PBY...forgotten in St-Hubert, QC

[Michel Lemieux]

PBY...forgotten in St-Hubert, QC

16 years ago she was last flown in when retired. Sitting still since then.......

Compared to the Gannanoque ghost...it is a sad sight!

Canvas is brittle and damaged, lot's of major surface corrosion, a lot of dings and dents, etc.....

But as a water bomber, it's all there!!!!!!

Comments?

[Chris Brame]

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/pbyregis ... f9830.html

[steve dickey]

At least it still survives!!

[Michel Lemieux]

At least it still survives!!

Yes it does Steve......for the moment......

But like many birds, it runs the risk of being sold to the lowest bidder when it becomes a nuisance to whatever business operation that kindly host them for many years.

In this case. the PBY / Canso is located on a general area of the St-Hubert airport that is now mostly dedicated to the film industry in the airport. So who knows!!!!!!

There is also a DC-3 there (posting soon aslo on it) which was used often as a movie prop.

The same goes for a Bristol Viscount which was a resident for many years. (update it seems it does survive!!!! http://www.casair.info/realisations/Viscount/VISCOUNT.html)



As an example of do or die example...shameless link from Fly Past: http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?132733-Save-a-Shackleton

[daveymac82c]

Well, she appears to be in somewhat decent shape-ish.

Based on the warbird registry page regarding this specific plane, it seems an organization owns it, and looks after it? I can only assume it is a small group with limited funds. That's too bad.

And, I assume that this PBY has been sitting for a great many years? Say, 12 years?

The problem with this big beautiful girls is that they're just so darn big! It takes a massive barn to keep them out of the nasty weather.

Cheers,

David

[LysanderUK]

Great to see the Vickers Viscount dismantled and moved, does anyone know what the long term plan for it is?

Sad to see the PBY getting into such a rough shape, I hope her future is brighter than it appears.

[Michel Lemieux]

The Viscount is now in a school in Laval, QC. The Cegep Montmorency.

It is t be used as a fire training device for future firemen students....just hope it will not be set ablaze!!!!!????

Will try to get a look at it in the future.

Re-assembled:

[Ollie]

They will not burn it, they are using to teach the firemen how to approach an aircraft, etc.

[Michel Lemieux]

Ouffff....merci Olivier!

[Warbird Kid]

I thought I heard this one is tied up in government red tape. Seeing as she's apparently government property. Hence the "Gouvernement du Quebec" on the side?

I wonder what it would take for Taigh to get her in ferry-able condition.

[Michel Lemieux]

I am also not too sure as to who owns the legal title of the Canso. Yup, could be a lenghty issue on its own.

Making it ferryable is one thing. The biggest issue would be recovering the canvas on the wing (which is far too brittle and gone). There is a LOT of canvas on a PBY!!!!

I would think that at least it means a wing removal.....at that point......why not do the rest of an IRAN.

But if you would see the amount of corrosion this poor girl has, I am not sure I would use this one as a starting point for a flying restoration. But hey I am not expert

The local harsh Canadian winters added to her operational career as a water bomber have not been nice to the old gal.

My 2 Canadian centavos!

Michel

[David Legg]

The registered owner of Canso A C-FPQK is Fondation Aerovision Quebec which is the museum that the aircraft was donated to after it was taken out of service by the Quebec Govt. So, I know of no reason why ownership should be disputed as suggested in earlier messages. The Government name is on the hull side because they owned it before it was given away and it has never been repainted although the Fondation' logo is on the forward hull. I believe the museum has since been re-branded as Quebec Air & Space Museum but is it actually open? Perhaps someone with local knowledge can comment. If it is not functioning, perhaps that is the reason why C-FPQK is in such poor condition.

Incidentally, the Warbird Registry site quoted earlier in this thread states that C-FPQK is a PBV-1A which is simply not true. That was a US Navy designation that was never actually taken up as all the proposed PBV-1As to be built by Canadian Vickers at Cartierville for the US Navy went to the USAAF as OA-10As and were never delivered to the 'Navy. In any case, the designation was not applicable to the Canadian Vickers aircraft built for the RCAF. C-FPQK was in any case built by Canadian Vickers at St Hubert and no US Navy 'Catalinas' were built there.

[Steve T]

Sad to see PQK looking so bedraggled. Here's the same Canso in happier days, visiting CFB Trenton for an airshow in the early 1980s...



Hope she gets the TLC she needs before it's too late! BTW, her sistership C-FPQL has been flying with CWH for nearly twenty years now.

S.

[bdk]

...C-FPQK was in any case built by Canadian Vickers at St Hubert and no US Navy 'Catalinas' were built there.

Do the Canadian built aircraft conform to the US Type Certificate Data Sheet or would they have to be licensed as Experimental in the US?