[MEDIA]
Here's a pretty detailed animation simulation, with a fairly detailed explanation of what went wrong:
Yes, I remember this. I felt bad for the pilot because Renton is a short field and an undershoot faces a seawall, as illustrated. The pilot had a few other incidents of landing approach problems. An overshoot would have put the airplane into a busy populated area and possibly a hospital. So, his error was a positive conclusion.
You're probably on the right track. In the late 50's an Air Force general landed a KC-135 there with no problem. Test pilot, Lew Wallick landed everything there with no problem.
