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a.twiddler
Veteran
A PBY Catalina flew low over the house a short time ago heading North. it's just south of Wigan at the moment. Just caught a glimpse of it as it flew away.
Later.
According to Flightradar it originated from Duxford and has now landed near Fleetwood.
Later.
According to Flightradar it originated from Duxford and has now landed near Fleetwood.
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gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
Having been to a flying evening at Duxford, it immediately struck me how some aircraft are throbbing and oozing power, you can feel it, you can hear if.
But some are surprisingly graceful, the Catalina was one of them. Ironically, so was the B17. The Catalina just seemed to hang in the air almost effortlessly.
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Punkawallah
Veteran
Of our se it does - it’s dangling below that bloody great wing, innit?
:-)
:-)
a.twiddler
Veteran
It's a curious thing that as far as I know all the surviving Catalinas are the amphibious versions, leading people to believe that they were all designed like that, yet most of the versions used by the RAF and associated air forces during WW2 were true flying boats with no landing gear. This meant that to be able to beach them or bring them on land for maintenance the beaching gear had to be attached so they could be hauled out of the water.
Presumably for most of their operational lives they were moored in more or less salty water. Salt water + aluminium, not a good recipe for a long and happy life, and they were worked hard, with constant long patrols.
My father, who spent the war in Ceylon working on Catalinas after narrowly avoiding arriving in Singapore just as it fell to the Japanese, would tell me how they had to do all possible work on them while moored in a shallow lagoon, which meant getting on a boat. Some airmen would tie tools to themselves with string as if they dropped a crucial spanner into the lagoon they would get a proper bawling out from their NCOs. From time to time the best swimmers would be detailed to dive in and retrieve all these tools that had plopped into the lagoon.
A job that had to be done after each landing was to get aboard with a pocket full of tiny corks and look for any popped rivets in the hull, which could occur with a bumpy landing, and plug the holes. I imagine that they would all be re riveted when that aircraft came ashore for other major work.
The first time that my father and his fellow airmen there saw an amphibious PBY 5A it was a bit dramatic. They were used to seeing flying boats come and go on the lagoon but this one came round heading for the small airstrip. Expecting a terrible pile up some of them ran to the runway, wondering if it had sustained some damage that meant it couldn't land on the water. Miraculously, it sprouted wheels and came to a smooth landing. It aroused a lot of interest. They speculated that replacement Catalinas might all be like that. Apparently not.
The Americans were having enough problems of their own in the Pacific, so despite lend lease and all that, their most up to date aircraft were going to their own forces. Of course nobody knew that at the time, and information about anything was very limited. Most British servicemen in that area were more worried about a possible Japanese invasion of Ceylon as a stepping stone to British India after the catastrophic fall of Singapore and the loss of Malaya. It's hard to comprehend today how much of a blow the loss of the previously believed-to-be-impregnable fortress of Singapore was to the British psyche, and along with it the mythology of Western invincibility. What next? The Rock of Gibraltar, another near mythological icon dear to the British self image?
Anyhow, the Catalinas continued doing their thing until the end of the war.
There was a major cull of the non amphibious Catalinas after WW2 as the need for flying boats diminished, and the amphibious versions proved more versatile, with all the concrete airstrips that were built during and after the war.
Presumably for most of their operational lives they were moored in more or less salty water. Salt water + aluminium, not a good recipe for a long and happy life, and they were worked hard, with constant long patrols.
My father, who spent the war in Ceylon working on Catalinas after narrowly avoiding arriving in Singapore just as it fell to the Japanese, would tell me how they had to do all possible work on them while moored in a shallow lagoon, which meant getting on a boat. Some airmen would tie tools to themselves with string as if they dropped a crucial spanner into the lagoon they would get a proper bawling out from their NCOs. From time to time the best swimmers would be detailed to dive in and retrieve all these tools that had plopped into the lagoon.
A job that had to be done after each landing was to get aboard with a pocket full of tiny corks and look for any popped rivets in the hull, which could occur with a bumpy landing, and plug the holes. I imagine that they would all be re riveted when that aircraft came ashore for other major work.
The first time that my father and his fellow airmen there saw an amphibious PBY 5A it was a bit dramatic. They were used to seeing flying boats come and go on the lagoon but this one came round heading for the small airstrip. Expecting a terrible pile up some of them ran to the runway, wondering if it had sustained some damage that meant it couldn't land on the water. Miraculously, it sprouted wheels and came to a smooth landing. It aroused a lot of interest. They speculated that replacement Catalinas might all be like that. Apparently not.
