British PBY in opening sequence of movie "Below"

[the330thbg]

A rather dodgy movie, but a beautiful opening sequence of a British emblazoned PBY. Anyone have an idea of who's this was? Beautifully restored bird!!!!

Thanks

[David Legg]

This was PBY-5A N9521C (c/n 1656 ex-BuAer 48294) now with the Fighter Factory (Jerry Yagen) at Virginia Beach. At the time the sequences involving the Catalina were filmed, it was temporarily based at North Weald airfield in Essex, England. At that point, it was part-way through a ferry flight from South Africa to the USA but had had an enforced stay at Jeddah after experiencing engine trouble. It was fixed but then spent a longer period at North Weald undergoing overhaul before flying on to the USA in July 2003.

The RAF camouflage scheme was meant to represent that worn by the 209 Squadron Catalina AH545/WQ-Z that spotted the Bismarck in May 1941 but, sadly, the painters got it wrong and painted the squadron codes, at least on the starboard side, as W-QZ. After filming, the camo was swiftly removed and the Cat' returned to a US Navy colour scheme.

[the330thbg]

Perfect.

Thank you so much!!!