I learned with great sadness today that the Ryan PT-22 I had the pleasure of promoting in my portfolio was destroyed in a crash, with the loss of the two souls onboard.
I did not know the pilot nor the passenger, as the plane had changed hands since I had worked on its leaflet, but my heart goes out to their families in this difficult time.
Blue skies and tail winds.
This series of posts will retrace a few of the surviving airworthy (or close) PBYs around the world, and their history.
So it finally happened!
I’ve officially seen more than one Catalina hahaha! I’m super pumped to say this has been a wonderful day as far as PBY spotting goes, as I had the immense pleasure and privilege not only to check out N24VP in Ocaña near Toledo, but also talk with the Pacific Rim Catalina team there and climb aboard for a visit, that included something that had eluded me so far with “Miss Pick-Up”: a seat in the cockpit!
N24VP, also known to her owners as “La Bruja de la Mancha”, the Witch of the Mancha (the region of Spain where they are now), was featured in the Cat Pack before when she was still EC-FMC under the care of David Pajus. It seems that the new team’s (and David’s before that) years of hard work have finally paid off and the plane is finally close to being in flying condition. Sadly for us in Europe, this means that with the departure of PH-PBY from the Netherlands, only two flying Catalinas will remain in the European circuit: G-PBYA “Miss Pick-Up” from Duxford in the UK, and N9767 “Princess des Étoiles” in Paris, France.
Stay tuned for a photo series, and the very first Cat Pack video episode ever!
This series of posts will retrace a few of the surviving airworthy (or close) PBYs around the world, and their history. Sometimes, we look back at some that are no longer with us.
In addition to its many fine accomplishments, the PBY Catalina also holds an unfortunate first in the history of aviation : Cathay Pacific’s VR-HDT “Miss Macao”, a PBY-5A, was the very first airliner to ever be hijacked, on July 16th 1948.
Tragically, during the struggle for control shots were fired, impairing the pilots and sending the plane to fatally crash in the sea below. There was only one survivor, one of the hijackers.
Today was an excellent day full of roaring flying machines in a great, gorgeous sunny field.
The highlight was getting back into a 1942 DH.89 Dragon Rapide, that is looking for kind-hearted backers for a return-to-flight restoration. I was kindly allowed to climb all the way up to the cockpit, and take in the view from up there.
What a treat!
This was the first day of the 2018 edition of “Le Temps des Hélices”, the yearly airshow presented at La Ferté-Alais by Amicale Jean-Baptiste Salis.
Outstanding.
This series of posts will retrace a few of the surviving airworthy (or close) PBYs around the world, and their history.
If there’s one bird I know well, that would be G-PBYA, a.k.a. “Miss Pick Up”, the white bird of Duxford where she’s being lovingly maintained by the dedicated crew of The Catalina Society. This aircraft was the first (and come to think of it, to date, the only) Catalina I saw “for real”, when they visited Barcelona for the Festa al Cel airshow in 2010. I saw it again two years later at the flying-boats/floatplanes meeting in Biscarrosse where it displayed how graceful it can be on water. For my third visit, it turned out she had something special in store.
As some of you may know, I’ve been collaborating this year on a special project called the Féria de l’Air, an airshow in Nîmes, southern France. This airshow took place last week on the 26th-27th of September, and G-PBYA was there, and I had the immense privilege not just of getting another tour, given by crew chief David Legg, whom I had the pleasure to meet at last, but also to fly aboard as a passenger during one of their rehearsal flights.
G-PBYA (CV-283) was built in 1943 in Cartierville, Québec, by Canadian Vickers for the Royal Canadian Air Force. This makes it a Canso A, which is a variant of the US Navy PBY-5A. After a long life in military and civilian service, it is now a regular sight on the European airshow circuit, where it flies in the colors of a wartime USAAF OA-10A Catalina 44-33915 of the 8th Air Force 5th Emergency Rescue Squadron at Halesworth, Suffolk.
Here’s a small, somewhat shaky video of my flight on this beautiful bird, with tremendous thanks to all the people involved:
Full album of the airshow available soon!
