Additional research has shed some light (and some confusion!) on the history of aircraft #74512. A photocopy of the Aircraft History Card, a transfer record maintained for all aircraft by the Navy, was obtained and is shown below. Despite the poor quality of the reproduction, it can be seen that the aircraft was delivered on December 29, 1944 at Trenton, NJ (the aircraft was manufactured at the Eastern Aircraft Plant in Linden, NJ). It left San Diego in January of 1945 and arrived in Guam in February. The aircraft was then assigned to squadron VC-93 aboard USS Petrof Bay in March of 1945. The history card then shows "Pool CASU F12" with the months of May, June, July and August checked and signed out on September 30, 1945. CASU F12 is the maintenance facility on Guam. The next entry on the history card indicates "Stricken" on a date which appears to read 7-4-(a character resembling a check mark), with no location shown.

Aircraft History Card

The card suggests the aircraft did not return to the fighting aboard the USS Steamer Bay with VC-93 but remained on Guam until September. If this is true, then its method of transport back to the states is a complete mystery. We had assumed the aircraft was assigned to the Steamer Bay along with VC-93 when the Petrof Bay departed for the mainland in May of 1945. Being on board Steamer Bay with VC-93 would explain its presents at the U.S. Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Training Center in Tacoma, WA for "approximately ten years" prior to being donated to the playground in suburban Seattle in 1959. The USS Steamer Bay was assigned to the same Tacoma Training Center in February of 1946.