Nice PBY video

[con-pilot]

Consolidated PBY on Vimeo

Taken from another pilot website. Credit to 2easypilot.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Truly wonderful aeroplane. My wife and I flew in the New Zealand one in 2007 and it was a very memorable experience... cheap too! Just a few bucks for a nice ride.

[goudie]

One of my favourite aircraft. Built like the proverbial brick ****house!
Thanks Con, good story.

[India Four Two]

My wife and I flew in the New Zealand one in 2007HD,


I recently received this photo from a friend who is working on her in New Plymouth:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/india42/photo_zps11063efe.jpg

One of the main issues is small patches of corrosion near the trailing edges. Small patches but lots of them!


I hope to be able to fly in her next year. That will be a big step up from my previous amphib ride - a BC Airlines Mallard.

[pigboat]

Flying the PB is like stirring cement with a crowbar. :D
The -6A was easier, it had servo tabs on the flight controls.

[obgraham]

We are fortunate there are still some folks around who are willing to restore and preserve these classic aircraft. Not to mention the enormous resources it takes to do the job.

[Giglamps]

My neighbour Jack Stringer, as an RAF pilot, trained on Catalinas at Pensacola (?spelling) USA in WW2. Now 93, he delights in anything Catalina-related, and was much moved by watching the video mentioned above.
Any further material relating either to the aircraft, or to RAF training at Pensacola (is there an Old Boys Association?), would be of enormous interest to him. His memory is still sharp, although he is not now as nimble as he was.
I will happily pass on to him any suggestions anyone cares to make.
Many thanks.
GB

[joy ride]

When my Dad was a trainee Observer/Navigator in the Fleet Air Arm he had a ride in a Catalina in heavy winter weather near Arbroath. After landing in the sea fierce wind and tide meant the engines had to keep working while Dad climbed up onto the roof with a boat hook to grab hold of a buoy. He had to lie on that narrow area of fuselage roof between the wing pylon and the arc of a propeller.

His mind had expunged all memory of this until a few years ago at Culdrose where we were forced to shelter from traditional British summer weather under the wing of a parked Catalina.

[Flightwatch]

My late father also trained on the PBY at Pensacola - I don't know the basic trainer but he then progressed via the Harvard to the PBY. Although he continued flying commercially until he was 62, he never saw another sea-plane. He was however posted to Coastal Command originally flying the Wellington to look for U-boats. I suspect he was at Pensacola somewhat later than your neighbour as he would be 90 now if still alive. I seem to remember he graduated in late '44.