As usual there is plenty to report on our favourite aircraft with lots of worldwide activity. This article is adapted from Issue 102 of The Catalina News magazine which is distributed to subscribing members of The Catalina Society.
My list of Catalina Survivors can be found using the ‘Survivors’ tab. One of the FAQs at airshows and on the internet is ‘How many flying Catalinas are the now?’. The answer is that at the present time there are now less than ten flying regularly with all of them residing in North America with the exception of our own Miss Pick Up in the UK. The most regular flyers are Miss Pick Up and the Soaring By The Sea Foundation Canso A N9767 based in Oregon. There are several others that are airworthy, or close to being so, including examples in Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Greece.
The two airworthy Canso As in Canada – C-FNJE and C-FPQL belonging to Fairview Aircraft Restoration Society and Canadian Warplane Heritage (CWH) respectively – have both been active this summer. C-FNJE flew a ‘grand tour’ and details may be found in Oliver Evans’ article elsewhere in this issue. She even met up with the CWH Canso along the way, the first time that two Catalinas/Cansos have been in the air together for many years. Braeden McCall, volunteer Canso crew member/flight engineer at the CWH, Hamilton, Ontario kindly sent me this update on C-FPQL: ‘2024 started off as most years with winter maintenance. This year with our props out for inspection we took the opportunity to do a thorough check of the engines and cowlings. Seals were changed, nuts were torqued, everything just given a good once over. All was put back together in time for her flying season to start. First run-ups were in mid-May, with her first flight of the year happening at the end of that month. Now, the Canso here at CWH Museum is painted to represent the Mary K, serial 9754, in honour of Victoria Cross awardee Flt Lt David Hornell. However, the plane’s original RCAF serial was 11084. Originally built in 1944, she came into service in May of that year. This means that our Canso is now 80 years old, and shortly after her season opening flight, we had a small 80th birthday celebration (with cake!). This being the 100th anniversary of the RCAF, we were excited for the upcoming year.’
‘This year we took part in the Quinte International Airshow, Ontario on June 29th and 30th. Arriving at nearby CFB Trenton early, we gave media and sponsor rides. During the show we were static, thus allowing us to give tours though the plane. However, it was during this event we that met up with the Canso C-FNJE. This was exciting to us as we have never been to any airshow or event with more than one ‘PBY’ present. The other Canso, owned and operated by the FARS group, was on its homeward journey from the east coast. It was a unique opportunity to see two airframes representing different parts of the type’s lifespan, ours in RCAF colours and the other in her old civilian firefighting colours. In August, we participated in our own eastward trek. On August 21st we left Hamilton, heading for CFB Greenwood in Nova Scotia. After arrival we once again took part in a media and sponsor ride. After a couple of trips over the Bay of Fundy we were parked up for static display. A weekend of tours and events and an excellent show (including the RAF’s Red Arrows) went by too fast. That Monday we were heading back to Ontario with an overnight stop in Ottawa (where we were met by the Red Arrows again). Beyond all that we’ve had our usual member’s rides and flyby events. Overall, it’s been a good year and Mary K has been running great with no major issues which we hope to maintain as we start heading towards the end of the flying season which normally finishes for us on Remembrance Day on November 11th’.
On the west coast at Radar Hill, Tofino, Vancouver Island, the wreck of Canso A 11007 continues to deteriorate and be a target for souvenir hunters, vandals and graffiti artists. For many years, it lay more or less undisturbed after its crash into the forest caused by port engine failure after takeoff from Tofino on February 8th, 1945. This was mainly because of the inaccessibility of the site and the lack of interest in it but, since the advent of social media, it has become quite commonplace for people to trek through the forest to visit and photograph the now badly damaged airframe.
Sister Canso A 11087 was allocated for preservation after being retired from the RCAF in 1961. Since then, she has been in the charge of what is now known as the Canada Aviation & Space Museum at Rockcliffe, Ontario and has spent her time in storage which is a great shame. One of our shareholder pilots, Richie Piper, recently visited and reports that she is kept indoors and is in generally good condition. She still sports brackets for JATO bottles on the hull from her active military days.
The former USAAF OA-10A Catalina CC-CDT continues to languish at Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, Santiago as previously reported and is still for sale. Her condition has deteriorated somewhat over the years since her last flight in March 2006 and currently the entire centre-section trailing edge is removed and requires attention and repair. Her Chilean registration was cancelled on March 8th this year.
