PBY Catalina Arrival Palm Springs
Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:29 am
Super Catalina N31235 has arrived in Palm Springs. She is ex USN 48426, a VP-61 aircraft that served in the Aleutians 1944-45. An original squadron member of VP-61, Ken Claypool, and his family were there to see her come in. He logged time in 48426 though she was normally assigned to another crew. The man on the extreme left flew PBY's for the Royal Netherlands Navy and was on hand as well. The Ferry Flight was 9 hours. So many groups have helped, parts and critical parts!!! came from Frank Wright of the Yanks Air Museum, Bud Rude and his crew of guys from Tanker 85 in Deer Park, WA and the members of the Palm Springs Air Museum for working long hours over a couple months to get her finished and ferryable. Also, Thanks to Michael Oleary of Air Classics for documenting our trip and making it even more special than normal.
2nd from left, Ken Claypool brought about 125 photographs of the VP-61 Catalina operation, and an accurate paint scheme will be chosen for the plane. The squadron insignia is a cat with binoculars riding a bomb throwing dice with a lucky 7 displayed. We have one photo that shows 48426 or 36 on the ramp, so we have a great place to start. Volunteers are welcome!
Last edited by Joe Scheil on Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:38 am
The narrative….
The 1788th PBY rolled off the Consolidated San Diego production line with little if any notice. Another aircraft in the thousands going to war from just that location, the new PBY-5a simply received her military identity and paint and was rolled across what now is Lindbergh Field, San Diego and taxied across Embarcadero Drive and then down the seaplane ramp for her first taste of the Pacific Ocean on her hull. Bu 48426 was built, accepted and delivered 06Jan44 according to US Navy documentation. After that no record on history card prior to 31Aug44 exists, and due to wartime demands, thing were moving very fast to be kept up with on thousands of aircraft movements. However we have this information from the VP-61 squadron history from the digital archives of www.PBY.com that has unveiled the early history of 48426.
VP-61 or Navy Patrol Squadron 61 was on reserve status as part of Fleet Air Wing 6 after a hard 2 years in the Aleutian Islands facing Japanese attacks and incredible weather conditions. Inactivated on reserve status, the squadron was reformed at NAS Whitbey Island 5 January 1944. This was a "streamlined" squadron with 15 aircraft and 18 flight crews, two ground officers and no maintenence personel. Each crew was comprised of 3 officers and 5 enlisted men. The next day training began at NAS Whitbey with aircraft assigned from Fleet Air Wing 6 while the squadron's new planes were prepared. The 15 new PBY aircraft arriving during the last week of January and first week of February of 1944 from NAS San Diego. Flight crews were sent on a Naval Air Transport Service flight from NAS Seattle to NAS San Diego. Those 15 aircraft allowed the squadron training flights to be increased in tempo with high and low altitude bombing, torpedo drops and night familiarization flights being completed. The training syllabus set by the Commander Fleet Air, West Coast for Patrol Bombing Squadrons was completed during the last week of March, 1944 and the planes were checked and outfitted for the trip north. The Squadron was again going to deploy to the Aleutian Islands in the Alaska Territory.
According to the narrative of VP-61 on 08 April 1944 15 PBY-5a aircraft departed Ault Field, NAS Whitbey Island in four sections. Bureau numbers listed were 48398, 48480, 48360, 48382, 48425, 48426, 48429, 48430, 48431, 48433, 48434, 48435, 48436, 48439, and 48441. Easter Sunday 9 April 1944 was spent on the ground at Annette, Alaska due to bad weather, the constant in Alaskan flying. As the sections massed for the next takeoff, Lieutenant F. A. Woody had a hydraulic brake failure in 48433 and ran off the taxiway when unable to stop the malfunctioning PBY. The plane ended up in a 20' ditch and smashed the bow section of the plane as well as the nosewheel doors. Lt. Woody after makeshift repairs flew this aircraft back to NAS Seattle for heavy maintenence. The remainder of the squadron arrived at NAS Kodiak 12 April and was transferred to the command of Fleet Air Wing 4. The squadron again moved west, flying to Dutch Harbor and 60 knot winds and poor visibility. Four planes turned back to wait for better weather, however all planes made it to Naval Operations Base Adak Island on the 14/15th April 1944. Loran was installed in the aircraft and training began on that essential part of navigational equipment. On 22 April 1944 the squadron repositioned to Attu in perfect weather. A familiarization flight was made over the entire Aleutian chain by the squadron en route. Patrol Squadron 43 was relieved and departed the same day for Seattle.
