Flightpath - May 2018

46 |FLIGHTPATH

TOP:PBYsonanAleutianairieldaround1942with

bombsanddepthchargeswaitingonatrolley to be

loaded on another PBY-5A Catalina

ABOVE:Amazon region, East of Manaus, Brazil. This

stopoftheOdysseywastospendthenightinthe

jungle huts hidden in the jungle behind the

riverboat. The Catalina, Z-CAT, provided the ideal

platform from which to dive into the river upon

arrival. The passengers weren’t keen about diving

intoapitch-blackjungleriversoHanswentinirst.

Oncehesurvived,everyonewantedin.Asimple

shout of ‘Crocodiles!’ had everyone scrambling back

onboardinlessthantwentyseconds!Apparently, it

was just a joke as they were only alligators.

[Frans Lemmens]

BELOW:PBY-5AN9521Cisawell-knownpartofJerry

Yagen’s Military Aviation Museum based at Virginia

Beach, Virginia.[Luigino Caliaro]

MAIN:Canso A C-FOFI, then registered to

BufaloAirways,nowwithHansLauridsenof

Glendale,Arizona,andbasedatBuckeye

MunicipalAirportasN413PB.Ithasbeen

stripped of paint and remains in the open.

[Henry Tenby]

ABOVE:AUSNPBY-5AwithLockheedPV-1

Venturas in the background, Aleutian Islands,

December 1943. The Venturas are possibly from

VP-135 which, in April 1943, became the irst PV-1

unit to see combat. Note the USAAF insignia with

the red outline that was briely used in 1943.