"Running" PBY in Chile

[Warbird Kid]

Haven't seen this one before. Anyone?


http://www.airliners.net/photo/Consolidated-(Canadian-Vickers)/2435446/&sid=30e2877eded5cda038a08a030d40b6a7

Last edited by Warbird Kid on Thu May 08, 2014 8:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

[bomberfan]

Very attractive and photogenic paint scheme!!

[Chris Brame]

Looks like it's this one, although the Registry lists the c/n as CV-332 rather than CV-596 (which would be BuNo 68049):
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/pbyregis ... 67844.html

[Project Warbird]

Sweet looking CAT!!!

[Tulio]

If I may,

The Catalina is representing a famous Chilean Cat, the "Manu Tara" which made a flight from Chile, to Easter Island. It was lost some time later.

I am re-posting an article (we published it at laahs.com) written by Chilean Historian Alvaro Romero:

Saludos,


Tulio

Manu-tara reborn

Álvaro Romero Pérez

A Canadian Vickers-built Catalina that was used as spares source by the Chilean company ASPAR and later obtained by Museo Nacional Aeronáutico y del Espacio de Chile, has been restored to represent the ‘Manu-tara’, the first aircraft that linked South America and Easter Island in 1951. But the restored Cat has also an interesting history, rescued from oblivion very recently.

The beginnings

The recently restored aircraft was built by Canadian Vickers of Cartierville, with the c/n CV-520, and delivered to USAAF with s/n 44-34009 and designation OA-10A-VI, on December 12 1944. On March 3 1945 it was transferred to 7th Air Force in Hawaii, being sent to storage after the War on August 18 1946; finally, on December 4 1947 it was transferred to the War Assets Administration awaiting disposal.

In its civilian guise, it was flown by various US operators under the registration NC62043 (N62043 from 1949 onward): Happy Hockett of Honolulu and Thorn Engineering Corp. of Las Vegas. It was later imported in Canada by Lund Aviation of Dorval, and then sold to Leasair Ltd. of Montreal; this company registered the Catalina as CF-IHC on July 29, 1955. From that date it spent almost a decade with various Canadian companies (Leasair, Wheeler Airlines, Hans Lundberg Ltd., Timmins Aviation Ltd, Canadian Marconi Co., the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation – for a day, leased to film the solar eclipse on July 20 1963, and Leasair again) until 1966, when it was bought by French interests in order to operate it in the Pacific Ocean.

Operating with SLPAC

CEP (Centre d’Expérimentations du Pacifique) was created to carry on the French atomic programme after it had been relocated in the Polynesia following the independence of Algeria, where the first atomic test range of France was located. Aéronavale was tasked with ensuring the liaison on those vast oceanic territories, creating the SLPAC (Section de Liaison du Pacifique) on October 1 1964 at BAN Dugny-Le Bourget, with three Catalina’s acquired by UTA, Union des Transports Aériens on behalf of DIRCEN (Direction des Centres d’Expérimentation Nucléaires). UTA was also in charge of CIP, Centre Industriel de Papeete, entity that modified the aircraft up to SLPAC standards.

CV-520 belongs to the second generation of Catalina’s flown by SLPAC between 1966 and 1971. After losing two aircraft in 1965, SLPAC decided to acquire two machines as a replacement; these ‘new’ ones were also acquired by UTA on DIRCEN’s behalf in Canada, and this aircraft in particular was assigned the civilian registration F-WMKR (allocated in February 1966), entering service with SLPAC in early 1966. The French Navy, serialled CV-520 as Aéronavale 20 with the call sign F-YEIA.

The official acceptance date of Aéronavale 20 by French authorities was March 9 1966, participating in various liaison duties assigned by CEP, specially linking meteorology stations placed on atolls in the zone of Polynesia.

Nevertheless on March 1971 the dissolution of SLPAC was ordered, stating that all flight operations should cease by December 1, with the definitive dissolution date of the Service on December 31 of that year. The last flight of Aéronavale 20 took place on November 28 1971, and on December 2, CIP left the decision of its fate pending. From SLPAC’s dissolution date, the three surviving aircraft were placed in open storage at Faaa airport in Tahiti.

In Chile

A second lease of life came in 1973, when the well-known Catalina pilot Roberto Parragué wanted to buy one of the stored aircraft for his airline. However, because of the achievement for having linked Santiago and Tahiti via Easter Island in 1965, he obtained the three amphibians as a gift from the CEP and Aéronavale. Regarding the situation of ‘20’, a letter (No. 24/zm/log/air) was issued by Vice Admiral Clavérie – chief of CEP - on 25/06/1973, ratified by Chief of Property and Real Estate of Papeete, Tahiti, on June 27 1973.