The squadron immediately began flying sector patrols 350-400 miles off Attu from Northwest to Southeast of the Island and due to the Russian non agression pact with Japan had to observe the international boundaries and remain clear of Russian territory. The squadron's first loss was quickly felt with the loss of PBY Bu. 48398 which failed to return from patrol on May 1, 1944. Weather was poor for flying with ceilings of 300' and icing conditions in the clouds. Lt Grover F. Heidlage requested permission to return to base due to frontal weather conditions. Permission was refused by FAW 4 and he was required to remain on patrol for another 30 minutes. The last message received reported his position aprox 30 miles from the Kamchatka Peninsula coastline. Special rescue flights searching for the plane failed to find any trace of the aircraft or crew. The next day Lt Woody returned from NAS Seattle and he and his crew was assigned to Bu. 48426. The squadron had received radar sets as well as electronic testing equipment and began flying investigative missions of Japanese radar installations on the Kurile Islands. This was a difficult and challenging mission, and allowed the squadron its first enemy contact with a picket boat on 5 May with one of the PBY aircraft being slightly damaged by enemy action. The reports record the weather for May 1944 being good with 1372 hours being flown. Coupled with the missions of a warlike nature, rescue missions were also flown from Attu, and many in support of a Squadron of Lockheed PV-1’s of VP-135. These missions were never easy for the rescuers either. On 16 June 1944 Lt Frank A Woody, flying PBY-5a 48429 instead of his assigned aircraft was sent on a special search for a VB-135 crew and failed to return. Weather was recorded as extremely bad, and all aircraft were recalled to base. 48429 was never heard from again and no remains of aircraft or crew were ever found. July also was a month of dismal weather with only 601.2 hours recorded as flown. Through this we have no actual record of 48426, only the knowledge that it seems she was serviceable and consistently sent out on operations. On August 1, 1944 another PBY was heavily damage making a water landing on instruments bending the hull, engine mounts and the wing! Quite a difficult feat in retrospect. In December 1944 VP-61 sent the 12 remaining PBY aircraft thru NAS Kodiak then to NAS Seattle arriving on 23 December 1944. The planes were then probably overhauled, with 48426’s records showing she was awaiting reconditioning at NAS Pensacola during May of 1945. Now a tired and well used PBY the rapid tide of war let 48426 behind and as events unfolded, the aircraft stateside began to languish. New airplane were pouring off the production lines at prodigious rates, and PBY’s were reaching the end of their production run.
With the war turning to thoughts of the Japan invasion 48426 was surplus to the requirements of the time. 48426 went to NAS Philadelphia to sit in the reconditioning pool there from July 1945 to January of 1946 before going to VN8D5 at the US Naval Academy from January of 1946 to May of 1946. From there to NAS Squantum, a base on the Massachusetts coastline where she was based until August 1948, punctuated by another turn in the NAF Philadelphia pool where she received her overhaul 25 May 1948. The record for 48426 is missing from September 1948 to April 1950, but she turns up at NART Atlanta in May of 1950 as she is earmarked to fly to her birthplace, NAS San Diego for Overhaul and Repair, arriving 20 June, 1950. Things begin to pick up again for the old warrior and she leaves the shop direct for the NAS Seattle Overhaul and Repair shop to receive a clipper bow with overhaul and modification of model PBY-5A to model 28-5ACF. This extensive modification takes place until 01 April 1951 when the aircraft is issued a civilian registration, N31235, with the owner of record being the U.S. Navy! Listed as a part of Fasron 118 in Agana, Guam on 4 May 1951, transferred NAS Agana on 21 May 1951 the aircraft, freshly overhauled and modified was listed “Stricken” by O&R Seattle 4 October 1951 with total hours flown as 1855! The real story of the next part of her life still needs to come out, but the plane was one of four special PBY aircraft modified by the USN for service with Transocean Air Lines of Oakland, CA to provide air services in the Micronseian trust territories of the United States. Named “Taloa Saipan” the three flew goverment and civilian personel throughout the far flung archipeligo that included the Caroline Islands, Marianas, Marshalls and up to Guam. The Transocean Air Lines or TALOA, leased the planes for 1$ per annum and were flown from 1951 to 1958 before being replaced by Grumman Albatross seaplanes. The four PBY’s were N31232, 33’, 34, and our N31235. Interestingly an old friend from VP-61 Bu 48435 was one of the TALOA birds also.
The other Transocean PBY’s were
N31232 Bu 48320 “Taloa Majuro” eventually sold to Viking Airlines Burbank, CA until 1969 then....unknown
N31233 Bu 48435 “Taloa Truk?” to Canada as CF-ILK and Wheeler Airlines, crashed St Jean, Quebec 1955
N31234 Bu 48488 “Taloa Ponape” to CF-IHD Qubecair 1955-66 and then back to the South Pacific with the French as F-WMKT and then F-YCHC before being damaged in an accident Reao 20.4.66 and scrapped at Papeete, Tahiti
Our PBY-5a however was in storage for a time before being dold to Thorne Engineering in Oakland, CA for some new purpose. The ferry flight from Guam to Oakland was eventful and a tired N31235 was forced down 30 September 1955 some 575 miles off San Fransisco. Picked up by the freighter Harry Culbreath Victory, another veteran, N31235 was damged during recovery and was repaired by Long Beach Airmotive. Joel M Thorne’s estate sold N31235 for the sum of $6,100.oo to C.S. Bearson on 27 April 1956. Traded a few more times, the record shows sold to Aircraft Metal Salvage Co., Oakland, Ca, 08May56; Sold to R. Lyle Golding, Long Beach, Ca., 09May56 [plane is still with Long Beach Aeromotive at this time] and it is thought by me, that this is when she became a “Super Catalina” as Pacific Air Lines of San Francisco purchased 48426 for airline service again on 10 April 1958.
