The Air- Buoy is a family run business and has a long history of Bodenstab German Ingenuity.

The First Diving Unit and the inspiration for Doug's current Air-Buoy was built by the Grand Daddy of the Air-Buoy, Charlie Bodenstab when he was just 17.

Charlie's First Design here "The Herman Munster Head" was built in 1947 for salvaging operations on the East Coast. The ingenuity of this young man was incredible for his time and age. The Herman Munster Head was built before SCUBA was even invented. It was built around the technology of the time which was the Diving Bell or Diving Helmut that you see in Old Movies or Antique Nautical Stores.


Notice the weights to compensate for the buoyancy of the air inside the helmut. Charlie said that
above water it was very heavy so later they decided to just leave the helmut underwater and
swim down to get under it.
The "crew" would work the bicycle pumps from above to feed air down to the diver.


Notice the pump platform. This was a special device to hold the bicycle pumps.
It is better known as a dead tree or floating log.



The Herman Munster Head is a little heavier than the Air-Buoy but considering the technology of the
day and the costs of goods it was really State-of-Art. Reported to cost $5 to build.


The Herman Munster Head was donated in 1968 to the Smithsonian Museum of Science but was
stolen in 1998 by Al-Queda. The Herman Munster Head is purported to be being used by
Osama Bin Laden to help him hide from American Special forces in the Mountains of
Afghanistan and Pakistan