Where are they now - 424KT

Our fleet has a long history in aviation! Our old friend N424KT (serial number 338) was manufactured in 1959. In July of that year, it was delivered to the United States Army joining the Army Aviation Board. In 1962 it was assigned to Fort Benning followed by Fort Rucker in 1963, still flying for the Army as a test aircraft. February of 1966, N424KT, or tail number 81719 as it was registered at the time, joined the 54th aviation company for deployment in Vietnam. After Vietnam, in 1969, the aircraft was issued to the Army Security Agency for use on an unsuccessful classified project named “Sorethumb”. The goal was to attempt a 360-degree VHF direction finder using a “spinning Adock array”. This project never progressed past the research stage and the aircraft was restored to its original configuration.

February 1974, 81719 was assigned to an unknown unit in Alaska but suffered engine failure that required an engine change. In lieu of incurring that expense, the Army sold the aircraft "as is, where is" at Watson Lake. The aircraft was then sold in May 1975 to Northern Thunderbird Air and registered C-GLES, where it went to Edmonton for overhaul and new paint where it remained serving the bush country of British Columbia until it was sold in 1984 to St. Cloud Aviation of Minnesota. It was then sold almost immediately to the Alsworth family of Port Alsworth, Alaska with registration N338D.

Mr. Alsworth was concerned with the lack of power for his backcountry work decided to re-engine the Otter with a Wright Cyclone R-1820. The experimental conversion was never certified and eventually the engine was converted back to the original where it continued flying for the Alsworth family and their company Sound Adventures Air Service out of Lake Hood. In 1989, the aircraft was sold to All West Freight where it was taken out of service for an unsuccessful turbine conversion. After being grounded for some years, the aircraft was then sold to Northern Aircraft Leasing in 2005 out of Kotzebue, Alaska continuing service until it suffered engine failure in August 2006 and had an emergency landing in marshy terrain, where it remained for some months. After an unsuccessful attempt to repair the engine to fly out of the swamp, in December 2006 N338D was disassembled and flown out by helicopter for rebuild.

December 2007, N338D was given a new life when Rust Air purchased the aircraft and was registered as N424KT in 2008 and given the turbine engine conversion. N424KT has been in our fleet since and has served us well for the last 16 years!

Reference: https://www.dhc-3archive.com