The three Catalinas were sent to Chile on board the ship ‘Andino’, arriving in Valparaíso during August 1973 and these were then offloaded and towed by sea to Quintero AFB, where they were refurbished and checked before flying to Los Cerrillos. The former Aéronavale No. 20 was registered in the country’s Registro Nacional de Aeronaves (the Chilean National Aviation Register) as CC-CDU by Empresa de Aeronavegación Parragué e Hijos Ltda., on October 1 1974. On August 5 1976, the owner canceled this registration because the aircraft was going to be used as a spares source. It was restored to the register on July 9 1979 (after a request dated June 6 1979) being registered CC-CGY by A.S.Par. Ltda., this was as a result of several banking problems and the necessity of using the “active” plane as a financial backup in order to get bank credit.

Its definitive cancellation from the register was dated September 9 1993. It was donated and then moved to Museo Aeronáutico’s facilities during April 1995 with the intention of representing the Manu-tara, but the plane spent at least 10 years in open storage before a definitive decision on its future was made.

Rebuilding a Cat

This Catalina was in a poor overall condition, as it was the plane in worst condition of the three received in 1973 due to advanced corrosion, being presented to the Museo in April 1995. But some more damage was accumulated over the years, not only due to its ignominious situation of spares source, but also because of the damage made by the weather and the people that contributed to destroy it. CV-520 was never painted in ASPAR’s fleet colours and it did not wear the Chilean registration; its only flight in Chile was the ferry between Quintero and Los Cerrillos in November 1974. For the same reason, it was not transformed into fire-fighter configuration, spending its ‘life’ in the open at Los Cerrillos.

Several pieces of its airframe were used on the rebuilding process of Catalina CC-CCS (after it sank on Gutiérrez lake in Argentina on January 27, 1986), mainly the lower part of the nose and parts of the hull and wing. The rebuilt PBY is currently flying in Australia as it was acquired by HARS and registered VH-PBZ.

The main task of Museo Aeronáutico was to locate spare parts to complete the airframe restoration to the 1951 Manu-tara’s standard. The main problem was trying to obtain the waist blisters, and to fit them on the area where these were originally located, because CC-CGY had them replaced by an access hatch on port side and windows on the starboard side. Many skin panels had to be removed and replaced due to corrosion. The nose and hull area just forward of the cockpit had to be rebuilt, using Ibero Chilena de Aviación’s (IBCH) Catalina CC-CDT as a reference. After fourteen months of work (starting on October 1 2004 and finished on December 12 2005), it finally received the original colors of the Chilean Air Force Manu-tara, FACh 405.

Which one was the real Manu-tara?

Manu-tara (Bird of Luck in Rapa Nui language, also a tern found on that island) was the first of 230 Catalina’s built for USAAF (as OA-10A-VIs) by Canadian Vickers Ltd. of Cartierville, Montreal between December 1943 and May 1945. Its USAAF s/n was 44-33868 (c/n CV-304), later serving with FACh (Fuerza Aérea de Chile, Chilean AF) from the end of 1947, serialled FACh 405. Interestingly enough, the Catalina restored by the Museo Aeronáutico belongs to this batch built in Canada.

FACh 405 entered into Chile’s aviation history on January 19 1951, when – the then - Captain Roberto Parragué Singer, linked the Chilean city of La Serena with Easter Island on an epic flight that lasted 19 h and 22 min, covering 2,047 miles. Before that, and as a preparation, the crew assigned to the flight took part in a long-endurance flight over 27-28 December 1950, spent 19 h 30 min flight, taking off from Los Cerrillos in Santiago, overflying Valparaíso, Antofagasta, Sala y Gómez Island, Juan Fernández archipelago, Talcahuano, Los Vilos, and landing at Quintero.

The aircraft arrived safely at Easter Island’s Mataveri landing strip on January 20, but several events conspired against the successful return of Manu-tara and it’s crew back to Chile’s mainland. Because of poor weather the wet runway trapped the Cat’s wheels, so the aircraft could not leave the muddy landing strip, thus it was determined that the take-off had to be made from the sea. During the process of taking off from the water, on January 28 the starboard wing tip struck the water damaging the float, the aircraft was taken back to terra firma, waiting for a decision about its repair on the Island.

Although the damage was not as big as expected (around 5% of the aircraft), the amount of money involved in repairing it on Easter Island meant that Chile’s AF officers decided to struck off charge from Grupo 8 service on April 10 1951, with an order of obtaining and bringing back to the mainland all useful parts for possible use as spares by the remaining FACh Catalina fleet. In the meantime, the first flight beteween Easter Island and South America, was made by Capt. Gordon Taylor and his crew, on board the Boeing PB2B-2 Catalina Frigate Bird II, arriving in Chile on March 1951.

Later, Parragué and a FACh team visited the Island by sea, carrying the necessary spares and a new starboard wing. The work was finished after various months and it was requested to return back to the continent flying still as FACh 405, this was denied by FACh authorities. Instead, it was decided that Manu-tara had to be loaded on board the Chilean Navy’s ship ‘Pinto’, but before that it managed to take off from Mataveri airfield and landed by the side of the ship and was loaded on the deck, departing to Quintero in late April 1952.