A rarely reported-on Catalina is the PBY-5A ‘48382’ at the Flyhistorisk Museum at Sola, Stavanger, Norway. Originally built for the US Navy as BuNo 08109, she was retired in April 1952 and subsequently refurbished for service with the Royal Danish Air Force with serial 82-857, later L-857. After her second retirement, she was sold to a private owner in Denmark and lapsed into dereliction before acquired by the Flyhistorisk Museum in November 1989. Since then she has been restored to static display condition as aircraft 48382 operated by the post-war Royal Norwegian Air Force’s 333 Skv (Squadron). In April this year, she briefly emerged from her museum hangar for the first time in several decades whilst improvements to the hangar and its lighting were carried out, a project financed by Rogaland County Municipality. Several other aircraft were also moved outside and the opportunity was taken to give them all a good clean before they went back indoors again.
The last Catalina to be built, PBY-6A BuNo 64107/N9825Z, spent many years at Moses Lake, Washington State after being acquired by Rick Petersen from the local waterbombing company SLAFCO in 1999. Over the years he worked hard to assemble a vast inventory of original parts with the aim of restoring his Catalina to ‘stock’ condition. As mentioned in our last edition, his widow Susan Petersen sold the project to Vintage Aircraft Restorations LLC of Spokane, WA, the sale taking place in December 2023 with the Certificate of Registration being issued on January 28th this year. N9825Z was moved by road to Felts Field, Spokane during April and May this year and restoration to airworthy condition has already commenced there.
Well-known aircraft collector, restorer, museum owner and pilot Kermit Weeks has owned two Catalinas for some time. PBY-5A N3936A was acquired in poor condition after many years of external storage in Connecticut in December 1987 and after being transported by road to his facility at Polk City, Florida it has remained in deep storage. Meanwhile, in December 2005, Charles Largay donated his PBY-5A N96UC to Weeks and it was later registered to his World’s Greatest Aircraft Collection Inc. Kept in outside storage at Polk City, its condition has deteriorated badly with evident corrosion and a few months ago the outer wings were removed. What will become of these two Catalinas and where they sit in Weeks’ restoration pecking order is not known.
Another Catalina, OA-10A N57875, is also in need of some tender loving care although at least it is secure, having been rescued from its September 1947 crash site at Dago Lake, Alaska in September 1984. In August 1987 it arrived at Anchorage and is now with the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum. Recent photos show that she is far from pristine but better off where she is now than before.
As reported in our last edition, PBY-5A N9505C of the film Always fame, has been sold to the Yanks Air Museum at China, CA although at the time of writing it is still in open storage at Ephrata, WA. Having been cancelled from the US register back on August 30th, 2012, it was re-registered to the Yanks Air Museum on July 3rd this year. Interestingly, the FAA register entry quotes the powerplants as P&W R-1830s whereas N9505C is a ‘Super Catalina’ with Wright R-2600 Cyclones.
Finally, an update on the very active Canso A N9767 operated by the Soaring By The Sea Foundation from their base at Eugene, Oregon. In addition to rides, she has appeared this season at the Olympic Air Show at Olympia, WA; Sky Fest at Fairchild Air Force Base, Spokane, WA; the Boeing Seafair Air Show at Genesee Park, Seattle, WA; the Bremerton Air Show at Bremerton, WA; the Airshow of the Cascades, Madras, OR and the Oregon International Air Show at McMinnville, OR. At the time of writing, she was due to appear at Wings and Wheels, Spanish Fork, Utah on September 28th. In addition to this display work, she has again been involved in promotional shoots for the clothing company PME Legend.
Terrific recent front view of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Canso A C-FPQL
Canadian Warplane Heritage
By contrast to the photo of C-FPQL, this one shows Canso A serial 11007 at her 1945 Tofino, BC crash site earlier this year. Time, souvenir hunters, vandals and falling trees have all taken their toll
Vanessa Dunn
On her first outing from her hangar for many years, the Flyhistorisk Sola PBY-5A ‘48382’ was snapped by Ole Johan Berg at Stavanger, Norway on April 24th this year
Soaring by The Sea’s N9767 during filming for the clothing brand PME Legend
PME Legend