Converted by Long Beach Airmotive to the specifications laid down by Steward-Davis Inc. of Long Beach, CA, the PBY assumed a new and more powerful shape. The most drastic modification was the removal of her faithful Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92A engines and the addition of B-25 Wright R-2600 engines and cowlings. N31235 is unusual in having Holley type induction scoops above the cowlings, whereas most seem to have the Bendix induction scoop. The second was the special squared off rudder distinctive of all Super Catalina conversions. All Super Catalina conversions carry the special rudder except for the Super PBY-6 models which simply retain their larger stock rudder. N31235 was also equipped with more windows and a rear airstair door to fit her new role, as well as bush plane modifications to the fuel system and landing gear to aid her utility in opening up the Alaskan Frontier. Alaska Coastal Airlines took delivery after purchasing the plane on 26 December 1961. Joining 4 other PBY Super Cat conversions the Alaska Coastal Airlines eventually merged with Ellis Airlines before forming the company we know today as Alaska Airlines. She was an important part of Alaskan Aviation history until 1970 when the PBY’s were withdrawn from use.
The other Alaska Coastal/Ellis Airlines Fleet was as follows
N2763A Bu 21232 ex N5609V Paul Mantz Aviation, CF-GHU of PCA, Alaska/Ellis to SLAFCO and now Yanks Air Museum
N4760C Bu 33993 and USAAF 43-43837 after Ellis to Gerrotex Survey, crashed 81 repaired to McChord AFM museum
N4936V Bu 48343 from Intercoastal Airlines, Bahamas Airways then converted to a Super Catalina. To Alaska Coastal-Ellis Airlines of Juneau August 1959. Sank in Otter Lake, Chicago Island 2 October 1964 and still there?
N5584V Bu 46482 sold to Antilles Air Boats 1970 and withdrawn by 1971. Believed scrapped in St Croix
Old 48426 was now out of the airline business for good, and was 26 years old and looking for work. Not an enviable position for any aircraft, but not all aircraft can do so many things so well! Robert Schlaefli was the savior of many PBY aircraft and used the venerable workhorses for the dangerous work of Aerial Firefighting. Being one of the best platforms for the job, the PBY has the most consistent drop patterns and is a “force multiplier” as a water borne scooper aircraft. Able to alight on lakes the PBY could refill and rearm for drops far quicker than her land based competitors and was capable of fighting fires in remote areas with little support. The company SLAFCO was to operate two aircraft consistently, and N31235 was one of the two. Fitted with the tank parts and fittings from N610FF since modified and then destroyed in a survey flight crash in Rheinlander, Wisconsin 15 October 1970, the freshly modified PBY assumed fire duty by 1972. Also modified with a heater and scoop from a Beech Baron on the left side of the nose she was considered better than her “Always” movie star sister for long trips to Alaska and so she flew fire patrol in the northern state yet again! As Tanker 80 and then 98 she flew for 10 more regular years surviving the most perilous of professions to be retired and store in Moses Lake, WA with the survivors of the fleet. In 1992 she lost her white “company” paint job and was repainted an emerald green for a “Vivident” chewing gum commercial. Schlaefli seemed to like the free (paid for) paint job, and so the plane has remained green. In any case the firefighting utility of the platform was called into question by the Federal contracting agencies, somewhat embarrassed that a 50 year old plane was still a premier tool in wildland firefighting. Over time the contracts for the PBY’s stopped being issued. Robert Schlaefli, premier water pilot and PBY savior and evangelist, held on to his fleet and never stopped believing they were priceless. When he tried to first auction the planes he literally flooded an unsure market with planes that few could safely fly. Seeing his beloved children being sold for far less than he had hoped drove him into a frenzy that resulted in his cancelling of the auction before it had concluded. He held on to every plane, even his poor wrecked N2886D until the day he died and cherished them to the end. The estate sale that followed again flooded the market, and the time was not right for many in the burgeoning warbird movement. The PBY was one of the last working birds of World War Two, and proudly so. While other were flying to airshows in their 1945 P-51’s and B-25’s many of us were flying to fires in our proud Catalinas secure in the knowledge that the PBY would never be replaced as long as we kept loving them. My PBY tanker days ended in 1997, but I still fell that with enough money and…. To the story, N31235 was sold to a group which stored her and again put her up for sale. She slept for 15 years at Moses Lake, the last 5 or 8 years outside.
The Palm Springs Air Museum obtained N31235, amazingly still retaining an “N” number issued to the US Navy in 1950, at the end of April 2007, 63 years almost to the day that she arrived in Attu, Alaska for her first combat assignment. The story of generous gifts of time and most importantly money to rescue N31235 is best told another time. The aircraft is already a very important part of the museum and is for now highest in the list of priority to share with the world. For the countless people that have fought in, flown on, worked on and been saved and protected by N31235, we now undertake the building of a flying monument that commemorates the Alaskan War fought high in the Arctic.
The 1788th PBY rolled off the Consolidated San Diego production line with little if any notice. Another aircraft in the thousands going to war from just that location, the new PBY-5a simply received her military identity and paint and was rolled across what now is Lindbergh Field, San Diego and taxied across Embarcadero Drive and then down the seaplane ramp for her first taste of the Pacific Ocean on her hull. Bu 48426 was built, accepted and delivered 06Jan44 according to US Navy documentation. After that no record on history card prior to 31Aug44 exists, and due to wartime demands, thing were moving very fast to be kept up with on thousands of aircraft movements. However we have this information from the VP-61 squadron history from the digital archives of www.PBY.com that has unveiled the early history of 48426.