In the early days of the following month, Manu-tara arrived in Quintero with just half of the mission accomplished, but again it was able to perform a short flight after being off-loaded. At the Air Base it spent some months having a complete check, being restored in FACh service thanks to a decree dated July 26 1952.

In January 1957, all aircraft in FACh service were reserialled, thus the famous Catalina FACh 405 was reserialled FACh 560. Under this new registration, Comandante Parragué performed a second flight to Easter Island in January 29 1959, his task was to complete the round trip with the same aircraft as the previously unfinished leg was still on his mind, but with a ‘slight’ difference: he was not authorized to perform the flight, as it was a regular flight to Juan Fernández archipelago. Although this flight was successfully accomplished, Parragué had to leave FACh because of his behavior, but on the other hand he got the people’s recognition for his and his crew milestone.

The following year, Roberto Parragué acquired his first PBY-6A and he was the first to operate his own company, transporting both passengers and cargo, before transforming his aircraft into water-bomber configuration in the seventies. In 1965, under a contract issued by LAN-Chile he flew his PBY-6A CC-CNP Manu-tara II (ex US Navy 46665, c/n 2029) from Santiago to Tahiti (and return) with the aim of investigating the Pacific Ocean route to Australia; this flight brought him recognition from France in 1973.

The respected Chilean pilot Roberto Parragué Singer, passed away on December 25 1995 at the age of 82. Regarding the fate of the original Manu-tara, it broke its wings on June 15, 1961 when it crashed in Peñuelas lake during a crew training flight, resulting in the death of all the crew. It was finally retired from FACh Grupo 8 service on July 21 1961. None of Catalina’s operated by FACh were preserved, and finally the Museo Aeronáutico was able to exhibit an example of this worldwide, recognized aircraft, representing the Military and Civilian planes that use to operate in Chile in a variety of missions for many decades.

In relation to the historic PBY-6A Manu-tara II CC-CNP, it was stored at Seia, Portugal since 2000, after operating in Spain (between 1988 and 1996, where it was briefly registered EC-FXN) and Portugal (between 1997 and 2000) on firefighting duties; in July 2007 it was acquired by an Australia-based restoration organization, where it will continue flying for pleasure of Australian aviation fans.

Acknowledgements: many thanks to the following people, who provided assistance in the making of this investigation:, (in Alphabetical order) Jacques Chillon, John Davis, Jean Pierre Dubois, Daniel Hagedorn, Pétur P. Johnson, Terry Judge, David Legg, Germán Lüer, Cristián Marambio, William Olave, Gonzalo Parragué, Horacio Parragué, Ricardo Prambs, Ragnar Ragnarsson, Juan Pablo Rubilar, José Ramón Valero, and the personnel of Museo Nacional Aeronáutico y del Espacio de Chile.

[David Legg]

If I may,

The Catalina is representing a famous Chilean Cat, the "Manu Tara" which made a flight from Chile, to Easter Island. It was lost some time later.

I am re-posting an article (we published it at laahs.com) written by Chilean Historian Alvaro Romero:

Saludos,


Tulio

The LAAHS article written by my friend Alvaro Romero is an excellent one but can I make it clear that it does not describe the aircraft that is photographed at the start of this thread (whereas the implication, possibly inadvertent, in Tulio's post is that it does). The aircraft described by Alvaro is, as he says, currently displayed in the Museo Nacional Aeronáutico y del Espacio de Chile and is CC-CGY.

The Catalina in the photo is painted in the same FACh livery but is CC-CDT.

Whilst writing, the subject header of this thread is "Flying PBY in Chile" - I gather the intention is to fly it for some film work but does anyone know if it has actually flown since being painted in the current FACh livery?

[David Legg]

Further to my message above, I have since ascertained that this Catalina (CC-CDT) has not yet re-flown following its wonderful re-paint and has not in fact flown for some years although its engines are regularly run as shown in the photo. The topic header is therefore rather mis-leading.

[Tulio]

My bad, David.

I saw "Manu Tara" on the fuselage, and remembered the article that "MY" friend Alvaro published at Laahs. Now it turns that he is also your friend... hmmm... will have to talk with Alvaro (just jesting).

For whatever confusion my posting has caused, my apologies to all involved, ofended or peripheral to the issue


Saludos,


Tulio

[David Legg]

No problem Tulio - it's never easy when two aircraft are in the same city with the same livery and serial! At least it gave Alvaro's article another airing, possibly to a wider audience.

Kind regards.

[CoastieJohn]

No problem Tulio - it's never easy when two aircraft are in the same city with the same livery and serial! At least it gave Alvaro's article another airing, possibly to a wider audience.

Kind regards.

Good catch Dave!!

[Tulio]

Thank you, David.

Nonetheless, a very interesting article on the Chilean Catalinas.


Saludos,


Tulio