'Our Girl' Centre Wing

Last piece in the Jig Saw!

The centre wing unit from 'Our Girl' PBY Catalina arrived at the Kilaben Bay Depot on 16th April.

Again, a huge thank you to Daracon Transport, (Ncle), and Borger Cranes, (Ncle). Seamless transport from Sydney and unloading at the depot with true professional operators.

Centre Wing at Kilaben Bay.

'Our Girl' Fuselage arrives.

Fuselage delivered.

The fuselage finally arrived in Australia, and without too much of a drama, was transported to Toronto in the wee small hours of the 4th March, 2014.

Work is now underway categorising all the spares, and sourcing appropriate treatment for dealing with the corrosion and also a suitable aircraft primer coat.

There are already names taken for volunteer work, which will commence as soon as all the details are covered.

Discussions are also underway between the Association and local Council for an appropriate site on the Rathmines base.

The Fuselage awaiting shipment in Jacksonville, FL.

Sitting in Toronto, NSW Australia.

Outer Wings Arrive.

The Outer wings left Sydney 1am this morning, arriving at our Kilaben Bay depot at 4am. Complementary transport by DARACON and crane hire by BORGER CRANES, Carrington, (Newcastle).

Each of the two wings were  32' in length and 15' wide, therefore two escort vehicles were required.
The Fuselage is on the high seas with an ETA 3rd March.

Also received email this morning advising Centre Wing departing Puerto Rico this week, for scheduled shipment from Savannah on 1st March. Email was also accompanied by photo proof of timber being stamped by US Customs.
The last piece in the jig saw!

All good news,

Steady Progress.

Things have been happening since Christmas tied us all up. Our fuselage had a few redirections from San Juan as did the outer wings.
It was finally decided to ship from San Juan to Jacksonville, Florida then trans ship to Savannah in Georgia. After some discussion and negotiations it was agreed to road freight across to the West Coast, then on to a ship direct to Sydney, but two separate shipments!
Finally the outer wings made it to a ship after some time 'resting' dock side and finally arrived in Sydney on 15th February. The fuselage is following closely, (two weeks behind), and due in Port first week in March.

After arranging escorted shipment of wings direct from the Dock after quarantine clearance and by generous support from a local Newcastle firm, Daracon Group, we were advised on Monday that this could not go ahead. the outer wings were cleared, but not the timber form work encasing them. The timber had not been stamped with fumigation verification from departure port!

After some to and froing between here USA and San Juan, we were asked to ship the the wings from the dock to the Quarantine in Sydenham, Sydney for fumigation etc.. Meanwhile, certification papers were sent from o/seas, but to no avail. The timber has to be fumigated.

We have now been informed that the consignment will be ready for collection Friday, so hopefully will be right for escorted transport early Saturday morning, (between 1 & 5am).

The centre wing assembly, still in San Juan, is hopefully being despatched within the next week, AFTER ascertaining that all fumigation paperwork has been done and all timber has the necessary visible markings to pass Quarantine when it arrives here in Australia.

Stay tuned.

First Arrivals.

'OUR GIRL' ON THE WAY. (At last).

Our first container has arrived and passed through Customs in Sydney. Containing the two engines, along with huge range of spare parts, it should arrive on location sometime through this coming week beginning 14th October for further work to begin.

The flat bed with the PBY tail assy., has run into a few problems with Quarantine. Quite a lot of leaf and other 'vegetable' matter was located in nooks & crannies by x-ray. None of these areas are accessible via removal of existing inspection panels and may mean that 'new' panels will have to be cut, or the assy. de-skinned! This tail assy. was infested with a huge colony of bees in San Juan, which were removed with some trouble, and this is possibly a remaining result of this. The tail of the PBY was also deeply entwined into the local shrubbery on the airport apron in San Juan, apparently for quite some time, so this is evidently the result of these situations.

Customs and Quarantine in Sydney have been more than helpful and sympathetic to the situation, and an attempt will be made within the next few days to extricate the mess to their satisfaction, without (hopefully) having to de-skin the tail.

Tail & rudder assy. removed in San Juan

Engines & rudder finally on the road to their new home.

PBY-5A Catalina for Rathmines

Press Release dated 25th April, 2013.

CATALINA FLYING BOAT BOUND FOR RATHMINES

A long-held dream to have an historic Catalina Flying Boat permanently displayed on the site of the World War II air base at Rathmines is a step closer to fruition following the purchase of a disused aircraft by the Rathmines Catalina Memorial Park Trust.

The Trust sourced the rare Catalina PBY-5A aircraft in Puerto Rico after a seven-year search. The purchase was confirmed this week and the aircraft is expected to arrive later this year, after being dismantled and shipped to Australia. 

The Catalina will become one of the key attractions of a hangar-style museum planned for the heritage-listed lakeside memorial park at Rathmines. It is intended to be the museum’s centrepiece static exhibit, complementing the operational Catalina VH-CAT.

VH-CAT, a PBY-6A Catalina brought to Australia from Portugal in 2008, is owned by a private consortium, Catalina Flying Memorial Ltd, and is currently being restored to flying condition in Sydney.

Rathmines Catalina Memorial Park Trust Registrar Penny Furner said the purchase of the Catalina PBY-5A was a real coup.

“This is very exciting – Catalinas are very hard to come by and this is one of the models that flew out of Rathmines during the war,” she said.

“It will make a marvellous static display for our proposed museum and will boost our efforts to secure government support for the project. We want to build a fitting home for VH-CAT and the PBY-5A so anyone interested in wartime history or aviation can come and see these wonderful old aircraft first-hand.”

The PBY-5A Catalina was paid for with money raised by the Trust through donations and community events such as the annual Rathmines Catalina Festival.

The former RAAF site at Rathmines has a colourful history. It was the largest seaplane base in the southern hemisphere during World War II and was of vital strategic importance to the Allied war effort.

Two representative’s are currently in Puerto Rico arranging the preparation of the Flying Boat for transport to Australia.

end release 

'Our Girl' in San Juan

Rathmines Catalina Memorial Park.