PBY ditching off Florida beach.
 

I apologise if this has been covered before, but does anyone know why this aircraft was allowed to be destroyed? Apparently it ditched during filming. However, it was then left in the sea for some time before an attempt to lift it onto a barge. It broke up during the lifting operation and was totally destroyed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noTE5vFeI6A

That's a pity - looks recoverable, but maybe insurance company reckoned it was too expensive to recover it and repair. Straight financial decision. "Cost of everything and value of nothing" springs to mind.

Opinion on several other historic aircraft sites is the recovery was indeed simply botched.

Two partially sunken Catalinas have been successfully recovered in British waters (Plymouth Sound and the Solent) in the last several decades... though one was later ignominiously scrapped having never been fully restored.

I believe that "they" tried to lift it whilst it was still full of water.

Why not just tow it onto the beach ?

Just found this;

World War II era plane breaks during salvaging effort - FOX10 News | WALA

As ATC says, why didn't they tow it onto the beach? A sad loss of a great aeroplane.