Warbird Information Exchange

The Rathmines Catalina project static is gathering pace with this update -

"The outer wings arrived at Kilaben Bay 4am this morning!! A crane was donated by a Newcastle Company, BORGER CRANES Carrington, the owners Tom and Rob Cameron, driver was Scott Banks, a very helpful knowledgeable man. Big thank you to both BORGER CRANES, and DARACON for their invaluable support."

The fuselage is expected to be next all going well. If you like to help the Rathmines project with assistance please contact them and let them know.

A bit of good news for heritage. A happy end to a 12month trip to bring a Catalina from South America to Rathmines NSW has nearly finished. One part in honouring the WW2 legacy is nearly completed. Next the big important stage to restore and house this Catalina in a building... begins.

Rathmines Catalina Memorial Park Association Inc.

FINAL PIECE ARRIVES.
After looking like it would sail away unclaimed, the final piece of our jig-saw that is 'Our Girl' will be off loaded in Sydney late this evening. The centre wing assembly will be transported via the generosity of DARACON TRANSPORT to our depot in Lake Macquarie tomorrow. Red tape & brick walls popped up right down to the wire, but all has been overcome.
A 12 month journey!

See more at https://www.facebook.com/RathminesMemorialPark

Greetings,

I do not do Facebook. Would it be possible to get some pics of the data plate and PM me?

Thanks....John

The local Newcastle newspaper has just done a story on the Catalina project and 12 photos - http://www.theherald.com.au/story/23302 ... nes/?cs=12

Another update with more details - http://us8.campaign-archive1.com/?u=91c ... 1a2d4b74e3

The Rathmines static Catalina project has some minor news update for anyone interested -

* The restoration work is progressing.....they currently have about 8 regular volunteers at present working across 3 days a week.

* They have so far commenced on the grubby work/preparation. The cockpit has now been stripped out, after the screens and an audit has been done on the instruments taken out, plus all the instruments that were able to be scavenge from San Juan. They will have more than enough to restore the cockpit to days past.

* The project could use more supporters with donations of money. So if interested consider visiting their website and follow the donations link..... http://www.iloveponies.com/

I've seen several wartime shots of Lake MacQuarrie (i.e. RAAF Rathmines) and spotted scads of Catalina's at anchor, OS2U's on the ramp and IIRC a Sunderland or two. Are there any aircraft laying at the bottom of the lake? Landing / takeoff mishaps must have occurred over the course of the war.

_________________
http://www.fuselagecodes.com

Rathmines Catalina project updates -

"Weather has been a major factor with work on the fuselage over past weeks. From the cockpit the instrument panel has been removed for refurbishment and instrument replacement. Additionally the centre wing assembly, has been tarped over for weather protection.

Mr. Paul McSweeney, an aviation enthusiast on vacation from America, is volunteering his time refurbishing the control panel from "Our Girl". We hope to have it completed for display at the Rathmines Festival.

Meanwhile, in the "front office" - Penny& Rob Furner, Terry & Linda Woolard along with Trev & Claire Mears enjoyed a great trip to Lake Boga, Victoria in July. All were made most welcome by the amazing volunteers from the local Lions Club, who built the Lake Boga Hangar/Museum, and staff it - keeping it open to the public on a daily basis.Lake Boga was the largest maintenance depot for the Catalina, during World War 2. All major repairs on the Catalinas from Rathmines, Bowen/Cairns & Darwin were carried out there. The project of restoring their Catalina started in 1997 & the Hangar, built to house it & many items of memorabilia, was completed in 2011.Thank you Lake Boga Lions Club - hopefully, one day in the not too distant future, we can reciprocate!

Our business plan is in the final stages of development, waiting for a few quotes for the hangar, then off to the Council. Lake Macquarie has so much to offer & having a hangar/museum, incorporating a large function & educational centre similar to Lake Boga, would be "the icing on the cake" for this beautiful area."

