Early 1967, a World War II seaplane known as Tiare Tahiti lifted off from Honolulu and headed towards a string of remote tropical atolls in the heart of the Pacific. On board, not bombs or troops, but scientists and sensitive instruments, bound for one of the most ambitious tropical field experiments ever attempted: the Line Islands Experiment.

With a structure adapted for long-range amphibious use and the advantage of being able to take off or land in any suitable waters, the Tiare Tahiti (airframe N5590V)—a modified PBY-5A Catalina—was more than a means of transportation, it was flying lifeline for scientists, including Bob Kendall and Klaus Wyrkti from the University of Hawaiʻi Department of Oceanography, seeking to understand tropical oceanographic and meteorological dynamics. 

The aircraft’s journey—and that of the family behind it—reflects an extraordinary blend of innovation, adventure, and scientific commitment that helped shape modern climatic research and contributed to the advancement of knowledge of ocean–atmosphere systems in the tropics for over the next half century.

A Bold Vision Takes Flight

The Line Islands Experiment (February–April 1967) was a first-of-its-kind campaign to produce meteorological and oceanographic data from the equatorial trough zone, also known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The ITCZ is a dynamic region where warm, moist trade winds collide, driving heavy rainfall and cloud formation, visible as a belt of clouds from space. By redistributing heat and moisture, the ITCZ plays a key role in shaping global climate and influences both ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns. Prior observations in this region were sparse, uncorrelated, or complicated by data coming from nearby large islands or continents. 

With support from the National Science Foundation and headed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the goal of the project was: (1) to collect the first comprehensive set of ocean-atmosphere data from the remote equatorial trough zone, (2) to evaluate cloud imagery from NASA’s new ATS-1 satellite, and (3) to serve as a pilot project for larger tropical field campaigns such as TROMEX (Tropical Meteorology Experiment).

NCAR meteorologists, multiple U.S. military and federal agencies, and researchers from several different academic institutions collaborated with University of Hawaiʻi (UH) oceanographers in establishing field stations across three remote atolls: Palmyra (U.S. territory), Kiritimati (Christmas Island), and Tabuaeran (Fanning Island, Kiribati). While NCAR coordinated meteorological observations, UH oceanographer Dr. Klaus Wyrtki led the oceanographic component, which provided critical oceanographic observations that mapped water circulation patterns and climatic influences. As Wyrtki later wrote, the mission delivered “fine structure” data on the Equatorial Undercurrent and mapped currents with a level of detail never previously achieved [1]. Observations included balloon soundings, cloud photography, radar scans, and in-ocean profiling—all coordinated with satellite observations from NASA’s ATS-1 satellite. By simultaneously collecting meteorological data at various altitudes and oceanographic data from above and below the ocean surface, the Line Island Experiment had, “the first comprehensive data sample in the oceanic Equatorial Trough Zone—far from continents or significantly large islands—that combines adequate satellite and meteorological data for a variety of basic studies” [2].

Catalina in the Convergence Zone and
the Family Behind the Plane

Reaching these isolated atolls—each more than 850 miles from Honolulu—was a major logistical challenge. Traditional research vessels were too slow, and few aircraft could land without runways. Enter the Kendall family and the Tiare Tahiti. 

The Tiare Tahiti was part of a remarkable family story. Thomas “Tom” William Kendall, was an engineer specialized in process improvement practices in manufacturing, a natural entrepreneur, and an aviation enthusiast. In the 1950s, Tom bought 13 surplus PBY-5A Catalinas from the U.S. Navy and converted them for civilian use. Two airframes, N5593V and N5590V (Tiare Tahiti), were repurposed for the Kendall family’s personal use and equipped for a world-wide family adventure and business trip. Tom flew his family around the world with his oldest son, Thomas Robert “Bob” Kendall, as his co-pilot and mechanic. They negotiated international contracts for their Catalinas, traveling across the globe for the planes to be used in films, commercial sightseeing, and airborne photography. However in 1960, the Kendall family’s adventure came to an abrupt halt after a near-fatal attack from the Saudi military in the Gulf of Aqaba, for which Tom’s first-hand account made the pages of LIFE Magazine. 

