Vintage Catalina Flying Boat In Nic Cage Film Partially Sinks On Beach After reading the "Black Cats" book, it seems it was not uncommon for these birds to spring a leak in less than ideal sea conditions- from the article, they were shooting touch and goes and started to take on water- tried to get it on the beach and fell short. Saw another article this AM that the plane broke up when the idiot salvage crew tried to hoist it while it was still full of water. One of my all-time favorite planes.
Wow fascinating related story https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_(CA-35) .. biggest single US Naval loss of life, only Captain to be court martialled for loss of ship later to be exonerated through Presidential resolution.. amazing negligence in tracking and not knowing ship's loss till several days later.. so sad many years later became too much to bear for the Captain by then a retired Rear Admiral.
I love the old war birds. So sad to see another one senselessly destroyed. But surely it can be salvaged and restored? I have a strong feeling we should stop flying these wonderful machines.
I disagree. There are plenty of examples residing in museums. You can look at a P-51 and imagine how it looked flying. You can listen or view a audio/video recording of one flying. But its not the same as seeing and feeling it in person. I've had the great fortune of flying in a B-17, including some stick time, and there is nothing that can duplicate the sight, sound, smell, and feel as the real thing IMHO.
Plenty is maybe not the correct word? Some years ago the last flying Aircobra was totalled in UK. I do not think it is worth to hear it and risking it is gone forever. I am not thinking for now, .i am thinking for the gerations ahead. We have virtually no WW1 airbirds left. A few from WW2. Why not make sure these examples survive? Some aircraft we have plenty of, Spits, P51's. More each year. Those we can fly and enjoy being flown. But the rest?
And if it is a flyable example but we do not fly it what have we gained? There are a great many PBY's sitting on static display, what benefit is there to having one more? According to what I see in the P39 world there are 2 airworthy and several under restoration. That is the case with many war birds.
Good, so they have restored some more P39s ! What I hate is if one day we have none left. Will not happen in our lifetimes though. Take the ship Victory. One of the most important artefacts for UK. Is outside in the rain, only less than 10% of original parts left. If nothing is done ( indoor preservation) she will eventually become a replica. In fact it is the same with the warbirds. More and more original parts are replaced with newly manufactured ones. What we will end up with is a replica, not an WW2 original.
Jan, Its a catch 22, either they are stuffed and mounted in museums or they need to be maintained (with worn or fatigued parts replaced). The problem is, you only need a certain number of each type to meet museum needs and most of those needs have been met. Most people that can afford them want to experience them. This is why the P-51s, P-40s, Spitfires are being restored from very minimal remains. The difficulty is with bigger planes where ownership costs increase substantially - both for upkeep and proper storage (e.g. if the Victory was 30ft long, I suspect she would be housed in doors). This is why planes like the Catalina are still earning their keep. There are a number of Catalina airframes simply rotting away, outdoors. With enough interest and money, they can be restored. I'm much more worried about old airliners. With no real, useful purpose they are disappearing rapidly. No intact Boeing 377 Stratocruisers remain (the civilian form of the C-97), one American made civilian four engine flying boat exists (most of the famous types are extinct), civilian 707s are almost gone, etc. Regards, Art S.
I recall being flown in an old DC-3 from Miami to Port au Prince in 1986. It was the Haitian state aircarrier. Haitian Air maybe? When I was on it I remember thinking what history that aircraft had.
DrJan-I now remember talking to the crew of a Haitian Air DC-3 in the Dominican Republic sometime in the middle 80's. They proudly gave me a tour of their airplane- I may have a picture of it somewhere. I have wondered over the years what happened to that crew and their airplane. I often ran across many different airplanes and crews from all over the world while flying the Carribean in those days. Radial engine heaven. Connies, DC-4s and 6s, Twin Beeches and many many others were common. There are still some of radial engine airplanes flying freight from Opa Locka down to the islands. The last time I was in OPA I remember taking one of my passengers to the side of the runway to watch a DC-3 take off. I told her she was watching what was once commonplace, but she would likely never get the chance to see it again.
The Swedish Airforce had a DC-3 in the late 70's. We jumped from it. But that one was properly serviced and maintained, unlike what I guess the Haitians did.
Considering the title of this thread, wasn't there an old saying, "You'll never get to heaven in a PBY....."?
I believe, yes, there was an old naval aviator's shanty where that was the refrain - "You'll never get to Heaven in a PBY, 'Cause the ******* thing don't fly that high." The sad thing is, from the initial images, the cockpit was flooded, but the rest of the airframe was floating- engines, wings, fuselage and tail all high and dry- If they had patched and pumped it out, it could have been hoisted- It appears they tried to lift it while it was still full of water, and it broke up. Still, the PBY has something really cool about it. A number of them became "Flying yachts" after the war, and I can only imagine the possibilities. I flew on a DC-3 in the '80s out to Harbor Island in the Bahamas from FLL- I can't remember the airline, but it had orange and yellow stripes, and it was loud and cool, but pretty ratty.
I think we might have had a thread about this before, but this is an interesting PBY story: Catalina PBY N5593V | Saudi Arabian Images A bunch of pictures here: http://www.messynessychic.com/2014/04/24/all-aboard-the-flying-yacht-circa-1950/ The full story here: https://books.google.fr/books?id=7U4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA66&lpg=PA66&dq=After+a+late+lunch+I+went+up+on+the+wing+to+check+the+left+engine.+Bob+was+in+the+water+checking+some+equipment+in+the+nose.+Stephen+and+Paul+were+wading+in+the+shallows+about+60+feet+away,+playing+with+our+bright+blue+rubber+life+raft.+Everyone+else+was+in+the+plane.+When+I+finally+buttoned+up+the+engine,+I+stood+up+and+glanced+around.+Except+for+the+boys,+I+saw+nothing+but+rocks,+low+hills+and+empty+sand.+I+looked+at+my+watch.+It+was+4:32+exactly.+Then+I+heard+what+sounded+like+distant+firecrackers.+My+first+thought+was+that+some+local+Bedouins+were+celebrating+the+Muslim+holiday+of+Ramadan,+which+was+then+in+progress.+In+Luxor,+Egypt,+our+last+stop,+they+had+celebrated+by+firing+off+a+cannon.+Suddenly,+I+noticed+little+splashes+in+the+water+beside+the+rubber+raft.+Somebody+was+shooting+at+the+children.&source=bl&ots=sROM1T39De&sig=WcmtZGyPQMI8EHdTKsQBBCMSdRc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KUdZU5TyBsG00QXG9oD4DQ#v=onepage&q&f=false