Thread: Inside a Catalina

Unfortunately the local cinema is not one of the select locations!

John

If you're ever down Lake Boga way in Vic, go to Lake boga Flying Boat Museum - Home of the Catalina

I went there last year.

Then there is HARS flying example. Here's one video of it but there are more on YouTube.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2bQKycmuXc[/ame]

Got to crawl through one that is still flying at the last Airshow - it's been at the last 3. A lot less room in there than I imagined. I can't imagine what it was like doing a long distance surveillance flight in it.

The Catalina was a remarkably successful design for a mid-thirties aeroplane. Apart from its well known military activities it was used as a survey, exploration and route assessment aircraft in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s; it was used as an airliner by Qantas for the Perth - Colombo flights 1943-45 and later used extensively by them and TAA in Qld and PNG.

In the 1980s and 1990s their vast wingspan and slow speed and endurance saw a number used for geophysical surveys, decorated with some rather un-aerodynamic additions.

In the 1950s, a number were converted to flying yachts, and even today some are operational for firefighting.

As far as I am aware there has never been anything remotely comparable for its particular niche - perhaps the Dornier Waal was the closest, but it was smaller and did not have the amphibian version - but it did have diesel engines as an option.

John

This is a very interesting story of flying boats during WW2. Some excellent links at the end.

Flying boats in the Second World War, 1939

Check this out, so very Navy.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsBGPjc8DFE[/ame]