Is the Catalina the "Woody" of airplanes?

muddyboots · **Posted:** Fri Sep 07, 2012 6:06 pm

It seems like it has a similar vibe: ready to wisk you away to a far off place where there are beeches, surf boards, and fruity drinks with umbrellas in...

marine air · **Posted:** Fri Sep 07, 2012 7:44 pm

The Catalina is the "Lindsey Lohan" of airplanes. Beautiful when she was young. Played big roles in her youth, and still a looker after having many hard landings, and
"rode hard and put away wet" more than a few times.
Oh, and there a couple of things you must know before you fall too in love with the PBY.

Mark Allen M · **Joined:** Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:48 pm **Posts:** 7877

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Fri Sep 07, 2012 7:58 pm

IT'S A MONEY PIT! :lol:

Seriously, an airplane I've always wanted since its versatile, fairly rugged, and can carry the whole family. In fact I'd like to grab all the mis-matched PBY airframes at Pima and form some sort of unholy super PBY. Kind of like a PBN Nomad amphibian BUT EVEN LONGER AND CRAZIER! Kind of like a PBY that Indiana Jones would have used during the war, but later sold it to Dr. Benton Quest.

Or Dr. Venture for you guys who know what I'm talking about?

Go Team Venture!

shrike · **Posted:** Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:24 pm

marine air wrote:

The Catalina is the "Lindsey Lohan" of airplanes. Beautiful when she was young. Played big roles in her youth, and still a looker after having many hard landings, and
"rode hard and put away wet" more than a few times.

And you'd probably still take a ride if offered :wink:

Fouga23 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 08, 2012 3:45 am

It's one of my dreams if I ever win the lottery. Buy a Catalina, pimp it out on the inside and travel the world

Myles · **Posted:** Sat Sep 08, 2012 3:21 pm

A friend of mine, the late Gus Vincent had a PBY-5A, N9521C. I worked on, and flew (in that order) in her during the years 1990-1993. We ended up putting the turret back on the nose, and had an idea of getting a .30 caliber to put in it and shoot at the water off the coast of northern California. That never happened. One thing we liked to do when flying was to remove the cover of the nose turret and stand up in the nose with goggles on. A bit breezy but at 110 mph you could handle it.
We took it to a bunch of air shows throughout California, one in Yakima, WA and let people wander through it. Took it up to Lake Berryessa and Clear Lake from time to time to just kickback on the water. Landed on San Luis reservoir once on the way home from the Madera airshow in 1993. We had gone through quite a few engines, too. Poor engine rebuilds, carburetors that didn't last. Gus threw a lot of money at her. Overall we had a lot of fun. We were never in a hurry to get anywhere.

Jim

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s184 ... img015.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s184 ... I/PBYT.jpg

Stoney · **Posted:** Sat Sep 08, 2012 4:41 pm

For a kick, sit in the side bubble for a water landing, did in Mexico with in the late Don Hackett's

Rajay · **Posted:** Sat Sep 08, 2012 8:48 pm

Myles wrote:

A friend of mine, the late Gus Vincent had a PBY-5A, N9521C. I worked on, and flew (in that order) in her during the years 1990-1993. We ended up putting the turret back on the nose, and had an idea of getting a .30 caliber to put in it and shoot at the water off the coast of northern California. That never happened. One thing we liked to do when flying was to remove the cover of the nose turret and stand up in the nose with goggles on. A bit breezy but at 110 mph you could handle it.
We took it to a bunch of air shows throughout California, one in Yakima, WA and let people wander through it. Took it up to Lake Berryessa and Clear Lake from time to time to just kickback on the water. Landed on San Luis reservoir once on the way home from the Madera airshow in 1993. We had gone through quite a few engines, too. Poor engine rebuilds, carburetors that didn't last. Gus threw a lot of money at her. Overall we had a lot of fun. We were never in a hurry to get anywhere.

Jim

I could have sworn that I once heard somewhere that at least in the US PBY's are prohibited from operating on water if the nose turret is still installed. Is that not so? Not sure about how the FAA would go about it; maybe it was some kind of insurance protocol....

JDK · **Posted:** Sat Sep 08, 2012 8:50 pm

But then there were cocktails and sherries, and the chance to telephone the pilot to push on the stick to get your girlfriend's drink up her nose! Oh how we laughed.

From:
http://vintageaeroplanewriter.blogspot. ... yacht.html

And:
http://vintageaeroplanewriter.blogspot. ... eaire.html

Fouga23 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 09, 2012 5:05 am

Got me thinking. Wouldn't it be possible to create a Super Cat with a pair of PT6's instead of radials?

David Legg · **Joined:** Sun Dec 31, 2006 1:07 pm **Posts:** 338

Fouga23 wrote:

Got me thinking. Wouldn't it be possible to create a Super Cat with a pair of PT6's instead of radials?

Why on earth would you do that!!!!!

Fouga23 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 09, 2012 5:05 pm

Would seem logical to me if you tried a "private yacht" conversion these days. Easier maintenance, better performance,...

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Sun Sep 09, 2012 8:03 pm

Fouga23 wrote:

Got me thinking. Wouldn't it be possible to create a Super Cat with a pair of PT6's instead of radials?

Well....

JohnB · **Posted:** Sun Sep 09, 2012 11:07 pm

Back in the olden days of the late 60s-early 70s, Flying magazine has a report on a PBY like that.
It was owned by a tycoon named Queenie or something. It had a clear blister on the right and a small powered boat hung backwards under each wing....similar to the drawing above.
It had a neat logo on the forward fuselage and it was said the owners wife embroidered the same on towels.
As a kid, I saw it at thye Dukluth airport when they were playing in Lake Superior.
Not, it wasn't a Bird 4-engine conversion.
Perhaps Mr. Wilkinson recalls the story?

BTW: The PBYs do have something in common with "Woodies" ...the preferred spelling by car guys......they were common and cheap at one time, but eventually they were all used up (wrecked or scrapped) making the few decent survivors rare...but still costly to maintain.

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Is the Catalina the "Woody" of airplanes?

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