Chel's Corner

the Cat Pack — N9767, “Princesse des étoiles”

2014.03.23

This series of posts will retrace a few of the surviving airworthy (or close) PBYs around the world, and their history.

CAT9767 article thumbnail

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).

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updates!

2014.03.23

Some news on the Designs front: I’ve uploaded a few brochures and articles created for Angels One Five, a collective dedicated to the preservation of vintage airplanes and warbirds. Discover the Ryan PT-22 “Recruit” and one of the most iconic flying-boat ever, “Princess of Stars” N9767.

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some news

2014.03.03

Back from two magical weeks in India, and if all goes according to plan, with new Cat stories to tell very soon. 2014 is shaping up to a glorious start!

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the Cat Pack — EC-FMC, the Spanish Catalina

2013.12.17

This series of posts will retrace a few of the surviving airworthy (or close) PBYs around the world, and their history.

Near the Spanish city of Toledo lies an airfield housing one of the few quasi-airworthy Cats left in Europe, EC-FMC. This PBY is peculiar in that it’s a -6A model that was retrofitted with a -5A tail in order to comply with Canadian certification rules a few decades back. Its serial number is Bu64064 and it was built at the Consolidated factory of Lake Ponchartrain in New Orleans, USA.

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It also served in the French Protection Civile as F-ZBAZ “Pélican Noir” for a spell. In retirement after a long career in firefighting in Europe and Canada, it still has its water tanks installed.

Now under the care of David Pajus, its restoration unfortunately was plagued with legal issues and hasn’t seen as much progress as desired… You can read more about it at http://waterbomber.blogg.se

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La Legendaria Familia Stinson

2013.07.30

That’s the FB gallery while I’m cooking the actual freylia.net section update. Stay tuned!

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the Double Sunrise Cats

2013.07.11

July 2013 marks the 70th Anniversary of the inaugural Double Sunrise Flights across the Indian Ocean from Perth, Australia to Koggala in southern Ceylon (Sri Lanka). RAAF PBY Catalina flying boats manned by Qantas crews flew the 3500 Naut. Miles (5652 Km) in a time ranging from 27 to 32 hours thus seeing the sunrise twice. Personnel carried on these long range flights were thus awarded a certificate called the “Secret Order of the Double Sunrise”

At near maximum take-off weight and carrying 1988 gallons (7525 litres) of fuel the Catalinas carried VIPs and important documents to break the Japanese blockade to the North of Australia and maintain contact with British and Allied forces in India and the rest of the world.

A documentary has been produced called “Double Sunrise Flights” directed & produced by Daniel Bunker: http://catalinadoco.com/

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Utility vs. Style: a closer look at PBY bow designs

2013.06.06

I just published my latest article: “Utility vs. Style” is a compilation album focusing on the different PBY Catalina bow designs from the type’s inception in the 1930’s to the present day. The file is a PDF and you will need Acrobat Reader to open it. Read more…

Many thanks to all those who helped me get it online. 🙂

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Introducing the “Duckmeister”

2013.01.19

So for my comeback post I’ve chosen to present my latest little dream concept, a Cessna 337 Skymaster Amphibian. I call it the “Duckmeister”… Want to know more? Discover it on freylia.net!

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gally

2010.10.22

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110

2010.06.29

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry by Hugo Pratt

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