We have an update for followers - courtesy of Terry Woolard RCMPA Volunteer.

"Progress has been made on several fronts in the refurbishment of the RCMPA PBY5A “Our Girl”.

1)More work has been carried out cataloguing the spare parts brought back from Puerto Rico plus actual components of the aircraft that could be brought up to airworthy status. There are quite a lot of these that possibly could be put up for sale,exchange etc providing we can procure replacements suitable for static display.All this may work any number of ways as there are critical components totally missing from “Our Girl”. Probably the most outstanding items missing are engine cowlings, the search is already on for these.

2)The RCMPA has been contacted by the Catalina Preservation Society in New Zealand regarding possibly supplying them with some components critical to the repair of their starboard wing which most would know has been removed for corrosion repairs. We are working hard in developing a working relationship but it’s only very early days yet. I am already working to track down a readily available source of AN10 fasteners as used in the attachment of PBY wing leading and trailing edges. The NZ people need a large quanity of these as do the RCMPA. More on this later as things hopefully progress.

3)I have also completed research on confirming exactly what model engines are fitted to the RCMPA PBY. Some doubt existed that these engines were actually P/W1830-75’s despite a photo of the port engine ID plate put into circulation early in the aircraft recovery process.When the US Navy sold this PBY in 1954,it was still fitted with R1830-92 engines,not sure if they were the same ones fitted during production. These engines were exchanged for R1830-75’s in 1961,this model was made under license by the Buick company. David Legg from the Catalina society assisted with this research.

4)Have just begun the process of cleaning out the interior of all wing sections & spraying with fish oil to hopefully stop any further corrosion. Fish oil is being used because of it’s excellent corrosion preventative properties plus we are dealing with a static aircraft only. Where suitable,Alodine and aircraft grade primer will be used during the overall corrosion treatment process. The extent of resheeting the wings is yet to be determined but costs well be kept down by the use of non aircraft grade aluminium.

5) Most of the cockpit window and windscreen retainers have been repaired except for the sections the side windows slide in. These extrusions are proving difficult to source locally.

6) Finally, the port engine is being cleaned up, lubricated internally, various external components repaired and painted to bring the engine up to a reasonable static display standard. The starboard engine will prove more difficult as it received the full force of the prevailing weather when parked outside for years."

Their website is http://rathmines-catalina.com/

Warbirds are becoming more frequent each year at the Rathmines Catalina Festival event...

Here we have early news for the 2015 Catalina Festival...write this into your diaries.

Rathmines Catalina Festival - SUNDAY, 25th October, 2015.

Put this date in your Diary.Please also note the Festival will be held on SUNDAY this year, NOT on a Saturday. Further details to follow regarding participants, air show etc., (now in planning stages).

Rathmines Catalina - update March 2015 from the Rathmines Catalina Memorial Park Association Inc.

"Very happy with progress being made on fuselage of 'Our Girl'. Terry, along with one of our volunteer's Ray, has been making good progress on the rear section of the fuselage. Ray is also now up to speed with corrosion treatment etc.. All volunteers are now able to drop in as their time permits to spend an hour or two working on 'Our Girl'. Won’t be long & we will be ready to prime approximately the rear 1/4 of the fuselage! (May have started by the time you read this).
Will then move up to the forward section & start prepping, whilst some sheet metal work is being done in the area around the rear hatches. After much thought about primer application, we are going to trial an area by roller. Envisage there could be too much of a problem with over spray on adjacent property, boats, parked cars etc..
Meanwhile, we have been fortunate to snare the assistance of a retired QANTAS engineer to assist Warren on the engines. We welcome Kerry to our 'happy clan', along with his expertise. Excellent progress has been made dismantling one of the engine's, ready for cleaning & restoration to display condition. It is planned to take this engine, on a display stand, to various locations to assist with awareness of our project, to raise funds etc..
Since the above report was received, preparations are being made to relocate the fuselage to a suitable covered area so as work will be able to proceed under suitable weather protection. The move will hopefully be made in the very near future, with the support and assistance of DARACON once again.
Also, our Business Plan has now been submitted to Council, along with a copy to each of the twelve Lake Macquarie Councillors."

