Anyone know anyone that served in PBY Catalinas in WWII?

[Redtail1949]

I just got through visting with an old man I used to work with...he is 93 years old. Christ he gets around better than i do. He flew in the PBY Catalina "Flying Boats" in the Pacific during World War II. He has all the books manuals and tons of photographs. He also, has the log book he had recording his daily activities.

I have been after him for years to let me have them (to at least copy) and get them posted on the Internets and or send to various World War II museums. He said he would go back home and dig it all out and now i will try to find an appropriate site or place for at least the copies of this stuff.

I have always wanted to do this kind of stuff for those that served as well as their families. So much of this kind of historical record is lost when those men die and just thrown in the trash. I have been looking around on the net and there seems to be a few sites dedicated to these guys. I hope I can leave something for him and those that were with that plane that their families can find and enjoy.

i urge anyone here that has something of this nature to make an effort to save it for posterity.

[Questor]

I got to fly in one once. In Miami there was (is?) a small airline named Chalk that took people to the Bahamas. They had PBYs for a long time, maybe even into the 1980s. Neat planes. It had the same "cool factor" as the DC3.

Here's an interesting reference:
http://www.superthree.com/history.htm

[gstewart44]

i saw a website last year that was dedicated to preserving the memories of the Black Cat....it is:

www.pby.com/

[Redtail1949]

he brought a lot of stuff back over this afternoon and i have been reading it. interesting accounts of patrols and pilot pickups. tragic ones of ane plane taking off with them that crashed and killed all aboard That plane was refuled by a "Whaleboat fueler" and it had sea water in its tanks. they had fueled off a seaplane tender.

thanks to pointing me to the websites gstewart and questor. I am going to start scanning all of it and he will come back and try to put names on the photos. I want to get it done because of his age and when he is gone no one will know it ever happened. you never know maybe others great grandkids will find it and it will help them tie in to what their great grandpa did maybe even see a photo of him doing it.

[Questor]

Crown publishing did a really nice series of books on WWII aircraft. I've got one on the De Havilland Mosquito. It's a thin book but very authoritative and with lots of great illustrations and historical facts. I don't know if they're still available, or if they published one on the PBY, but you might want to look into it.

It seems like there's a lot of interesting material on the PBY available:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=pby+catalina&x=0&y=0

Books are cool, but if there's a good video on one, you should consider it. Video is really a great medium for stuff about airplanes.

[Hodr]

Try checking your local college/university.  You have the basis for a video or dvd leading to a masters thesis.  My wife's Uncle Rocco came home wounded in a returning PBY.  He was Guns on a YMS that left Pearl Harbor and opened up 7 pacific islands.  He was nailed at Peliau and his boat went down in the typhoon off Okinawa.  All Hands.

blindhari

Absent Companions.