Catalina

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Found a photo with the Cat. It looks like the one in the first set of photos posted. I know Al Hansen (the guy who owned it when I workd on it) sold her about 6 months after this photo was taken. When this was taken we were giving her a test flight after performing a bunch of maintenance. This Cat was a firebomber in Spain and was flown from the Canary Islands to California in 60 hours! After we did some work on it, Al Hansen flew her to Alaska (I didn't get to go ). Check old issues of "Air Classics," she appeared on the cover. On this day I played "instant flight engineer." I was given a 10 minute check out in the FEs station, was told what to look for, and the next thing I know we're airborne. Fun flight, but we didn't land on the water.
 

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Blitzkrieg Bop said:
And, how was the flight?
Click to expand...

We went out for about 1 hour, got up to abot 5000 msl. The right engine had some spark plugs starting to foul, so we stayed in the local area. All the time we were crusing at abot 90 knots. I was hoping I might have a chance to fly, but that didn't happen, I had to stay content and play flight engineer (who sits in the little area between the wing and the fuselage.

All in all I think I could of kept up with this Cat in my Cessna 150!
 
I would find it an honour to ride in an aircraft such as the cat or any war time craft to me Its all about getting connection to the fellas who played their part.
 
Thanks Track, I've been very lucky, alot of it had to do where I lived "Palmdale and Lancaster, California," I consider this area the meca of aviation; you have a bunnch of guys in the local area that owns these aircraft, all types of general aviation operations, and then Edwards AFB is close by as well. If it wasn't so bloody windy there all the time, the place would be perfect!

Working as a mechanic and inspector on these things gave me a lot of experience!
 
Thanks Track! The next thing I'm working on is my "LOA" in the L-29. This will allow me to fly her solo. That's a goal right now, fly a high performance jet solo. Someday I hope to get checked out in an F-86.
 
Ive been in the NZ marked example, and I am glad even for that experience. I was able to walk right through the accessible areas, including the office. The good thing is that this plane is based about 3/4 of an hours drive from here, and as such is always availiable for a purve. They also have an old hulk as spares. This hulk, I think was from up the pacific islands some years ago. It was bought in to NZ as a static restoration project, but after removing the tail with an axe, it must have been sold on to the current owners.
 
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