Glen wrote:
Greetings I was wondering what type of interest their is in New Zeland on Warbirds . Back in the early Eightys I remember that their was a group that was trying to get a Museum going with a PBY as the center of the Museum.
Glen, the only museum in New Zealand in the early 1980's that had a Catalina was the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT), which is at Western Springs, Auckland. However it was in a very poor state having been a fire training aircraft in Papua New Guinea, and was certainly not their centrepiece. That museum has a fantastic collection that includes such items as a Lancaster, a Sunderland, a Solent, and lots of others. Even the remnants of Richard Pearse's aircraft which he alledgedly flew on the 31st of March 1903.
The Catalina later went to the RNZAF Museum and was partially restored at RNZAF Base Whenuapai before being transferred to the museum at RNZAF Base Wigram. It remains stored pending further restoration but the Fuselage is on public display there.
The only other Catalinas to come to NZ were a flying example in about 1994, and a hulk bought to support that a little later, which has now gone to Classic Flyers at Tauranga and is to be restored.
Is MOTAT the museum you were thinking of?
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