VP-61 or Navy Patrol Squadron 61 was on reserve status as part of Fleet Air Wing 6 after a hard 2 years in the Aleutian Islands facing Japanese attacks and incredible weather conditions. Inactivated on reserve status, the squadron was reformed at NAS Whitbey Island 5 January 1944. This was a "streamlined" squadron with 15 aircraft and 18 flight crews, two ground officers and no maintenence personel. Each crew was comprised of 3 officers and 5 enlisted men. The next day training began at NAS Whitbey with aircraft assigned from Fleet Air Wing 6 while the squadron's new planes were prepared. The 15 new PBY aircraft arriving during the last week of January and first week of February of 1944 from NAS San Diego. Flight crews were sent on a Naval Air Transport Service flight from NAS Seattle to NAS San Diego. Those 15 aircraft allowed the squadron training flights to be increased in tempo with high and low altitude bombing, torpedo drops and night familiarization flights being completed. The training syllabus set by the Commander Fleet Air, West Coast for Patrol Bombing Squadrons was completed during the last week of March, 1944 and the planes were checked and outfitted for the trip north. The Squadron was again going to deploy to the Aleutian Islands in the Alaska Territory.
According to the narrative of VP-61 on 08 April 1944 15 PBY-5a aircraft departed Ault Field, NAS Whitbey Island in four sections. Bureau numbers listed were 48398, 48480, 48360, 48382, 48425, 48426, 48429, 48430, 48431, 48433, 48434, 48435, 48436, 48439, and 48441. Easter Sunday 9 April 1944 was spent on the ground at Annette, Alaska due to bad weather, the constant in Alaskan flying. As the sections massed for the next takeoff, Lieutenant F. A. Woody had a hydraulic brake failure in 48433 and ran off the taxiway when unable to stop the malfunctioning PBY. The plane ended up in a 20' ditch and smashed the bow section of the plane as well as the nosewheel doors. Lt. Woody after makeshift repairs flew this aircraft back to NAS Seattle for heavy maintenence. The remainder of the squadron arrived at NAS Kodiak 12 April and was transferred to the command of Fleet Air Wing 4. The squadron again moved west, flying to Dutch Harbor and 60 knot winds and poor visibility. Four planes turned back to wait for better weather, however all planes made it to Naval Operations Base Adak Island on the 14/15th April 1944. Loran was installed in the aircraft and training began on that essential part of navigational equipment. On 22 April 1944 the squadron repositioned to Attu in perfect weather. A familiarization flight was made over the entire Aleutian chain by the squadron en route. Patrol Squadron 43 was relieved and departed the same day for Seattle.
The squadron immediately began flying sector patrols 350-400 miles off Attu from Northwest to Southeast of the Island and due to the Russian non agression pact with Japan had to observe the international boundaries and remain clear of Russian territory. The squadron's first loss was quickly felt with the loss of PBY Bu. 48398 which failed to return from patrol on May 1, 1944. Weather was poor for flying with ceilings of 300' and icing conditions in the clouds. Lt Grover F. Heidlage requested permission to return to base due to frontal weather conditions. Permission was refused by FAW 4 and he was required to remain on patrol for another 30 minutes. The last message received reported his position aprox 30 miles from the Kamchatka Peninsula coastline. Special rescue flights searching for the plane failed to find any trace of the aircraft or crew. The next day Lt Woody returned from NAS Seattle and he and his crew was assigned to Bu. 48426. The squadron had received radar sets as well as electronic testing equipment and began flying investigative missions of Japanese radar installations on the Kurile Islands. This was a difficult and challenging mission, and allowed the squadron its first enemy contact with a picket boat on 5 May with one of the PBY aircraft being slightly damaged by enemy action. The reports record the weather for May 1944 being good with 1372 hours being flown. Coupled with the missions of a warlike nature, rescue missions were also flown from Attu, and many in support of a Squadron of Lockheed PV-1’s of VP-135. These missions were never easy for the rescuers either. On 16 June 1944 Lt Frank A Woody, flying PBY-5a 48429 instead of his assigned aircraft was sent on a special search for a VB-135 crew and failed to return. Weather was recorded as extremely bad, and all aircraft were recalled to base. 48429 was never heard from again and no remains of aircraft or crew were ever found. July also was a month of dismal weather with only 601.2 hours recorded as flown. Through this we have no actual record of 48426, only the knowledge that it seems she was serviceable and consistently sent out on operations. On August 1, 1944 another PBY was heavily damage making a water landing on instruments bending the hull, engine mounts and the wing! Quite a difficult feat in retrospect. In December 1944 VP-61 sent the 12 remaining PBY aircraft thru NAS Kodiak then to NAS Seattle arriving on 23 December 1944. The planes were then probably overhauled, with 48426’s records showing she was awaiting reconditioning at NAS Pensacola during May of 1945. Now a tired and well used PBY the rapid tide of war let 48426 behind and as events unfolded, the aircraft stateside began to languish. New airplane were pouring off the production lines at prodigious rates, and PBY’s were reaching the end of their production run.
