Canso CV343 destroyed by Monsoon storm, Buckeye, AZ

[Lon Moer]

It would be nice if a historian or other knowledgeable person would research and list the surviving Catalinas and Cansos. How many are combat veterans and have significant history? Which ones really don't have any history or served stateside. We had an F-4 at a park for about thirty years and it was an ex NASA bird. It was said at the time that they had made a hierarchical list of surviving F-4's and knew all the ones that had Mig kills or flown by famous or important pilots.
There seems to be quite a few PBY airframes still out there but we seem to lose one every year or two. It would be nice to preserve the most historical of those survivors.

WIX member David Legg is the PBY historian and resource for surviving Cansos.

[blurrkup]

It would be nice if a historian or other knowledgeable person would research and list the surviving Catalinas and Cansos. How many are combat veterans and have significant history? Which ones really don't have any history or served stateside. We had an F-4 at a park for about thirty years and it was an ex NASA bird. It was said at the time that they had made a hierarchical list of surviving F-4's and knew all the ones that had Mig kills or flown by famous or important pilots.
There seems to be quite a few PBY airframes still out there but we seem to lose one every year or two. It would be nice to preserve the most historical of those survivors.

Check the Catalina Society page.

https://www.catalina.org.uk/consolidate ... vors-list/

[David Legg]

It would be nice if a historian or other knowledgeable person would research and list the surviving Catalinas and Cansos. How many are combat veterans and have significant history? Which ones really don't have any history or served stateside. We had an F-4 at a park for about thirty years and it was an ex NASA bird. It was said at the time that they had made a hierarchical list of surviving F-4's and knew all the ones that had Mig kills or flown by famous or important pilots.
There seems to be quite a few PBY airframes still out there but we seem to lose one every year or two. It would be nice to preserve the most historical of those survivors.

Check the Catalina Society page.

https://www.catalina.org.uk/consolidate ... vors-list/

Thank you for the 'plug' for that link on our Catalina Society website - much appreciated. The Survivors list is kept up-to-date on a regular basis and whilst, for space reasons, it does not show the complete history of each aircraft, it does show the status of each airframe. I have been away so will need to update the entry for N314PB! The Catalina Society supports the airworthy Canso A owned by Catalina Aircraft Ltd and operated by Plane Sailing Air Displays Ltd.

[quemerford]

Which ones really don't have any history or served stateside.

They all have a history! OA-10s served in many locations saving lives in peace as well as war. Remember too that Catalinas and Cansos did valuable service as water bombers among many other things. Not having a 'combat' history doesn't make an aircraft any less deserving of preservation.

[phil65]

Does anybody know which one was at Oshkosh ?
I almost got a ride in her, but the guy never got back to me...

Phil

[JohnTerrell]

Phil, the one that was at Oshkosh this year was PBV-1A Canso CV-397 (N222FT), owned by John O'Conner and based out of Aurora, Illinois. It was previously known as the Flying Turtle when owned by Connie Edwards.

[phil65]

Thanks for the info..
The guy who was texting me was named Mike ?

Phil

[Noha307]

Oh no... not another PBY thrown onto her back. That is just awful to hear.

What is it with PBYs and flipping over on their backs in wind storms? I assume it's just that the large surface area of the wing requires less lift to get it off the ground. However, why is it that they always came to a rest upside down? High center of gravity? Then again, a number of the aircraft at NEAM ended up the same way after the tornado, so maybe it's not peculiar to PBYs.

the PBY is a total loss

I admit I have only seen the single photo in the previous post, but I'm not sure I would say it is a total loss. The wing probably, yes, but the fuselage looks relatively intact. There are a number of aviation museums - such as MAM, AFMNZ, and NNAM - that either are restoring or have on display only the fuselage of Catalinas.

The CAF is even restoring their PBY with the wing of another airframe. I recognize it is very unlikely that this airframe will ever fly, but it shows the extent to which a Catalina can be brought back from damage like this. On that note, does anyone know how they were able to flip it back over?

fuselage has had it's back broken

From the picture, it appears that the break is behind the waist gun positions, correct?

And judging from my last visit, Pima has lots of airframe sections left over from its "floating" display PBY project.

At least some, and possibly all, of those were turned over to Plane Tags. So they may not exist anymore.

[David Legg]

Regarding Pima, the only Catalina relic left there now, apart from the restored example indoors (N68740), is the wreck of N322FA which consists of rear hull and wings. The other hulls went to Plane Tags (N68756) and to Soaring By The Sea Foundation (N10609 and the former RCAF Canso A hull).

[David Legg]

Regarding Pima, the only Catalina relic left there now, apart from the restored example indoors (N68740), is the wreck of N322FA which consists of rear hull and wings. The other hulls went to Plane Tags (N68756) and to Soaring By The Sea Foundation (N10609) and the former RCAF Canso A hull).

[Spitty]

There was a bit of a stink when someone posted up on Fb some Zero wreckage (cockpit and centre section) going to Plane Tags to be cut up.

[Jim MacDonald]

This one is on Japan's Yahoo Auction. Going for around $450-$500 range. These are apparently the unusable remains from Legend Flyer's A6M3 restoration. I got a kick out of Plane Tags blurb on the back of the package saying "MotoArt is elated to help preserve this historic Zero as PlaneTags".



Mac

[Spitty]

Price of history hey..The remains should have been hung on the hangar wall or as Indiana Jones would say.."It belongs in a Museum".