Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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User avatar
By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1807468
vintage ATCO wrote:My print of the Catalina has arrived from Eoghan! Simply stunning.


Sadly mine is disappointing, with a wrongly proportioned white border which looks most odd in a simple frame.
I am awaiting Eoghan's comments.

I'll keep you posted
#1807473
PeteSpencer wrote:
vintage ATCO wrote:My print of the Catalina has arrived from Eoghan! Simply stunning.


Sadly mine is disappointing, with a wrongly proportioned white border which looks most odd in a simple frame.
I am awaiting Eoghan's comments.

I'll keep you posted


Hey Peter,

Could you check you inbox and the junk folder for my reply to your email? Sometimes my emails end up in the junk folder... It was sent at 5.05...

Thanks

Eoghan
#1807492
malcolmfrost wrote:Incidentally, if you are ever in Anglesey. just North of Beaumaris there is a slipway which was used by Catalinas being converted at the Saunders-Roe factory.


The hangars (falling apart when I last saw them) are behind a house called Fryars. This was occupied by the Burton family in the late 19thC into the 20th. My grandmother, Martha Green, was head cook there in 1898 at the age of 18. The house was requisitioned in 1939 to move Saunders Roe in from the IoW.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfaes_Friary
Dave W, Iceman, Flyin'Dutch' and 1 others liked this
#1807501
An extract from an article I have . . .

" ....... the Saunders-Roe Design Department at Cowes on the Isle of Wight was right in the forefront of the Battle of Britain and air raid warnings were causing major disruption to production. For this reason, it was decided to disperse the workforce to less vulnerable locations.

The ideal place was found at Beaumaris on the Isle of Anglesey. It offered a deep and sheltered strip of water, roughly in line with the prevailing wind and stretching four miles westwards to Menai Bridge. A fifty acre estate, north of the town, with a country house called 'Fryars' and sufficient land to build hangars and a slipway, was selected.

In the Summer of 1940, Saunders-Roe Ltd had been awarded a contract to manufacture modification sets for Catalinas, which were soon expected to arrive from the USA. (Because of non-standardisation between countries, a considerable number of changes in equipment were needed for the aircraft to be used operationally by the RAF)

Initially, all the Beaumaris Catalinas were ferried across the Atlantic to Largs near Prestwick on the Scottish coast, before transit to Beaumaris but from November 1942, they flew direct to Beaumaris, from Bermuda. Aircraft built by the Canadian Boeing Company flew in from Goose Bay in Canada. The first few crews managed to avoid customs inspection but officialdom soon noticed the loophole, and a sudden check produced an enormous haul of silk stockings, tobacco and spirits. At first, the delivery crews were civilians - adventurers who undertook the arduous and risky flight for the devilment of it. When America came into the war, military crews took over and as a Flying Officer with the RCAF, Hughie Green, the late television personality and game show host, was one of the Catalina ferry pilots. Later on, ATA delivery crews frequently carried out flights to and from Fryars."
Charles Hunt, Morten, Ian Melville and 2 others liked this
User avatar
By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1807541
Eoghan wrote:
PeteSpencer wrote:
vintage ATCO wrote:My print of the Catalina has arrived from Eoghan! Simply stunning.


Sadly mine is disappointing, with a wrongly proportioned white border which looks most odd in a simple frame.
I am awaiting Eoghan's comments.

I'll keep you posted


Hey Peter,

Could you check you inbox and the junk folder for my reply to your email? Sometimes my emails end up in the junk folder... It was sent at 5.05...

Thanks

Eoghan


Email received and replied:
Suggestion made, otherwise option 1, please.
Cheers
Peter
User avatar
By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1807549
I've just been reading 'Ferry Command Pilot' by Don McVicar. Civilian opening up the ferry route for Military a/c from Canada to Scotland in WWII.

I found it fascinating.

(Not Catalinas. Apologies for thread drift)
User avatar
By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1807560
rf3flyer wrote:If you want to read about Catalinas then I highly recommend 'The Sky Beyond' by Sir Gordon Taylor. It's not about their military use but about civilian long distance route pioneering in and across the South Pacific.


Thank you for the suggestion. I have just read the first few sentences on kindle sample about Sir Gordon's first flying lesson and laughed out loud at his dry sense of humour. I've treated myself to a copy :D
#1807626
I flew over Miss Pick Up today, still on the hard though the crane was gone.
It looks like the new engine is in place and the propeller is on with what looked like the same blade pitch setting as the port side, ie. not feathered.

While I certainly wish it was better I make no apology for the poor image quality of this since flying a single seat aircraft while trying to take photos is not easy.
Image
T6Harvard, Hooligan, Miscellaneous and 1 others liked this
#1807788
Rob L wrote:That dock looks almost purpose-built (apart from the lack of a ramp :lol: )

Quite a story to tell. There we were living the dream of a quiet life on the banks of Loch Ness, enjoying the peace and tranquility. Pottering in the workshop by day, sitting contemplating our fortune by evening and before we knew it we had a 150 tonne crane parked on our land lifting an aerolpane out the loch and depsoiting on our property. Our workshop taken over by a team of engineers and media and sightseeers galore by road, water and air. :lol:
T6Harvard, Iceman, Pete L and 1 others liked this
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