The Americans were having enough problems of their own in the Pacific, so despite lend lease and all that, their most up to date aircraft were going to their own forces. Of course nobody knew that at the time, and information about anything was very limited. Most British servicemen in that area were more worried about a possible Japanese invasion of Ceylon as a stepping stone to British India after the catastrophic fall of Singapore and the loss of Malaya. It's hard to comprehend today how much of a blow the loss of the previously believed-to-be-impregnable fortress of Singapore was to the British psyche, and along with it the mythology of Western invincibility. What next? The Rock of Gibraltar, another near mythological icon dear to the British self image?
Anyhow, the Catalinas continued doing their thing until the end of the war.
There was a major cull of the non amphibious Catalinas after WW2 as the need for flying boats diminished, and the amphibious versions proved more versatile, with all the concrete airstrips that were built during and after the war.
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
Jameshow
Guru
I always thought flying in a 'small' aircraft is something most of us never will do but would be great fun (and sometimes a bit scary too)
A handful of colleagues and myself used to travel to various global locations and one of them was in Paysandu (sp) near the Uruguay/Argentine border. She related later how they took a small single engine aircraft to fly out to a farm up country...as it took off, she said all you could see was this ever increasingly close tree line on the end of the runway they had to take off over...it was a fairly white knuckle ride for someone who's never experienced it apparently
Ex and I flew from Birgunj Nepal up to Kathmandu in a light aircraft great fun flying through the mountains!
DaveReading
Don't suffer fools gladly (must try harder!)
- Location
- Reading, obvs
Not quite.
The Smithsonian's Catalina, currently on loan to the National Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola, is a non-amphibian PBY-5 (the only surviving one).
Incidentally, the Duxford example, "Miss Pick Up", is actually a Canso (built by Canadian Vickers), although it masquerades as a USAAF Catalina.
Mad Doug Biker
Banned from every bar in the Galaxy
- Location
- Craggy Island
My first ever flight was in a 'Finnistere' aircraft, probably a Cessna or similar, in Brittany, north west France when I was 5.
Single engined thing (I think). I just remember seeing the coast down below and being able to see out the back window, like it was a car (although I was 5, so might be mistaken).
I, many years later flew on a Brittain Norman Islander around the Orkney Islands on the inter - island flights from Kirkwall, including the Westray - Papa Westray bit.
All good fun and a fantastic way of seeing the islands if you have limited time.
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Bristolian
Über Member
- Location
- Bristol, UK
A few days ago I was taking photographs at a charity track day. As usual they closed the track during the lunch break and this Harvard T-6 aircraft appeared and gave us a ten minute display. These are just a few of the 200+ photos I took ...
The organiser of the track day was a Fleet Air Arm pilot who flew Buccaneers so I guess that's the connection with Navy Wings.
The organiser of the track day was a Fleet Air Arm pilot who flew Buccaneers so I guess that's the connection with Navy Wings.
Illaveago
Guru
- Location
- Chippenham,Wiltshire.
Our group of cyclists were down in the village at the time and saw it through the trees. We wondered what it was all about. As we headed back towards Biddestone we saw 2 Red Arrow Hawks flying towards the circuit.
DaveReading
Don't suffer fools gladly (must try harder!)
- Location
- Reading, obvs
That Harvard has had a interesting career:
Built in Canada in 1952, delivered to New Jersey, then dismantled and shipped to Belfast for reassembly. Used by the US Air Force in Germany before being transferred to the Luftwaffe. Overhauled by Messerschmitt prior to delivery to the Portuguese Air Force, then used in Africa where it found its way into the hands of the Popular Forces for the Liberation of Mozambique. Eventually abandoned at Maputo, recovered and taken to South Africa, then shipped to the UK in 1989. Restored at Thruxton and finally took to the air again in July 1991.
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
There is one, maybe two of these to be seen locally over Cambs, they don't spare them, its certainly an aircraft you can chuck around, you'll nearly always see them doing mild acrobatics here
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
Three F15s or 18s over 15 minutes ago, not fast, but loud aren't they ?
Probably headed to Mildenhall given their travel direction. Unusual to seen three, at that altitude (a few thousand feet)
A few minutes later, another two, but it could be the same ones circling. Not showing on ADSB or Freedar but np surprise there.
I can never tell 15s from 18s on the move
..
Probably headed to Mildenhall given their travel direction. Unusual to seen three, at that altitude (a few thousand feet)
A few minutes later, another two, but it could be the same ones circling. Not showing on ADSB or Freedar but np surprise there.
I can never tell 15s from 18s on the move
..
a.twiddler
Veteran
Perhaps jet fighters were more distinctive from each other in earlier eras when there was still some experimentation going on. Nowadays the form is much more its function and the designs have converged, or merged together.