This series of posts will retrace a few of the surviving airworthy (or close) PBYs around the world, and their history.
N85U is no more.
The last active Catalina waterbomber has been destroyed. The Cyclone-powered PBY-6A, which spent the last few decades based in Washington state, fighting forest fires, had been hired to appear in the upcoming Nicolas Cage war movie “Indianapolis”, when it was beached two days after its arrival there due to a leak. A misfortune for sure after spending months refurbishing and repainting the plane for its movie appearance. But the worst was still to come…
The plane was completely salvageable, although all the electronics were probably totalled, however the recovery turned to a complete disaster when the misuse of a crane destroyed the fuselage, leaving N85U a three-part wreck.
It is especially infuriating and frustrating to see such criminal incompetence as PBYs do have a hoisting point on top of the wing for precisely the kind of lift that was required. Wrong tools and unfamiliar crews can make a dangerous combination… A very sad, completely avoidable accident, and the end of one of the most iconic planes in the USA.
I have just returned from Duxford’s Flying Legends airshow and it was such a splendid experience that I find it difficult to put to words. For a week-end, I spent time in the 1940s, listening to Glen Miller tunes sung by the delightful Manhattan Dolls, photographing Spitfires, Warhawks and Mustangs, visiting Sally B., the last flying B17 in Europe and then hear her roar above my head, and even taking a ride in a 1943 DH.89 Dragon Rapide.
To make it short, I had a flipping grand old time.
Here’s a small sample of pictures taken at the airshow. More to come as they are ready, enjoy!
Cheerioh!
This Cat Pack entry is a special one, as today marks the 35th anniversary of the tragic death of famed explorer and adventurer Philippe Cousteau, Sr.
Cousteau was piloting his newly refurbished PBY-6A N101CS on June 28th 1979 for a trial run on the Tagus river in Portugal, after an extensive period of maintenance. As the crew was performing a high-speed taxi to test for leaks, suddently the great plane nosed over and cartwheeled. One of the wings was ripped off, its engine separated from the structure with the propeller slicing through the cockpit. The copilot lost an arm, Cousteau was killed instantly. He was the only fatality in the accident.
The cause of the accident has never been clearly determined. The prevailing theory at the time was that the plane hit a hidden sandbar or coral reef that the crew couldn’t detect and avoid in time. Some point at a nose wheel door failure, a notorious weakness of the PBY amphibians that caused many similar accidents. Finally, others point at pilot error, theorizing that the crew imprudently let the plane go into a vicious porpoise and didn’t realize it until it was too late.
Philippe was the son and heir-apparent of explorer and pioneer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. An accomplished diver, sailor and pilot, he followed his father’s footsteps and explored the seas with him on the famous vessel Calypso, and later acquired the PBY flying-boat to reach the places they could not reach by sea. With it, the Cousteau team had completed an extensive survey of the Nile river a few months before. He was 38 at the time of the crash.
To finish this note on a bit of a bright side, his children Alexandra Cousteau and Philippe Cousteau, Jr. picked up the family tradition, and co-founded the organization EarthEcho International, dedicated to raise awareness on environmental issues.
“I’ll never be able to fill my father’s or grandfather’s shoes, but hopefully I can stand on their shoulders and reach farther.”
–Philippe Cousteau Jr.
Not to worry. With such an heritage, you’re doing great.
photograph by Bill McDonald, 1975
This series of posts will retrace a few of the surviving airworthy (or close) PBYs around the world, and their history.
N9767 is arguably the most iconic of all PBYs that have survived until today. Once a U-Boat Hunter, then Photo Reconnaissance Aircraft, Transport Plane, Firefighter, Flying studio for the French TV channel TF1 on “Operation Okavango”… This Catalina performed virtually all the missions she was designed, then adapted for, and is still in flying condition today in France as N9767.
Created in collaboration with Angels One Five, today’s featured article presents an illustrated history of this venerable PBY, c/n 21996, from her launch in the 1940’s to her return to flight in 2011. It’s available in French (PDF/8Mb) and in English (PDF/8.2Mb).