World Catalina News - May 2008
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By Mike Pinder
Published: 26 January, 2012
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By David Legg
Published: 13 January, 2012
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Events around the world continue to keep me busy updating individual Catalina histories and once again there is no shortage of things to report on in this edition. Firstly, some European news. The US-registered, former Royal Canadian Air Force Canso A N9767 has been carrying out some flying this year but things have not gone entirely to plan! It suffered a nose-wheel collapse at Dijon on July 3rd after its gear actuator broke but it did manage to appear at the Sion air show in Switzerland in September after spending some time at Lausanne the month before. It then flew across to Northern Ireland to take part in the Fermanagh Seaplane Festival alongside our own Catalina in late-September. Unfortunately, N9767's first foray out onto the water ended in some embarrassment for the crew and the end of her active participation in the event. After a somewhat fast approach, a landing was successfully pulled off after which the crew shut down both engines without first securing the aircraft to a buoy. Almost inevitably, this ended unhappily with the Cat' drifting back in the breeze until its reverse progress was brought to a halt by a yacht's mast! Eventually, after a long delay, N9767 finally flew back to France on December 2nd .
Canso A N9767 at the Fermanagh event this Summer after its argument with a yacht. The elevator damage is clearly evident
Meanwhile, the news from Holland is scarcely better. PBY-5A Catalina PH-PBY has remained grounded at Lelystad for the second season in succession due to various administrative and engineering issues. This has meant that it has not been able to carry out passenger rides as in previous years. According to its operators, November 15th marks PH-PBY's 70th birthday and the Dutch Friends of the Catalina were planning to mark the occasion with a gathering at its base although they will no doubt be very disappointed that this anniversary will not be a flying one. Further enquiries about this celebration event brought no response from the organisers. As BuAer2459 of the US Navy, PH-PBY was credited with destroying no less than 3 U-boats.
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By Mike Pinder
Published: 24 August, 2011
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 Photo: David Legg
Get yourself a seat on the Catalina & feel the thrill of 2,400 hp of Pratt & Whitney radial engines – a unique and exclusive opportunity to experience the sights, smells and sounds of a World War II flying boat with the engines running as you taxi down the runway...
DUXFORD, SUNDAY OCTOBER 2ND 2011
- Book now! Only 24 tickets available – first come first served.
- Each participant receives a guided tour of the aircraft & a full safety briefing from our experienced crew.
- You will be on board as the engines are started & take part in high power engine run-ups.
- The aircraft will line up on the threshold and taxi down the runway.
- Enjoy a unique view of Duxford from our observation blisters & see the pilots at the controls.
This exciting event also includes a full days programme at our home base of Duxford, all included in the cost of the taxi ride. This will feature -
- A delicious lunch in the Museum’s new Airspace conference facilities.
- An illustrated presentation about Catalinas from our historian David Legg.
- Pilots and crew will be on hand all day to “talk PBYs” & answer your questions.
- You will receive a certificate as a reminder of your experience.
- Admission to the IWM Duxford is also included in the price so you are free to explore the Museum’s world famous collection during the day.
How to book To book please e-mail David Legg at here or call 07774 026 045. Full details and itinerary will be supplied two weeks in advance of the event.
The ticket price for the Taxi Ride Day is only £150. Included in the cost is one years membership of the Catalina Society. Catalina Society members will benefit from a lower rate of GBP 135, and current Society members are also welcome to invite family or guests at this discounted rate. (Society membership is GBP 15 per year – more details here.
This will be our first Catalina Taxi Ride Day - the aim of the day is to provide you with a unique experience and raise funds towards the future upkeep of our Catalina. You will help us to keep our wonderful aircraft in airworthy condition and we look forward to welcoming you at Duxford.
Whilst it is a dream of many to fly in a Catalina, we are unable to carry paying passengers in the air, so we are offering you the next best thing... Therefore, please note that this is a taxi ride, and not a flight.
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By David Legg
Published: 1 July, 2011
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There is no imminent danger of this column being discontinued as the world's surviving population of Catalinas continues to generate news. Indeed, two items in the last issue were out of date by the time they appeared so I start with updates related to those aircraft. One word of explanation - when I describe the individual Catalinas and Cansos etc in these news items, I invariably use the designation that was assigned to the aircraft when it was built. This provides a consistency of approach but it does not necessarily tally with the way that the aircraft is described by the authorities in the register of the country of registration.