With the war turning to thoughts of the Japan invasion 48426 was surplus to the requirements of the time. 48426 went to NAS Philadelphia to sit in the reconditioning pool there from July 1945 to January of 1946 before going to VN8D5 at the US Naval Academy from January of 1946 to May of 1946. From there to NAS Squantum, a base on the Massachusetts coastline where she was based until August 1948, punctuated by another turn in the NAF Philadelphia pool where she received her overhaul 25 May 1948. The record for 48426 is missing from September 1948 to April 1950, but she turns up at NART Atlanta in May of 1950 as she is earmarked to fly to her birthplace, NAS San Diego for Overhaul and Repair, arriving 20 June, 1950. Things begin to pick up again for the old warrior and she leaves the shop direct for the NAS Seattle Overhaul and Repair shop to receive a clipper bow with overhaul and modification of model PBY-5A to model 28-5ACF. This extensive modification takes place until 01 April 1951 when the aircraft is issued a civilian registration, N31235, with the owner of record being the U.S. Navy! Listed as a part of Fasron 118 in Agana, Guam on 4 May 1951, transferred NAS Agana on 21 May 1951 the aircraft, freshly overhauled and modified was listed “Stricken” by O&R Seattle 4 October 1951 with total hours flown as 1855! The real story of the next part of her life still needs to come out, but the plane was one of four special PBY aircraft modified by the USN for service with Transocean Air Lines of Oakland, CA to provide air services in the Micronseian trust territories of the United States. Named “Taloa Saipan” the three flew goverment and civilian personel throughout the far flung archipeligo that included the Caroline Islands, Marianas, Marshalls and up to Guam. The Transocean Air Lines or TALOA, leased the planes for 1$ per annum and were flown from 1951 to 1958 before being replaced by Grumman Albatross seaplanes. The four PBY’s were N31232, 33’, 34, and our N31235. Interestingly an old friend from VP-61 Bu 48435 was one of the TALOA birds also.
The other Transocean PBY’s were
N31232 Bu 48320 “Taloa Majuro” eventually sold to Viking Airlines Burbank, CA until 1969 then....unknown
N31233 Bu 48435 “Taloa Truk?” to Canada as CF-ILK and Wheeler Airlines, crashed St Jean, Quebec 1955
N31234 Bu 48488 “Taloa Ponape” to CF-IHD Qubecair 1955-66 and then back to the South Pacific with the French as F-WMKT and then F-YCHC before being damaged in an accident Reao 20.4.66 and scrapped at Papeete, Tahiti
Our PBY-5a however was in storage for a time before being dold to Thorne Engineering in Oakland, CA for some new purpose. The ferry flight from Guam to Oakland was eventful and a tired N31235 was forced down 30 September 1955 some 575 miles off San Fransisco. Picked up by the freighter Harry Culbreath Victory, another veteran, N31235 was damged during recovery and was repaired by Long Beach Airmotive. Joel M Thorne’s estate sold N31235 for the sum of $6,100.oo to C.S. Bearson on 27 April 1956. Traded a few more times, the record shows sold to Aircraft Metal Salvage Co., Oakland, Ca, 08May56; Sold to R. Lyle Golding, Long Beach, Ca., 09May56 [plane is still with Long Beach Aeromotive at this time] and it is thought by me, that this is when she became a “Super Catalina” as Pacific Air Lines of San Francisco purchased 48426 for airline service again on 10 April 1958.
Converted by Long Beach Airmotive to the specifications laid down by Steward-Davis Inc. of Long Beach, CA, the PBY assumed a new and more powerful shape. The most drastic modification was the removal of her faithful Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92A engines and the addition of B-25 Wright R-2600 engines and cowlings. N31235 is unusual in having Holley type induction scoops above the cowlings, whereas most seem to have the Bendix induction scoop. The second was the special squared off rudder distinctive of all Super Catalina conversions. All Super Catalina conversions carry the special rudder except for the Super PBY-6 models which simply retain their larger stock rudder. N31235 was also equipped with more windows and a rear airstair door to fit her new role, as well as bush plane modifications to the fuel system and landing gear to aid her utility in opening up the Alaskan Frontier. Alaska Coastal Airlines took delivery after purchasing the plane on 26 December 1961. Joining 4 other PBY Super Cat conversions the Alaska Coastal Airlines eventually merged with Ellis Airlines before forming the company we know today as Alaska Airlines. She was an important part of Alaskan Aviation history until 1970 when the PBY’s were withdrawn from use.
The other Alaska Coastal/Ellis Airlines Fleet was as follows
N2763A Bu 21232 ex N5609V Paul Mantz Aviation, CF-GHU of PCA, Alaska/Ellis to SLAFCO and now Yanks Air Museum
N4760C Bu 33993 and USAAF 43-43837 after Ellis to Gerrotex Survey, crashed 81 repaired to McChord AFM museum
N4936V Bu 48343 from Intercoastal Airlines, Bahamas Airways then converted to a Super Catalina. To Alaska Coastal-Ellis Airlines of Juneau August 1959. Sank in Otter Lake, Chicago Island 2 October 1964 and still there?
