the Make A wish Ball Rolling. The anonymous solider with the Black Bag is the COL Coffey's aid and has all the Army's secrets in the bag.
Some of our Enlisted Army help SGT Schoch and Staff SGT George
Splash Time
Ness Crane company put our boat into the water
Our boat in the Water and ready for "Lake Trials" Lake Washington
Lake Trials --- Captain Stephen Morrison and Alan Stephens in Cock pit with me looking on (my Arm) While underway we always have a support boat with our PBR (Safety First)
center Bob Martinsen, Metro's engineer of the year did dual duties for this event. He worked on our boat and is shown here on his boat which was used as the PBR support boat.
The Big Day
The family flew into Renton on an Historic Army "Beaver" float plane. It took two trips to bring everyone to the airport.
The ARMY BEAVER with the pilot standing on the float as he drifts to a perfect landing
L to R Major General xx, Val Binkard, Beaver Pilot xx, Alicia, Austin, Alex, and Greg Binkard
The Make a Wish Family in route to the Hydro staging area --- slow but sure.
The PITS
While in the Hydro pit Austin was able to board the boat and visit with drivers. Here he is meeting with Chip Hanauer
We watched them put this Hydro in the water
We also stopped by the Army Hydro CDR Murdock with the Army driver and an Army. Austin was able to sit in the cockpit of the Army Hydro.
We also were able to watch the Oh Boy Oberto take off for the track.
More to come