Not long after the Dutch PBY-5A PH-PBY returned the airworthy Catalina population in Europe to two last year (I'm not counting N423RS at North Weald at present), the number was further increased to three when, on a snowy December 22nd, Canso A N9767 was ferried the short distance from its long-term home at Paris-Orly to its new base at Melun-Villaroche. Following delays due to the adverse weather, N9767 was finally flown out of Orly at 13.00 hours UTC on December 22nd with Chris Gozzienne at the controls, assisted by L Blaise and B Therbault. It had not previously flown for many years although it had been looked after well. The project to return the aircraft to the skies was helped by well-known Catalina engineering specialist Mark Edwards/Air Venture Ltd and was in part necessitated by the need to vacate the airport at Orly. The Canso, previously owned by Franklin Devaux, is currently registered to Southern Aircraft Consultancy Inc Trustee (a UK-based company that specialises in providing Individual Trust Agreements to non US citizens to enable them to legally register their aircraft on the American "N" register) but the aircraft is in fact owned by the Paris-based Catalina Air Trust. Although the US registration N9767, based on its original RCAF serial 9767, had been reserved for sometime, it was only formally taken up on November 19th 2010 having been cancelled from the Canadian register (as C-FCRR) back in October 2005. Although details are sparse, it has been announced that N9767 will be repainted in its original RCAF camouflage scheme and air display bookings will be sought.
 Photo: Jacques Guillem
N9767 gets airborne for the first time in many years from a snowy Orly's runway on December 22nd, destination Melun-Villaroche
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By David Legg
Published: 16 December, 2010
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As usual, The Catalina News brings readers a round-up of what has been happening around the world to the surviving population of Catalinas and is adapted from the article with the same name in The Catalina News magazine, in this case the October 2010 edition. On this occasion, there are two significant updates to the items that appeared in the magazine, these relating to C-FUAW in Canada and PH-PBY in Holland.
 PH-PBY/'16-218 gets a warm welcome inside its new hangar at home base Lelystad after arriving from Laarbruch on October 12th this year
Photo: John Redeker
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Consolidated PBY Survivors List Updated
By Mike Pinder
Published: 4 June, 2010
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 Our Consolidated PBY Survivors List has just been updated (June 2010). Click here to download the latest PDF version
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By David Legg
Published: 3 June, 2010
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Activity in the world of surviving Catalinas around the globe continues unabated and once again there is plenty to report, mostly of a positive nature although, as will be seen, some projects are badly in need of help!....
A magnificent photo of the long-dormant PBY-5A N423RS over Portsmouth Harbour during its first flight for many year on December 8th last year.
Photo: Mike Perkin
We’ll start in Australia where, at Bankstown, NSW, The Catalina Flying Memorial Ltd continues to work on their PBY-6A VH-CAT which was ferried there from Portugal back in November/December 2008. President of the Memorial, Phil Dulhunty, says that the project to get VH-CAT back in the air still needs help. When the ferry flight to Australia was undertaken, it was under US marks (N160AT) and with a US FAA ferry permit. It is proving difficult and expensive to obtain an Australian C of A in the Experimental Category as a warbird and some sponsors that had already come forward have ‘cried foul’ citing the ‘global economic downturn’ as their reason. The project is therefore desperate for other sponsors and donations. Meanwhile a great team of volunteers continues to work on the aircraft, some of whom worked on flying boats at the original Rathmines flying boat base on Lake Macquarie in the old days.
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By David Legg
Published: 29 October, 2009
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For an old aeroplane, it is surprising how much activity and news it is still possible to report on in each issue of The Catalina News! This web version of World Catalina News is adapted from the hard copy that appears in Issue 72 (October 2009) of the magazine sent to Society members.
The last active PBY water bomber in the world, unless another example is resurrected, was PBY-6A N85U, a Wright R-2600 Cyclone-equipped Super Cat operated by Flying Fireman Inc in Washington State in the USA. Although apparently retired from active fire fighting some months ago, it is still very much airworthy and has been active this summer in the Pacific Northwest. On Friday September 18th, it flew into the old US Navy seaplane base at Whidbey Island, landing on the water and then taxiing up the old flying boat ramp before an appreciative crowd. After a week’s stay it moved on to Paine Field, Washington for the Vintage Aircraft Weekend there and during the displays it carried out two water drops. See our next magazine for the full story and more photos!
