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Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina

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Description

This PBY-5A is actually a "Canso A," built by Canadian Vickers.  It was delivered to the RCAF in 1943 and served until 1961, when it was sold off.  It was converted to a firefighting aircraft and fought forest fires in both Canada and France until 2002, when a lack of spare parts finally grounded it.  Acquired by the Evergreen Aviation Museum, where this picture was taken, it was restored to a general wartime appearance.  It is depicted as an early war PBY, in light blue over white with the early war roundel and registration letters.  
Image size
3433x1460px 724.91 KB
Date Taken
Mar 1, 2016, 3:01:24 AM
© 2016 - 2024 sentinel28a
Comments1
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Oh thank you. This was the same plane type that my Father served as crew-chief on. She was the "Miss Pick-Up". It was a kind of reverse Lend Lease aircraft assigned to the Eighth Air Force flying Air Sea Rescue missions during the War. It worked in consort with an RAF high speed rescue launch. My father Sgt. William H. York was her crew chief and waist gunner. He vaulentered for service in January of 1941 serving in the United States Air Force until his retirement in 1971. He traded an Airman, who had a way with painting Nose Art, three bottles of good Scotch Whiskey for the art work. It was a copy of a Vargasesque reclining pin-up, but changed from a redhead to a blonde. I have an official Air Force photograph of the crew gather around a map of their mission that day, plainly showing the nose art. The plane served until the backup crew took her out on a mission in the high North Atlantic Ocean. That fateful day engine trouble forced the crew to ditch in the ocean. The plane and her crews working in conjunction with RAF Coastal Command, saved a lot of lives on both sides of the war. I have another photograph taken by a crewman who was in one of the life rafts. It shows the Miss Pick-Up starting to sink as her starboard wing dips in the waves. She lies on the bottom of the Atlantic where she sank to this very day. I have seen a plane serverall times on the net and on da showing a white livery and the same nose art flying in the UK. I thank you for bringing this plane to my attention and for allowing me to post this memo as a tribute to the plane and the crews. Thanks and best of luck in your future endeavors. Cheers.