RAF Catalina books

I used to have the odd pint with Arthur Banks at his local in Newbury. A very nice bloke with a lot of interesting stories from his time on Cats.

Just a little aside – some interesting shots of Gander Lake Flying Boat base
Actually – if you hit the ‘back’ button there are more interesting pics to peruse

http://www.gaflight.org/Gerry%20Mercer%20photo%20collection.htm

Just to elaborate on the Don McVicar book,he was a canadian Ferry Command Pilot/Astro Navigator.
He describes his conversion ‘course’ onto Cats as consisting of 5 landings and then ferrying that particular a/c via gander to Greenock,they always carried freight on these delivery flights and found out about the centre of gravity bubble the hard way.
Usually the co pilot was straight out of training and of very limited use,later he ferried from Elizabeth City,N Carolina via Bermuda.
I see on GE that there are 2 airfields on Pasquotank inlet at Eliz City,the southern has an Airship Hangar and the 4 corner supports for another,I do not know which airfield they used but both have ramps/slips into the inlet.
An interesting read,at the moment I am re reading ‘Mosquito Racer’ by the same author – all interesting stuff.

regards baz

Rob – Flying Cats by the late Andrew Hendrie will fit the bill. Although Andrew did not fly them himself, the book is full of personal reminiscences from those who did. It covers other air arms as well as the RAF too. Other books to consider are Arctic Airmen by Ernest Schofield and Roy Conyers Nesbit and Wings of the Dawning by the late Arthur Banks.

Although not in book form, The Catalina News has over the years run a good number of articles that cover this subject matter – contact me off group if you want to know more.

Hi Rob
Not strictly speaking what you are after…but ‘North Atlantic Cat’ by Don McVicar is a very good read.
He was a Ferry pilot during WW2 and most of his books are very entertaining.

cheers baz