Little Squirt

After nearly 20 years, our efforts to acquire the Little Squirt were finally rewarded. On a trip to the Boeing Museum of Flight in Seattle in 2000, we saw the boat sitting outside in the storage yard. We called the museum to offer our services in the restoration and preservation of Little Squirt but to no avail. We begged, pleaded, and attempted bribery in an effort to save the vessel, especially when told the flight museum had no interest in the vessel themselves. The excuses were many; doubts about our expertise, our ability, even our legitimacy were reasons to say no, all the while, the boat fell further victim to the wet Seattle weather.

It took a dedicated Boeing Museum of Flight volunteer to finally save Little Squirt. Dana Dilgard knew the vessel didn’t fit in to the Boeing museum of flight, but just as well knew she should be saved. Dan researched hydrofoil museums and came up with the USS Aries HMI and sent us a letter promising to do everything he could to see Little Squirt saved. In the end, Dan said, “just send a semi-truck and trailer, I will load her myself!”. We sent the truck, and in a few days had Little Squirt back in the dry in Missouri.