Want some PBY with that PB&J?

[Scorpion8]

One of my favorite airplanes was always the Catalina PBY. It might have been the most useful and versatile floatplane ever, and many many of then continued to soldier on up here in Alaska after WWII. This one was found in the Aleutians, which was a virtual airplane graveyard during the war, and brought back here awaiting restoration if possible. The size of these things is a lot smaller than you'd think, and flying them thru Aleutian willywaws must have been an ultimate test of manhood. Enjoy!

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/Scorpion008/DSCN2424.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/Scorpion008/DSCN2427.jpg

[Des-Lab]

Reminds me of those Chalks seaplanes down in Florida. Flying on pretty much ANYTHING in Alaska outside an Alaska Airlines 737 is a test of manhood I would think. Go check out that old Disney movie "Never Cry Wolf". Features quite a bit of that old bush flying.

[Scorpion8]

Speaking of, while walking around some repair facilities at Lake Hood, I spied this, the bow section of a Sikorsky 34 (?) as was told to me by the superintendant. Just the bow section. And amazingly, from the last pic, some enterprising folk had made it into a boat to use in Homer, AK. Reportedly, it sucked as a boat, and that's when the Air Museum got ahold of it. Gotta love folks who can re-use stuff.....

You can see the bow section poking out of the old debris ....
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/Scorpion008/DSCN2483.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/Scorpion008/DSCN2486.jpg

And the boat modification ....
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/Scorpion008/DSCN2488.jpg

[retrokeeper]

Yep....they are really neat planes,there is a foundation/group for the PBY here on Whidbey Island,in part to it's place here with the Navy base back in the days. Rob

[NAD613]

I don't know much about airplanes, but you can PBR me ASAP.