N5584V Bu 46482 sold to Antilles Air Boats 1970 and withdrawn by 1971. Believed scrapped in St Croix
Old 48426 was now out of the airline business for good, and was 26 years old and looking for work. Not an enviable position for any aircraft, but not all aircraft can do so many things so well! Robert Schlaefli was the savior of many PBY aircraft and used the venerable workhorses for the dangerous work of Aerial Firefighting. Being one of the best platforms for the job, the PBY has the most consistent drop patterns and is a “force multiplier” as a water borne scooper aircraft. Able to alight on lakes the PBY could refill and rearm for drops far quicker than her land based competitors and was capable of fighting fires in remote areas with little support. The company SLAFCO was to operate two aircraft consistently, and N31235 was one of the two. Fitted with the tank parts and fittings from N610FF since modified and then destroyed in a survey flight crash in Rheinlander, Wisconsin 15 October 1970, the freshly modified PBY assumed fire duty by 1972. Also modified with a heater and scoop from a Beech Baron on the left side of the nose she was considered better than her “Always” movie star sister for long trips to Alaska and so she flew fire patrol in the northern state yet again! As Tanker 80 and then 98 she flew for 10 more regular years surviving the most perilous of professions to be retired and store in Moses Lake, WA with the survivors of the fleet. In 1992 she lost her white “company” paint job and was repainted an emerald green for a “Vivident” chewing gum commercial. Schlaefli seemed to like the free (paid for) paint job, and so the plane has remained green. In any case the firefighting utility of the platform was called into question by the Federal contracting agencies, somewhat embarrassed that a 50 year old plane was still a premier tool in wildland firefighting. Over time the contracts for the PBY’s stopped being issued. Robert Schlaefli, premier water pilot and PBY savior and evangelist, held on to his fleet and never stopped believing they were priceless. When he tried to first auction the planes he literally flooded an unsure market with planes that few could safely fly. Seeing his beloved children being sold for far less than he had hoped drove him into a frenzy that resulted in his cancelling of the auction before it had concluded. He held on to every plane, even his poor wrecked N2886D until the day he died and cherished them to the end. The estate sale that followed again flooded the market, and the time was not right for many in the burgeoning warbird movement. The PBY was one of the last working birds of World War Two, and proudly so. While other were flying to airshows in their 1945 P-51’s and B-25’s many of us were flying to fires in our proud Catalinas secure in the knowledge that the PBY would never be replaced as long as we kept loving them. My PBY tanker days ended in 1997, but I still fell that with enough money and…. To the story, N31235 was sold to a group which stored her and again put her up for sale. She slept for 15 years at Moses Lake, the last 5 or 8 years outside.
The Palm Springs Air Museum obtained N31235, amazingly still retaining an “N” number issued to the US Navy in 1950, at the end of April 2007, 63 years almost to the day that she arrived in Attu, Alaska for her first combat assignment. The story of generous gifts of time and most importantly money to rescue N31235 is best told another time. The aircraft is already a very important part of the museum and is for now highest in the list of priority to share with the world. For the countless people that have fought in, flown on, worked on and been saved and protected by N31235, we now undertake the building of a flying monument that commemorates the Alaskan War fought high in the Arctic.
Wed Aug 01, 2007 4:04 pm
Joe,
Thanks for the update and the narrative on N31235. I love these big old flying boats.
You have answered a question I have been trying to find the answer on for a long time. I had been trying to track down the remains of N610FF which, as you stated, crashed here in Wisconsin at the Rhinelander airport. I am assuming that SLAFCO bought all of the wreckage?
I always wondered if there might have been some of the aircraft that had escaped from the scrapper after the crash. Now I know that some of it did.
Thanks for the info! I can't wait to see what N31235 looks like in her new paint scheme.
Steve
Thanks for the update and the narrative on N31235. I love these big old flying boats.
You have answered a question I have been trying to find the answer on for a long time. I had been trying to track down the remains of N610FF which, as you stated, crashed here in Wisconsin at the Rhinelander airport. I am assuming that SLAFCO bought all of the wreckage?
I always wondered if there might have been some of the aircraft that had escaped from the scrapper after the crash. Now I know that some of it did.
Thanks for the info! I can't wait to see what N31235 looks like in her new paint scheme.
Steve
Wed Aug 01, 2007 4:53 pm
Joe,
Thanks for the update and the pix. More! Please keep the gang at PBY@yahoo informed too.
Best of luck with the old gal.
Floats up!
Doug Ratchford "Canso42"
Thanks for the update and the pix. More! Please keep the gang at PBY@yahoo informed too.
Best of luck with the old gal.
Floats up!
Doug Ratchford "Canso42"
Fri Aug 03, 2007 12:21 am
I am not sure what survived, but the crash was due to an error I think, perhaps fuel. The tank and workings were used in N31235, but I have not seen any wreck pictures. We will "detank" our plane fairly rapidly and retain the "bomb doors" for a while. We moved the Class A foam injector tank out this afternoon!
Fri Aug 03, 2007 7:06 pm
Joe Scheil wrote:I am not sure what survived, but the crash was due to an error I think, perhaps fuel. The tank and workings were used in N31235, but I have not seen any wreck pictures.
