The Liberty Gazette
August 15, 2023
Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely
Mike: The Consolidated PBY Catalina is an amphibious WWII maritime patrol bomber first built 90 years ago (“PB” for patrol bomber; “Y” the code assigned to manufacturer Consolidated Aircraft). It was used in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters to spot and track enemy U-boats and naval ship movement.
I fell in love with the Catalina, a lumbering old beast, when I read a Flying Magazine article about the Flying Calypso, owned and operated by famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. Jacques’ second son, Phillippe Cousteau, was the pilot of their PBY-6A. The article was about the plane and how they used it for exploration. Its speed, barely over 100 knots, was about five times faster than their explorer ship, the Calypso. The airplane gave them more options. They sometimes carried a single-seat gyrocopter on board when they needed to film in remote locations. They’d take it out and assemble it on the spot. The little gyrocopter was more maneuverable and worked better for tight filming shoots. Today’s explorers would use a drone for this type of filming, but the PBY gave them plenty of space to carry the copter and was quite practical at the time. When I was in college, I met a retired airline pilot who flew PBYs during the Korean conflict and later piloted one in a two-ship formation trip around the world. That journey took months with them splashing down in such exotic locations as Kwajalein in the Pacific, and Hong Kong. The romance and challenges of such a trip would make any pilot envious.
The PBY mystique has been the inspiration for television shows and movies because of the way it skims a lake’s surface and sends out long jets of spray as it skids at high speed around corners in a river. It starred in the short-lived series titled, “Spencer’s Pilot,” and the humorous opening scene of the movie “Always.” The airplane’s long wings, mounted on a pylon high above the fuselage, and general rough-and-tough look make the perfect introduction for a swashbuckling pilot character. I have always wanted to fly the plane and once trained a Learjet crew who also flew a PBY for their employer. They thought there was a possibility I might fly with them, but it never developed beyond talking. My chances to fly one have become fewer, as all but a handful of Catalinas have been retired from flying due to age. But now, Florida-based Catalina Aircraft has acquired the original type certificate for the PBY. The company plans to revive the Catalina in both civilian and military versions using modern materials, turboprop engines, and today’s technology. The to-be-reintroduced aircraft will pack more power, run smoother, and be lighter, making them more efficient and perform better. This will expand their mission capabilities.
It is still in the planning stages, but if the production line is once again started, perhaps I may yet get to fly one, and future generations will benefit from and come to love this unique aircraft as I do.
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