At this point, the Kendall family’s Catalinas had circled the globe, appeared in movies, and undergone gunfire, but in 1967, it found a new purpose with Bob Kendall on the wheel. In 1964, Bob’s passion for underwater photography led him to University of Hawaiʻi to pursue his bachelors and later his Masters degree in oceanography working with Dr. Klaus Wyrkti. While at UH, his oceanographic survey company Landaire, Ltd. was contracted by NCAR for use on the Line Island project where the Tiare Tahiti became the project’s primary airborne workhorse. Palmyra’s WWII-era runway was overgrown and in poor repair, so the amphibious design of the Catalina PBY-5A allowed lagoon landings when needed and was the only aircraft capable of transporting researchers, staff, and bulky instruments directly to the islands. Without it, continuous staffing and instrument deployment across the atolls would have been impossible. The Tiare Tahiti also doubled as a mobile platform for oceanographic launches, deploying expendable bathythermographs (XBTs), and aerial photography of cloud fields and sea surface conditions for the university researchers. Today, air-launched profiling floats and XBT lines remain a cornerstone of ocean monitoring and have inspired more advanced autonomous systems that operate on similar principles.

Bob served as the chief pilot of the Tiare Tahiti. He flew dozens of eight-hour round trips, transporting up to 14 researchers plus 1,000 lbs of cargo between Honolulu and each island, often making multiple roundtrips per week. However, he wasn’t just flying the plane—he was also doing science. As a Masters student, he coordinated oceanographic research, installed ocean current meters at Palmyra, and conducted aerial photographic mapping of the lagoons. The data he collected not only informed Wyrtki’s research, but later was used for his doctoral work on the Pacific Equatorial Countercurrent at Nova University (UH didn’t offer a PhD at the time). Bob’s wife Inge Kendall, also a Masters student at UH albeit in a different field, served as the plane’s primary navigator and plotted transits with practiced accuracy. Though she humbly describes her role as minor, her precision and courage helped ensure the safe transport of scientists and equipment across thousands of miles of open ocean. Reflecting on her role decades later, she said, “My role was truly minor compared to Bob’s,” [4] but contemporaries credited her with navigating some of the longest amphibious science flights ever attempted.

In a letter of acknowledgment, NCAR researchers stated, “We are indebted to Thomas Kendall and Robert Kendall, whose aircraft supported the group when the islands were accessible in no other way” [2]. Bob and Inge Kendall brought that spirit of adventure into their research lives. Both trained divers, famously married underwater off Waikiki in 1960, their ceremony symbolizing a lifelong partnership grounded in the ocean. Their work during the Line Islands Experiment was lauded by colleagues—Dr. Ed Zipser of NCAR later wrote, “The Kendalls’ support was absolutely critical to the success of our mission.” [6]

A Foundation for the Future

The success of the Line Islands Experiment helped establish a new template for field science in remote regions. It showed how coordinated use of aircraft, ships, satellite platforms, and ground stations could yield high-resolution data sets crucial to modeling global climate systems. These practices influenced subsequent programs like TOGA (Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere) and TOGA-COARE (TOGA Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment).

UH Mānoa faculty and students were integral to this legacy.  Graduate students gained field experience operating oceanographic instruments, tracking atmospheric changes, and collaborating across disciplines in challenging environments. Klaus Wyrtki’s observations during the Line Islands campaign provided early evidence of equatorial current variability and heat transport—concepts essential to later ENSO (El Niño–Southern Oscillation) research.

Today, Tiare Tahiti is preserved at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, restored to its original wartime appearance. But its scientific legacy is still alive in the models, maps, and minds shaped by the data it helped collect.

From a retired warplane to a symbol of oceanographic progress, the Tiare Tahiti and the Kendall family helped transform the way we explore the planet’s most remote and dynamic frontiers. These expeditions weren’t just scientific milestones—they were human stories of resilience, innovation, and adventure. The Kendall family’s use of PBY Catalinas bridged wartime engineering with peacetime discovery, transforming military aircraft into vessels of knowledge. The university’s pioneering scientists, and a bold experiment in the heart of the Pacific helped transform a warplane into a vessel of discovery—proving that with ingenuity, partnership, and a bit of courage, even the most remote corners of the world can become laboratories for scientific progress.

by Helen Sung

References

1. Wyrtki, K. (1967). Oceanographic Observations During the Line Islands Expedition, February-March, 1967 (No. HIG6717).
2. NCAR-TN-30 (August 1967), Operational Lessons from the Line Islands Experiment.
3. Line Survey Trip Report, December 1966.
4. Personal correspondence with Inge Kendall, June 2024.
5. AAHS Journal, Summer 1995, PBY-Kendall Story.
6. Zipser, E., & Taylor, R. (1967). Catalogue of Meteorological Data Obtained During the Line Islands Experiment February-April 1967. University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. https://doi.org/10.5065/D6KW5CZ5 (Original work published 1967)