The locals have told me that it was indeed pilot error, but not due to fuel. Supposedly the aircraft had a very heavy coating of frost on the wings that was never cleaned off before attempting take-off. The PBY was never able to attain enough lift and crashed off the end of the runway. Sadly it was a fatal mistake.
Any hints on the eventual paint scheme your PBY will wear?
Steve
Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:55 pm
Thats right, it was frost on the wings.
As for the paint scheme we have several options. I would lean to placing in in a correct and documentable paint scheme identical to the one that it wore in combat, but I am really a historian first. The choice will not be mine in any case so I really have no idea.
The priority is for in the near term, an operable aircraft. The amount of small and large areas of metalwork, repair and correctable items are more important than the paint scheme in my view. The PBY has become such a rare sight that it was great for us when we used to show up with an Airtanker PBY. I have flown civialian PBY's to airshows, and they get great interest as well. The main thing is that she flies. I could go ten years in Tanker colors as well, just give me gas! Regardless of outcome the plane is a reflection of the museum, and promotes the museum by its presence. The ultimate scheme will have to definitively accomplish that end.
How she looked with Ellis! Another cool scheme,
Or original, though not quite. In picture of ours during wartime, the medium blue is painted on the wing leading edges in a 6" high stripe where the deicer boots are here. A neat and unusual touch, but we have photos...
As for the paint scheme we have several options. I would lean to placing in in a correct and documentable paint scheme identical to the one that it wore in combat, but I am really a historian first. The choice will not be mine in any case so I really have no idea.
The priority is for in the near term, an operable aircraft. The amount of small and large areas of metalwork, repair and correctable items are more important than the paint scheme in my view. The PBY has become such a rare sight that it was great for us when we used to show up with an Airtanker PBY. I have flown civialian PBY's to airshows, and they get great interest as well. The main thing is that she flies. I could go ten years in Tanker colors as well, just give me gas! Regardless of outcome the plane is a reflection of the museum, and promotes the museum by its presence. The ultimate scheme will have to definitively accomplish that end.
How she looked with Ellis! Another cool scheme,
Or original, though not quite. In picture of ours during wartime, the medium blue is painted on the wing leading edges in a 6" high stripe where the deicer boots are here. A neat and unusual touch, but we have photos...
Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:19 am
From the Alaskan Goose site, an awesome idea of what the Alaskan PBY paint schemes were like....Of course, She already is kinda green...
Sat Aug 04, 2007 8:20 am
Joe Scheil wrote:
As much as I like original military paint schemes, this one really looks smart!
Sat Aug 04, 2007 9:46 am
That was a wonderful story. I love things like that. That would be a great narrative for a PBY video display at an air museum.
What is important is to tell the stories of these amazing airplanes. Even if their lives weren't filled with shooting down fighters, or going in dangerous bombing runs. The important things is that the story, whatever it is, is told.
Thank you for the post. I'm glad to see her flying again. I'm working on getting another work-horse with a similar history purchased for my museum, and flying again. Maybe one day we can have the two planes meet up somewhere!
Cheers,
David
What is important is to tell the stories of these amazing airplanes. Even if their lives weren't filled with shooting down fighters, or going in dangerous bombing runs. The important things is that the story, whatever it is, is told.
Thank you for the post. I'm glad to see her flying again. I'm working on getting another work-horse with a similar history purchased for my museum, and flying again. Maybe one day we can have the two planes meet up somewhere!
Cheers,
David
Sat Aug 04, 2007 1:44 pm
Thanks Joe,
I appreciate the sneak peak into some great color scheme options you have.
You are correct of course, the mechanical reliability of the PBY is the most important priority here.
I look forward to following your progress reports on her.
Steve
I appreciate the sneak peak into some great color scheme options you have.
You are correct of course, the mechanical reliability of the PBY is the most important priority here.
I look forward to following your progress reports on her.
Steve
Sat Aug 04, 2007 3:44 pm
Great stuff, Joe. Is the picture in Coastal-Ellis colors a photo of a model?
I second the comment on documenting an a/c's history. I had a time condensing the material I used for N68740's display at Lone Star. I'm gonna brag on Joe as well as other PBY'ers. We've got our histories down and I'll match a PBY against any other type of warbird for colorful civil av. lives.
Canso42
I second the comment on documenting an a/c's history. I had a time condensing the material I used for N68740's display at Lone Star. I'm gonna brag on Joe as well as other PBY'ers. We've got our histories down and I'll match a PBY against any other type of warbird for colorful civil av. lives.
Canso42
Sat Aug 04, 2007 8:01 pm
A little info on that bird, a really neat history too!
The oddest coincidence is that 3 of 14 aircraft built in the first RCAF PBY-5a contract C-78 exist in excellent condition. These are November- December 1941 airframes from San Diego!
N68740 PBY-5A ordered November 1940 as one or 14 new amphibians for the RCAF. Built from November to December 1941 as number 407 and numbered as RCAF 9742. Accepted January 2 1942 and served until September 1946. ex Southern California Aircraft corporation. This was converted to a Landseaire by May 1951 and Operated as a sport aircraft until 1967. Became a mining courier airplane in 1967 in Indonesia then sold. To University Of Honolulu 1980-88 and then to Gary Larkins and then the Lone Star Flight Museum in 1991. The plane is in a military paint scheme and in unknown condition. This is one of the most historic airframes in terms of time built and military use. It literally was being built during the Pearl Harbor attack and served throughout the war!