Latest updates on progress of the Rathmines Catalina

"President
A Message from our President.

Hello all,
After a late night loading & an early morning start, 'Our Girl' finally reached her destination at our depot at Kilaben Bay. The last move before going to her final home at Rathmines.
This will make it easier for the restoration work, as the various parts of the plane are now at the one place.

We would never have been able to achieve this if it wasn't for the generous support of several companies, including, ALKIRA BOATSHED (Phil & Margaret Heaney), DARACON (Dave Mingae - Peter Tighe & James), CAMERON CRANES (Rob Cameron & Scott) and NOVA TIMBER ( Chris Magin).
A big 'thank you' to those who also helped at the time, Terry, Ray ,Rob & Pee Wee, also our 'film crew', the Bates family. Big job for so few.

Please feel free to call in and have a look at the restoration work when you are in the area.
Cheers,
Penny."

and

Project Co-Ordinator

"Our Girl" UpdateTime for another update from my perspective. There has been some really positive progress made in the refurbishment of “Our Girl”, some obvious and some not immediately obvious.

The rear portion of the fuselage has had the basic repairs completed and has been primed and we are now carrying out similar work from the main undercarriage area right to the nose. The area aft of here is where some re sheeting has to take place and some of this has to be rolled into shape before being riveted into place. Dave Swanson has been working on sourcing suitable material for this and other areas where any badly corroded areas have to be cut out.
Ray and Warren continue to work on the fuselage, concentrating on treating corrosion. Ray has been researching the preparation of any sections to be painted using a method similar to sand blasting but using Bi Carbonate of Soda using a special spray gun. The first trial using this method has taken place and Ray is happy it will speed up progress plus improve the finished product. The other major plus is that the process is totally safe to the operator and the environment.
I have been concentrating on corrosion and riveting repairs on the chine strips, this is basically where the upper fuselage and the hull join. Hopefully, Dave can also source new material to replace sections of the chine where required.
We are also looking forward to another volunteer joining us this week. Andrew is well experienced as a pilot and is looking forward to helping us any way he can. Another two volunteers should join us soon.
Kerry and Adrien have been quietly working away on the port engine, still with the plan to prepare it for static viewing on a stand. A basic amount of special tools have been sourced for this work, mostly from the USA. Kerry and Adrien continue to supplement this by making their own special tools, particularly for the removal of cylinder head fasteners. Progress on the removal of the cylinder heads is moving along really well and we have been very relieved to find the condition of cylinder liners, pistons and rings etc is amazingly good given the neglect they have suffered.
One final item, when a major inspection hatch on the front of the lower tail was removed for repair, we found it had been autographed by two people during a previous repair in 1994. See attached photo.

That’s about it for now. No doubt some of you would know that the relocation of the fuselage was successfully carried out in early June, therefore we now have all the components and the volunteers in one place. Should make for much better progress.

Best Wishes,
Terry
Project Co-Ordinator"

Latest news

"The Association is progressing on the proposed Museum/Display at Rathmines. At present we await the approval from the State Heritage Council to proceed with our plans.
We are also extremely grateful for the encouraging support and assistance from various sectors within our community, both locally and interstate.

With great work from our band of keen volunteers,things are progressing steadily on the restoration of the engines at Kilaben Bay, as well as on the fuselage.
One of our volunteers, Ray, has made excellent progress with soda blasting the fuselage. This has achieved a much better result and much easier than sanding.
The port engine has now been completely stripped, after some difficulty was had in removing two seized cylinders that were locking the engine. All cylinder heads are now cleaned, ready for painting & re-assembly for display. Work has also progressed on the restoration of a hull door, and it is now ready to be painted, after being riveted. When this is completed, work will commence on re sheeting sections of the hull. "