Catalina @ Weston?

N7777G

Long term resident PBY-5A Catalina (VP-BPS) is no longer at Weston.
photo:- http://flic.kr/p/anz9GL

I passed by there this afternoon and it has disappeared!

Does anyone know of its whereabouts?

Davidth88

That's weird .... inside the hanger maybe ?

Ill take a spin past there tomorrow myself

Xpro

Believe it or not, it was cut up to pieces and its gone and sold for scrap:eek:

N7777G

Xpro wrote: »

Believe it or not, it was cut up to pieces and its gone and sold for scrap:eek:

Sweet divine - this could only happen in Ireland.

What shower of idiots came up with that idea?

Oscar Bravo

She was together at 9am,gone by midday. Its sad.

MicK10rt

Pure and utter disgrace. Guess the price of scrap out ways the historical and emotional value of the aircraft.

Davidth88

Xpro wrote: »

Believe it or not, it was cut up to pieces and its gone and sold for scrap:eek:

WTF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


That is un freeking believable .

I suppose that is what happens when bean counters are in charge

Nforce

Would have been nice if the cockpit section could have been saved,at least. Was the a/c even put up for tender?

veetwin

Happened to see a big digger having it's way with her yesterday morning. Couldn't believe my eyes. Would have thought it was worth something to somebody.

Davidth88

veetwin wrote: »

Happened to see a big digger having it's way with her yesterday morning. Couldn't believe my eyes. Would have thought it was worth something to somebody.

That's a sight that would have broken my heart.

I wonder if the Bucc is next for the chop

Bearcat

Jesus wept! With this news I too echo the buccaneer is next for the chop.

Tropheus

We can complain, but what did we or could we do to stop it? I don't think it was every going to be restored in the current climate. Hopefully there is a better outcome for the buccaneer, but I'd doubt it unless there is a buyer with very deep pockets.

Buffman

I too am annoyed that this piece of aviation history was scrapped, what it needed was some rich American to save it. Even if only to be put on static display!

Does anybody know the history of this particular PBY, was it ex USAAF or RAF or what?

[Edit:] After some googling found this, it was first delivered to the US Navy in Jan 1945. From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usaJYpAcxho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usaJYpAcxho

Nforce

I'm pretty sure that I saw this one flying at Baldonnel (1988-ish) at an airshow. From memory it was flying in formation with B-17 Sally B.

Quebec Delta Mike

FYI,

The Catalina was privately owned, and had to be removed, or pay for parking!! So, it's owner sold it for scrap, simple.:(

The Buccaneer is up for sale, along with the Beech18, as they were taken by NAMA. There is a dispute over their ownership, which is just the usual smoke and mirrors..:D

QDM

Rascasse

I was surprised to see this was the Catalina that sank on landing in the Solent back in the late 90's. I was living nearby at the time and it was a huge story as the mayor and someone else couldn't get out and sadly drowned. I would have thought it was scrapped years as I seem to recall a fair bit of damage to it when they brought it back to the surface.

Looking at pics online, was it really worth preserving? While it would be nice to preserve every vintage aircraft this one would need a lot of money put in to it just to make it ready for static display. Not to mention the fact that there are many Catalinas both flying and on display.

doolox

...if there are many of them out there in flying condition then it is not worth saving. Not like a spitfire or hurricane etc with some major historical importance to casual members of the public.

Since it was first flown post war it would have very little historical importance with the public.

The bucaneer might be rarer and worth saving. There is a South African based outfit that fly ex-RAF and ex SAAF lightnings etc and might have some use for a Bucaneer.

bombs away

Quebec Delta Mike wrote: »

The Catalina was privately owned, and had to be removed, or pay for parking!! So, it's owner sold it for scrap, simple.:(QDM

Now that's almost criminal :mad:

You don't own an aircraft like that, your a caretaker to try and pass it on to the nxt generation, whoever sold it should be ashamed of themselves.

happy_head

bombs away wrote: »

Now that's almost criminal :mad:

You don't own an aircraft like that, your a caretaker to try and pass it on to the nxt generation, whoever sold it should be ashamed of themselves.

You're the one who should be ashamed of themselves, making a statement like that! You don't know the circumstances of the owner of the A/C. Im not going to speal on with the "times are tough" story, but families are getting rid of cars etc. to lower costs. And you have the cheek to say someone should be ashamed of themselves because they cannot afford to pay to keep an non-airworthy, unflyable plane sitting on the tarmac at some airfield! Get a grip!

bombs away

happy_head wrote: »

bombs away wrote: »

Now that's almost criminal :mad:

You don't own an aircraft like that, your a caretaker to try and pass it on to the nxt generation, whoever sold it should be ashamed of themselves.

You're the one who should be ashamed of themselves, making a statement like that! You don't know the circumstances of the owner of the A/C. Im not going to speal on with the "times are tough" story, but families are getting rid of cars etc. to lower costs. And you have the cheek to say someone should be ashamed of themselves because they cannot afford to pay to keep an non-airworthy, unflyable plane sitting on the tarmac at some airfield! Get a grip!

If the seller couldn't afford to keep it they should have sold it on to someone who could. In fact why purchase it in the first place if your intention was to leave it sitting in Weston for god knows how long and then have it destroyed.

Your right I don't know this person's circumstances but this is not the same as "getting rid of a car etc to lower cost's" and whether it was flying or not is irrelevant in my opinion. This aircraft was sitting at Weston throughout the boom years with nothing done to it.

There should have been an effort made to sell it on. There would have been plenty of US buyers for this even in it's present condition.

Mr Benevolent

Historic as it was, it was also a completely unairworthy liability. Nice to look at, useless to own. Might as well have been an aluminium sculpture for all the practicality it had.

bombs away

Well if I offended anyone with my intial remarks then I apologise, they might have come across as abit strong but it's deeply saddening to me that a once beautiful aircraft such as this has ended it's life in this way

Xpro

Little all you know there is plenty of people that would love to get their hands on that aircraft.There is tones of planes like that and they are restored to perfection, but obvoisuly still not airworthy as thats not the aim of the restoration.

Check out this warbirds museum, another catalina in similar state waiting to be restored.

http://www.warbirdsite.com/RNZAF_Museum_Wigram.html

Quebec Delta Mike

Hi,

Bad and all as this is, the fate of the Buccaneer is still also in doubt. Unless a buyer is found, it could end up as scrap as well.(The bean counters in charge of this one!)
It is engine-less, and rotting away in the open for a few years now.

QDM