Catalina Cutaway Drawing

[Subdeacon Joe]

Edited August 27 by Subdeacon Joe

[Subdeacon Joe]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

I had a favorite Coast Guard uncle who'd been a flight engineer in PBY's.  He had good stories, and was fond of the old bird - but said she was slow - "Took us about 20 hours to fly from Alameda to Hawaii.  We had an R5D that left four hours after us and got there four hours ahead of us!"

 

I watched one take off from the Alameda Naval Air Station once... seemed to take forever to get off the runway, and almost looked like you could run alongside.  Lumbering, but graceful!

 

My Uncle Bob on the left.  🙂

[Subdeacon Joe]

9 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

We had an R5D that left four hours after us and got there four hours ahead of us!"

 

 

Douglas R5D-3/4 "Skymaster" (1950) | Coast Guard Aviation History https://share.google/36FcFi78eEr3ZNiQa

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

A Japanese company on Okinawa had one to fly to the smaller islands and I bummed a ride one afternoon.  About 40 minutes out and 40 back and I would have been drier if I had been swimming.  That thing leaked everywhere, but once it got in the air all the water drained  out.

 

I wanted to get the ride because when I was a kid I built models of those era planes.

 

A few years later I got to ride a Kaman Husky helicopter from one end of Iwakuni, Japan air base to the other to deliver some fire fighting gear and back again.  Drier than the Cat, but the noisiest thing I ever rode in.

Edited August 28 by Forty Rod SASS 3935

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

1 hour ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

A few years later I got to ride a Kaman Husky helicopter from one end of Iwakuni, Japan air base to the other to deliver some fire fighting gear and back again.  Drier that the Cat, but the noisiest thing I ever rode in.

Santa visited MCAF Iwakuni via Kaman HH-43 in 1958. Didn’t need no stinking reindeer! I was a kid, so I had no frame of reference about noise. Everything was noisy. Loved it. 
 

 

Edited August 28 by Abilene Slim SASS 81783

[watab kid]

IIRC wasmt it one of these that spotted the survivors of the INDIANA , or was it these that picked them up after found ? 

[Chantry]

14 hours ago, watab kid said:

IIRC wasmt it one of these that spotted the survivors of the INDIANA , or was it these that picked them up after found ? 

Yes, against orders and it was the survivors of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis.   The PBY pilot (Adrian Marks - Wikipedia) put 56 survivors in the plane and on the wings of the PBY to get them out of the water.

 

The USS Indiana was a South Dakota class battleship.

 

I can remember the above, can someone tell me I stood in the kitchen slowly turning in circles?

[watab kid]

7 hours ago, Chantry said:

Yes, against orders and it was the survivors of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis.   The PBY pilot (Adrian Marks - Wikipedia) put 56 survivors in the plane and on the wings of the PBY to get them out of the water.

 

The USS Indiana was a South Dakota class battleship.

 

I can remember the above, can someone tell me I stood in the kitchen slowly turning in circles?

yes it had just delivered the atomic bombs to Tinian and was returning under radio silence so no one knew it had been torpedoed , a senseless loss of life and for no good reason , 

 

met a survivor and bought his book at a sporting clays shoot in nashville TN about 20 13 or 14 m interesting talk and interesting read , great shoot 

[Dapper Dave]

And the PBY lives again, the company who still holds the designs were asked to build some NEW ones very recently, with some modern updates, of course. I would love to own one...
https://theaviationist.com/2026/07/16/first-customer-next-gen-catalina-flying-boat/

[watab kid]

i want one to find me should i ever be lost at sea , not likely anymore , but just thinkin