A fine photo showing PBY-6A N85U carrying out a simulated fire fighting run at Paine Field, Wa. In late-September this year
Photo: Heijo Kuil
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By David Legg
Published: 5 June, 2009
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Yet again there is plenty to report in the way of PBY happenings around the world. In fact, this really is a bumper edition so fasten seatbelts and off we go....to Rand in South Africa for starters where work on the former RCAF Canso A C-FPQO has moved on somewhat since the last time I reported on it. After arrival in South Africa in 2000, little flying activity was seen and the aircraft sat outside for a long period, interspersed only with the news that a Swaziland registration, 3D-PBY, had been reserved for it. The Canadian registration meanwhile lapsed. The aircraft was sold to Steve Hamilton and John Siebold and local company Springbok Aviation Services have been restoring the Canso to airworthiness on their behalf. Work has included the complete overhaul of the engines, one locally and one in the USA, the eradication of minor corrosion on the rear hull and around starboard front lift strut, the complete refurbishment of the cockpit area including the overhaul of instruments and a re-paint. Externally, work has started on a new colour scheme to replace the previous white overall with blue trim. By early-April, the new paint job was part finished and it was expected to be completed by the end of the month. The superb photo published on our inside front cover was taken by Bruce Perkins on April 4th and shows the forward hull still in primer whilst the rear hull is light grey with ‘Aéronavale-style’ red, white and blue rudder flash and yellow trim on the outer wings. It will be fascinating to see what the end result looks like! Bruce says that the aircraft is referred to as 3D-PBY locally and he believes that it may well fly under that registration when the time comes. The Canso A currently under restoration to fly again at Rand in South Africa seen part-way through its re-paint in April this year. Last formally registered as C-FPQO in Canada, it may fly next with the Swaziland identity 3D-PBY
Photo: Bruce Perkins
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By David Legg
Published: 25 January, 2009
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First a brief reminder that this column is taken with slight variations, from The Catalina News, the magazine received by paid-up members of The Catalina Society. The magazine itself is full of articles devoted to Catalinas past and present, military and commercial of which World Catalina News is just one.
The last few months have been extraordinary for the amount of PBY activity around the world. Not only are a number of restoration projects proceeding but two aircraft have flown again after periods on the deck and one of these has accomplished a long, long delivery flight in order to start a new life in Australia. Another has reached its future long-term home after a protracted delivery, albeit by sea, not air and yet another has been recovered from it remote crash site and will hopefully receive a new lease of life as a museum exhibit bin due course.
Let’s start with the incredible ferry flight of PBY-6A N160AT from Portugal to Australia. This is fact the aircraft featured elsewhere within this issue as the aircraft that Snr Roberto Parragué flew (as CC-CNP) from Chile to Tahiti and back in 1965. Later it became a water bomber and flew as such in Chile, Spain and Portugal before being retired and stored at Seia in Portugal. Acquired a while back by the Australian group The Catalina Flying Memorial Ltd, it encountered engine problems that kept it grounded for several months but eventually, on November 15th, it left Seia bound for Salamanca, Spain on the first leg of its long journey and it eventually arrived at Bankstown in Australia at 2.00 pm on Sunday, December 7th. Incredibly, prior to landing at Bankstown, the crew were confident enough in their aircraft to carry out a water touchdown, skimming the surface of Lake Macquarie at Rathmines before continuing on! Initially registered in Australia as VH-DUL, the intended marks of VH-CAT were later freed up but this registration was subsequently cancelled on September 4th and the ferry flight was made under the US registration N160AT, the quoted owner on the US Civil Aircraft Register being Nystrom Intenational of Blaine, Idaho to whom it was formerly registered on September 23rd. This brief summary does not do justice to the effort put in by all concerned and the project will be the subject of a more detailed article in the May 2009 edition of The Catalina News magazine. PBY-6A N160AT makes its triumphant ‘splash down’ on Lake Macquarie on December 7th toward the end of its ferry flight from Portugal
Photo: Mike Usher
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