Amphibean Airways operated in Burma 1948-1949 and used OV-10A’s/PBY’s converted to airliners according to your excellent book.

I just located a number of superb photos depicting two such aircraft c.1949 in Time-Life photo collections available on their online website. (Search “Burma” “1949”).

They appear to be in a two-tone scheme, with a medium grey lower hull and light grey upper.

One Catalina appears to have a red nose. Can you confirm whether they were grey on medium grey? Red nose?

Thank you in advance.

OK – I have now taken a look at these marvellous Catalina photos. What a fantastic surprise they are! Unfortunately, I have never previously seen any colour photos of any of the Burmese Catalinas so cannot confirm the livery although it would seem that the tail area is probably silver and the hull either a shade of gray or possibly even blue. There are two different Catalinas in the photos – one is XY-ABV and, thus far, I have not unearthed the previous identity of it although it was quite likely a former USAAF OA-10A (not OV-10A as mis-quoted above). However, what really intrigues me is the second aircraft marked simply as ‘245’. I have never come across this aircraft before. The three numbers do not correspond with the ‘last three’ of any USAAF OA-10As so I need to do some more digging and consult colleagues who know more about the region than I. At this stage I am guessing that ‘245’ is one of the other aircraft operated by Amphibian Airways (XY-ABW, -ABX and -ABY). If I find out more, I’ll put it on this forum. Incidentally, one of the colour photos of ‘245’ has been reversed before being placed on the LIFE photo site.

Finally, I am assuming that Moggy’s comment above is tongue in cheek but obviously the airline’s correct name was Amphibian Airways and not Amphibean etc.

Were any Burmese Oxfords equipped with rockets and gun packs? I have seen photos of Consuls with such armament but was wondering if the Oxfords received the same equipment. Thanks in advance for any help.

Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd’s The Oxford, Consul & Envoy File by John F Hamlin states in the section devoted to the Union of Burma Air Force: “Some of the Oxfords were modified to carry extra armament, becoming the most heavily armed Oxfords ever produced. They were fitted with two forward-firing .303″ machine guns mounted in pods underneath the centre section and eight 25 lb rocket projectiles under the wings. One aircraft (UB333) had a dorsal turret complete with Lewis gun reminiscent of early Mk.I Oxfords. These armaments were tested by the A&AEE at Boscombe Down before shipment to Burma.”

Tim Mason’s The Cold War Years – flight testing at Boscome Down 1945-1975 published by Hikoki says: Postwar trials on Oxfords centered on two aircraft, both concerned with rockets. A Burmese contract machine (UB339 called a Consul) spent three days at AAEE in October 1949 from which it was concluded that eight missiles (25 lb heads) on an RP VIII installation could be fired satisfactorily. There may have been problems as two years later RR345 turned up for further RP work for the Burmese, but this time with 60 lb heads; release was acceptable.”

It is interesting to note that in the Air-Britain book, UB339 is listed as a Consul as per the Mason book even though the text related to RPs refers to Oxfords only. The book also has a very good photo of UB339 with eight rockets installed. Air-Britain also state that another Consul (UB340) had a rocket blow up under a wing during a demonstration flight on 15/6/1950.

When I was a schoolboy I used to hang around the Miles Aviation (R&D) Ltd facility at Ford Aerodrome near Littlehampton in Sussex. During that period, N15750 arrived for some work for Sagittair its new owners. I can recall crawling all over it and finding a brown tie-on label on one of the rudder pedals with the registration D-IANA upon it. It did not stay at Ford that long although long enough to have its photo taken with Sagittair’s two ex-RCAF Beech Expeditors by Flight International. I am not aware that N15750 had a cargo door as suggested in the caption although the other two certainly did. N15750 is the rearmost Beech in the photo at http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1970/1970%20-%200921.html?search=Beech%2018%20Sagittair%20Ford

I wonder if any of the original crew members (apart from PW-W) are still working on the Catalina?

I am! I was at RAF Manston the day it arrived from South Africa and worked on it at Barkston Heath in the very eary days although it was a 400 mile round-trip from home so doing it every weekend was out of the question. 26 years later I am still involved both in background support (pen pushing) and as flight crew (non-pilot I should add). It’s been a long trip – nearly half my life – but very worthwhile. This thread has brought together a number of the original volunteers but the only people still actively involved from Day One are Paul Warren Wilson, Keith Sissons who still flies very occasionally, Russell Mason from an insurance angle and myself.

Going back to the original question about internal heating, I am not sure if the system removed from G-BLSC in 1985 was a later, post-military addition but reference to the Handbook of Erection and Maintenance Instructions for Navy Model PBY-5 and PBY-5A Airplanes shows that aircraft BuAer 46580 to 46638 (G-BLSC was BuAer46633) were originally built with a Skyheat Combustion Heater (Model SGE-1) that supplied heated air through a series of ducts for cabin heating, windshield de-frosting and engine warming using fuel supplied by the main fuel system both in flight and on the ground. The combustible mix of fuel vapor, produced from a capillary block, was ignited by a hot-wire ignitor whereupon additional air was introduced to the fire through a mixing head.

When the Catalina got to Barkston Heath, this pipework was all ripped out, but I would be interested to know if this crazy system was ever really used, or if anybody knows of any other such installations?:eek:

There was still a lot of piping left even after that system was taken out and their current aircraft G-PBYA (which does not have the heating system) has metres of it as per the original design. In fact when visitors are shown around it is one of the features of the interior often commented upon as it is all on view.

Working on G-BLSC at Barkston Heath? – happy days!

Nice to see those photos – that third one marked as “RF 16” is one I’ve flown in down at Brawdy. IIRC it was based there as the airshow pilot was based with us and we used to happily volunteer to drag it out of the hangar at weekends for him. Got treated to a jolly as a thankyou. I’m sure that would have been John Watts who I gather was sadly killed later on in a Tornado crash. I still have my own photo of this aircraft somewhere in my archives.

RF+16 was G-PTWO whereas the P-2 that John Watts was associated with through Lea Aviation was G-BJAX which flew for a while as Swiss AF J-108 and then Luftwaffe ‘Red 14’. Not sure if he ever flew G-PTWO or if he was based at Brawdy around that time – you are right that he was killed in a Tornado mid-air though, ex-Cottesmore. For the 1986 Fighter Meet display at North Weald, John and Paul Warren Wilson flew a P-2 two-ship synchro aerobatics routine with G-BJAX and the borrowed G-BONE/U-142. The practices were flown the night before and I was fortunate to be in the back seat of G-BONE for the two flights – never to be forgotten! I later flew in G-BJAX several times too and flying pax in the P-2 was a very pleasurable experience.

Thanks David,

I have given them a shot.

Failing that, do you personally know him, if so, do you ever get to see him?

Bruce

I do but I’d rather any approach goes through a more formal channel if that’s OK. Good luck – he’s a great guy.