Catalina

[Narcisus]

Just flown over Sheffield ! Sounded lovely :-)

[kowalski655]

On its way to Prestwick for this weekend's Ayr air show?
I sure hope so!

[Simpo Two]

One of my favourite aircraft, love that shape and the fact you can land (almost) anywhere.

[Narcisus]

Here you go. I made a grab for the cam only to find no memory card in it lol ! Few panicked seconds later and at window …. Open window... Locked !!

Managed to get a few seconds. Finally had a use for that 2000mm digital zoom !

https://youtu.be/iU4729bVtlc

[hammo19]

Nice video......they were offering shares in the Cat last year.

[Eric Mc]

I've been on board that Catalina (not when flying, sadly). This year, it was at Farnborough and I had a good natter with the operators.

[grumpy52]

Any flying boat is rather special .

[CanAm]

[Tony1963]

For those interested, here is an interesting story about one family's dream with a Catalina that has a sad ending. Some beautiful photography that's well worth more than just a glance:

http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/tab...

[generationx]

A colleague flew on the Dutch one around a year ago and still hasn't stopped talking about it!

https://catalina-pby.nl/en/

[Eric Mc]

In the 1970s a couple of Catalinas visted Dublin to carry out geophysical survey work on behalf of the Irish government -







It was lovely to see them rumbling out over my house almost every day in the summers of 1973, 74 and 1977.

[Hilts]

They make a lovely noise. One flew right over my house last year at about 800 feet.

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

Simpo Two said:

and the fact you can land (almost) anywhere.

Only the PBY-5A, the earlier versions were boats not amphibians.

[CanAm]

Ginetta G15 Girl said:

Only the PBY-5A, the earlier versions were boats not amphibians.

My dad was stationed in South Africa early in WW2 where they had the pure boat versions. Their Flight Sergeant was going ape when a new arrival was lining up to land to land on the runway rather than the sea, until it sprouted wheels at the last minute. They'd not seen amphibious versions until then.

[Antony Moxey]

Don't know if he posts on here much any more, but a PH pilot has a part share in one and I believe flies it regularly.

[Ayahuasca]

Tony1963 said:

For those interested, here is an interesting story about one family's dream with a Catalina that has a sad ending. Some beautiful photography that's well worth more than just a glance:

http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/tab...

The wreck has deteriorated a lot in recent years. I believe there are up to date pics on google earth if you pinpoint the wreck location.

[Tony1963]

Ayahuasca said:

The wreck has deteriorated a lot in recent years. I believe there are up to date pics on google earth if you pinpoint the wreck location.

Yep, I have it marked on my Google Earth. There's no way to save it as it's just an aluminium hulk in a salty environment. The UK didn't save the A1 Lightning, so why should the Saudi's have bothered?

[Ayahuasca]

Tony1963 said:

Ayahuasca said:

The wreck has deteriorated a lot in recent years. I believe there are up to date pics on google earth if you pinpoint the wreck location.

Yep, I have it marked on my Google Earth. There's no way to save it as it's just an aluminium hulk in a salty environment. The UK didn't save the A1 Lightning, so why should the Saudi's have bothered?

Yep, and remember the wailing and gnashing of teeth on here when the Egyptians (I think) restored a desert-crashed Kittyhawk but painted it in the wrong colours?

Another wartime desert wreck on google earth is the B24 'Lady B Good' in Libya. There was a pretty good ghost movie about it.

[Vanin]

I have been trying to find this wonderful documentary for ages. I have an old VHS copy but nothing to play it on. Well worth a watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv8PDWHNOfA&fe...


My father flew a Catalina in Pensacola when on the training scheme in WW2 as well as other flying boats, I still have his certificate framed

on completion of his training. He always teased me about not being a proper pilot as I had never landed on water so I set off to Jack

Brown'sseaplane base and the certificate was nearly identical but it was not quite a Catalina, being a humble Piper Cub with floats!

I was becoming quite confident and perhaps a bit cocky about my limited abilities and Chuck Brown sensed this.

"Do y'all think you could put her down in that small lake?" "Sure Chuck!" I did a perfect landing and the water acts like ABS and we

had masses of room to spare.

"That was real nice, great landing, but have y'all thought about how yer gonna get out of here?"

I looked ahead and realised there was not nearly enough room. "Ok Chuck, you've got me here, I suppose I will just have to pay for the road

recovery"

He made me sweat for a bit and then took the controls. He started to go in a series of circles, tipping over to one float when he had enough

speed, bumping over our wake managed to make us airborne into the wind. A circular take off was definitely a first for me!

[motomk]

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=15...