Catalina – G-BLSC/VR-BPS/VP-BPS Cut Up

Airfixtwin, Aphex Twin – I like it! I’m a bit partial to the older surfing on sine waves stuff myself!

I remember the old girl well. Did my first display flight in her at Biggin Hill, literally a few weeks before her accident in the Solent…:(

The aircraft were at Weston airfield which is in the Republic. They were the basis of a museum that didnt happen.

re;

what were they doing in NI anyway? were they intended for a museum, as whoever moved them there must have had substantial money to buy and transport these a/c

Interested to know what progress, if any, has been made in salvaging what’s left, it’s disappointing to say the least, that this situation wasn’t known to members of the Ulster Aviation Society before the a/c was destroyed.
john

I see the Buccaneer and C-45 got a mention, but not the Cat.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=457145944299869&set=a.457145937633203.123677.451940134820450&type=1&theater

PM inbound!

Pagen old chap, please send me a pm of details, I am keen to be part of a ‘buying group’, could someone in NI pick the stuff up?

It appears that the scrap merchant has component parts left but no large recognisable airframe sections! Very sad when I guess there are people north of the border who would have given their right arm for it!

catalina, any more news?

Interested to know what progress, if any, has been made in salvaging what’s left, it’s disappointing to say the least, that this situation wasn’t known to members of the Ulster Aviation Society before the a/c was destroyed.
john

Some people just don’t get it do they? Scrapping a World War 2 aeroplane nowadays is just like burning money.

Pagen -sad but good work ! I wonder if he realises that the spare parts would be ideal for someone rebuilding a Catalina very similar to the one he’s just destroyed!

Living in Northern Ireland, this story is starting to make me feel physically sick, and I’ve a growing desire to give someone a good kicking. Maybe it’s just July in the North?

I hope what few people there are involved in preservation here, re-assess the value of some other aircraft here that may become scrap.

With the Catalina what’s done has been done unfortunately.

It’s not entirely good news…
The hull/fuselage, including the cockpit has been destroyed, however various cockpit fittings were removed including throttles, yokes, rudder peddels, glass etc were removed. The engines & props, some structure, undercarriage and other major components are in a trailer. All the aforementioned is for sale, but it is stressed that it is all to go in one lot by someone who has the capability to go across to the site and remove the whole lot.
I can provide a contact number to anyone who is serious about making enquiries or taking the bits on.

PS, I would of course be interested in buying a yoke or mainwheel of the possible buyer!

Beech C45

We have tried off and on for two months plus to get a response re the Beech and to make offers but no one seems interested at the other end as they do not respond.So I would not hold your breath for anything ending up as other then tin cans.
This aircraft was once well known on the show circuit as Southern Comfort and used to be maintained at any expense by the owner based in Hollywell.Very sad if this old lady follows the catalina we would deifnately find a home for her but no one will speak to anyone.Perhaps they cant be bothered and just going through the motions.

mike E

Same here! The Buccaneer (and the Beech) are still open for bids, but no guide price given.

Just had my details passed onto the former owner of the cat, the guy that sold it for scrap so hopefully will get scrappy details soon. Anyone had more luck?

So has anyone been able to reach the scrappie or doesn’t ha answer the phone? Do we know for certain who it is?

The phrase “indecent haste” springs to mind.

Mark is being very modest here, as it is HE that saved PBY Sea Bitch from the scrappers from his armchair from the other side of the world to where the aircraft was with the help of local WiX member Gary Austin.

So it can be done, and with more information in this instance it could have been done.

and depending on “what is left” and in “what condition”, “something” still could be done, if someone can actually confirm its current status and condition?

In regards to Sea Bitch and Gary’s involvement, “his” was far more than just “help” and I prefer to see it that “we” saved it as I couldnt have done anything sitting on my side of the world, without a perfect stranger (but kindred spirit) on the other side of the world having the same committed outcome, and able to do the onsite work, I was simply the funder/owner and where the bucks “stopped” and “came from”.

Also the heads up on WIX of the pending sale of Sea Bitch was all Gary’s work, he posted the situation on WIX and planned to bid and buy it himself, but had personal issues that caused him to withdraw, and I privately discussed my intentions to bid with him before I proceeded.

I had seperately been chasing PBY parts for the Moorabbin restoration of A24-88 and was chasing turrets, wings, wing, centre-section, rear fuselage and tail feathers overseas and had made contact with the CAF two years earlier when I heard it had already been scrapped. (Moorabbin already had a fuselage with blisters but without nose turret and the rear fuselage), and had also been chasing beaching gear and so had been conversing with Gary on some spares that CAF had in that regard.

By the time Gary found Sea Bitch and posted it on WIX, we had already secured (purchased) everything but a rear fuselage, so my interest in Sea Bitch when I purchased it was purely to avoid it being scrapped, not as a parts source for Moorabbin, even though I was quickly in-undated with requests for parts, on the assumption I was going to part it out.

Even the rear fuselage we now have was eventually sourced else where in the USA and the two 40′ containers came back with not one part off Sea Bitch in them.

I was honoured to have been involved in the project with Gary, and saddened by his death.

His desire and hope was to see “Sea Bitch” at Pima, and its fuselage is now there and to be basis of their static rebuild presented as a firebomber, so despite its far worse condition to this Irish example (which apparantly was considered capable of an airworthy restoration), Sea Bitch or most of her – lives on, and the dry desert should cause her corrosion to slow considerably.

(Her wings and tail feathers are now in Australia, as are her blisters, for use on projects other than A24-88 at Moorabbin).

The days of volunteer museums acquiring significant parts or whole WW2 aircraft is coming to an end, or has already done so in most cases, unless they are dig or crash site debris, this one seems to have been a missed opportunity.

This Irish PBY could be a “total” lost cause, already totally munched to pieces at the airport, or already melted into ingots at the processors, but until someone enquires and confirms – there might still be something worth preserving and displaying.

Regards

Mark Pilkington

Yeah I guess there might be an ‘oh ****’ moment for them this week!