Saving Old Seagulls

http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/ ... mares.aspx

Interesting article about Catalina flying boat (PBY).

H-A

We had a Catalina base in Sydney Harbour prior, during and after WW11. There is a flash restaurant on the harbour front named Catalina at the site of the original base.

http://www.abc.net.au/gnt/history/Trans ... 061246.htm

http://catalinarosebay.com.au/

Thanks for sharing that. Interesting read. I took the family to a Rc Plane event a couple of weeks ago and seen this scale Rc catalina on display. It was the pride of the event. Its got a 16.50 ft wing span, We didnt get to see it fly because the rain came down and the whole event was a washout. It would off been great to see it fly.

Wow! That is amazing! Thanks for posting it.

Took two pilots to take off and land the things.

Very interesting article. The RAF and RCAF were stationed not far from me at Castle Archdale on Lough Erne during WW2. There were several squadrons of Catalinas and Sunderlands. I know an old man who saw over 40 flying boats of both types moored in the bay at Castle Archdale,that would be a sight worth seeing! Very little remains today apart from a huge water tank,the concrete apron and slipway and of course the "Shetland Dock". This was constructed for the huge Shetland flying boat which was developed for trans atlantic use,unfortunately only 3 were built and were never used for there intended purpose...the dock is an impressive iron and concrete structure now hidden behind trees and is a sad reminder of a once busy place.

http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php/49 ... ure-Forums

RAF Hamworthy was operating Sunderlands and Catalinas from Poole Harbour during and shortly after the war, the photos show the boats abandoned a few hundred metres from where I'm sitting.

One of the shots shows a woman coxswain on a tender, it was one on these ladies - Pam Bate - who ended up as sole director of British Seagull after Way-Hope died in 1971. I have no idea if thae one in the photo is her.

Poole Harbour was also the scaene of the demise of Maia - the larger of the twin aircraft composite. She was lost in an air raid in 1941 South of Salterns Marina. The night watchman aboard her went with her.

http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-f ... ikers.html

I ahve a mate who used to play on those abandoned craft after the war - all the local kids used to serach the hulls looking for cartridge cases. In rare moments they would unearth whole live rounds. The petrol storage is just down the road, there's a pier there which a few years ago I fished for sea bass with mixed results.

The Flying Boats of Poole Harbour are remembered locally - there was a pub called the Flying Boat which was tiled with scenes from the Empire Flying Boat days with ceramics made by Poole Pottery.

Lots of interesting stuff here:

http://www.pooleflyingboats.com/archive.html

This article about the surplus Catalina flying boats is very interesting.

Last month I had a flight and 2 touchdowns on the water in a 1941 Catalina.

During WW2 this Catalina was based on Iceland and sunk 3 German U-boats!

Landing on the water with an aircraft is very strange and noisy.

The view from the blisters is fantastic and the oil spill of the Pratt & Witney engines enormous.

No Seagull oil spill complains for me anymore.
Jan

Jan I am consumed with envy. You lucky man, thanks for sharing those photos.

Wow Jan that looks great, I never thought that posting about a PBY would get so much interest.

This one is flying round the UK https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cata ... 0846756015

H-A

Looks like we have a flying one in Oz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n9Cb8CdwmQ

How cool! Who knew we still had a big Cat' flying in Oz.....

Rathmines was the site of the WWII east coast anti-sub squadron flying Catalinas out of Lake Macquarie.

Seems to take an awfully long run to 'unstick', or is that normal?