The photo is of a 1/400 airliner model by Herpa wings, and is avail on ebay for $20.00
The oddest coincidence is that 3 of 14 aircraft built in the first RCAF PBY-5a contract C-78 exist in excellent condition. These are November- December 1941 airframes from San Diego!
N68740 PBY-5A ordered November 1940 as one or 14 new amphibians for the RCAF. Built from November to December 1941 as number 407 and numbered as RCAF 9742. Accepted January 2 1942 and served until September 1946. ex Southern California Aircraft corporation. This was converted to a Landseaire by May 1951 and Operated as a sport aircraft until 1967. Became a mining courier airplane in 1967 in Indonesia then sold. To University Of Honolulu 1980-88 and then to Gary Larkins and then the Lone Star Flight Museum in 1991. The plane is in a military paint scheme and in unknown condition. This is one of the most historic airframes in terms of time built and military use. It literally was being built during the Pearl Harbor attack and served throughout the war!
The photo is of a 1/400 airliner model by Herpa wings, and is avail on ebay for $20.00
Sat Aug 04, 2007 9:14 pm
Thanks Joe,
Ol' 740 also flew around the world over a period of a year and a half from Oct. '76 toMay '78. Lee A. Otterson, one of the owners who made this trip, sent Lone Star a description of it along with a map with their route highlighted.
Univ of Hawaii left it afloat for several months, beached it without even a rinse and forgot it. Gary Larkins entered the picture next and he ferried it back stateside. NMNA P'cola applied its current blue over flat white USN paint and reinstalled a nose turret, a late eyeball style.
The mining company stripped out much of the civil luxury interior but the naugahyde walls and ceiling are still there. It's severely corroded all throughout but is still in one piece and is the biggest thing in that side of the museum.
The mining co. also installed later model, Buick built 1,350 hp R-1830's instead of the original 1,200 hp.
Historically, it's the sixth oldest PBY period and the second oldest amphib. It's also the oldest surviving RCAF Canso.
I don't have any records of it dropping ordinance in anger but it did run into a lot of immovable objects in its lifetime such as river ice, fir trees and mudbanks and spent a good bit of the atlantic war at Brunswick repair depot.
An interesting aside that happened about a year ago with this a/c....Lone Star was restacking the hangars for the Tomcat we never got...(lets not go there!) and we needed to move the PBY outside. The tug operator was following the painted centerline stripe through the door and stopped. The a/c was way off center. hmmm.. We paced it off and found when trying to move a 104 foot airplane through a 110 foot door that the door is a few feet off center to the building! I was asked if I could crank the float down on that side. I said I could but wouldn't bet a plugged nickel that it could ever be raised again....It still has all the tools in it, too.
That's all for now Joe. We can tell stories about our a/c with the best.
Doug Ratchford "canso42"
vol LSFM, plane captain N68740, ex. RCAF9742
Ol' 740 also flew around the world over a period of a year and a half from Oct. '76 toMay '78. Lee A. Otterson, one of the owners who made this trip, sent Lone Star a description of it along with a map with their route highlighted.
Univ of Hawaii left it afloat for several months, beached it without even a rinse and forgot it. Gary Larkins entered the picture next and he ferried it back stateside. NMNA P'cola applied its current blue over flat white USN paint and reinstalled a nose turret, a late eyeball style.
The mining company stripped out much of the civil luxury interior but the naugahyde walls and ceiling are still there. It's severely corroded all throughout but is still in one piece and is the biggest thing in that side of the museum.
The mining co. also installed later model, Buick built 1,350 hp R-1830's instead of the original 1,200 hp.
Historically, it's the sixth oldest PBY period and the second oldest amphib. It's also the oldest surviving RCAF Canso.
I don't have any records of it dropping ordinance in anger but it did run into a lot of immovable objects in its lifetime such as river ice, fir trees and mudbanks and spent a good bit of the atlantic war at Brunswick repair depot.
An interesting aside that happened about a year ago with this a/c....Lone Star was restacking the hangars for the Tomcat we never got...(lets not go there!) and we needed to move the PBY outside. The tug operator was following the painted centerline stripe through the door and stopped. The a/c was way off center. hmmm.. We paced it off and found when trying to move a 104 foot airplane through a 110 foot door that the door is a few feet off center to the building! I was asked if I could crank the float down on that side. I said I could but wouldn't bet a plugged nickel that it could ever be raised again....It still has all the tools in it, too.
That's all for now Joe. We can tell stories about our a/c with the best.
Doug Ratchford "canso42"
vol LSFM, plane captain N68740, ex. RCAF9742
Mon Aug 06, 2007 7:36 pm
Joe,
Could you post the link to the Alaska Goose site. That page of color schemes you posted earlier would make a bitchin' poster. Do you know which Cat the dark blue w/yellow is? According to a.net, the old Convair 240 got broken up.
Canso42.
Could you post the link to the Alaska Goose site. That page of color schemes you posted earlier would make a bitchin' poster. Do you know which Cat the dark blue w/yellow is? According to a.net, the old Convair 240 got broken up.
Canso42.