PBY Being Restored

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MIflyer said:
Well, here is another one. Note the window in the wing support.

View attachment 685479
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There was limited access to the wing from that position. I have mentioned in another thread, as skinny 14 year olds, my friend and I could enter the wing from the topside inspection panel near the wing tip and crawl through to the opposite panel on the other wing. One could also exit into the fuselage through the center pylon/strut.
 
GrauGeist said:
Is that a PBY-5A?
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Yes, it is PBY-5A although I heard something about it originally being built as a -5 and the converted to a -5A by the addition of the landing gear. That serial number was the first USN PBY to claim a U-boat, so it was in service early. I've read that after the -5A became the standard model produced the British actually converted a number of -5A back to the -5 configuration because they preferred the lighter weight that accompanied the lack of landing gear. I'd guess that the versions without the gear required less maintenance and were less prone to leak, too.
 
Yes, and my high school teacher said that one of the engineer's duties was to watch those tubes, which showed the fuel going to the engines and let out a yell if he saw any water, especially on takeoff. Maybe he could switch tanks to fix that.

I read where on British PBY crew said they were given canned goods so they could have something to eat for their very long ASW missions out of South Africa. They would take those canned goods and toss them in the bottom of their ship, and for very little money would buy fresh steaks and cook them during the flight. The canned goods served as emergency rations in the event they ended up on some beach somewhere due to mechanical problems. I wonder how many pounds of canned goods they ended up hauling around before they presumably removed them during a refit.
 
MIflyer said:
Yes, my friend's father owned and operated that place. The PBY's were popular with oil companies. After his father died he did not want to run the business, so most of the stocks of spare parts were buried just to get rid of them.
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Hank Wallach owned Pan-Air and after he died it stayed in business for many more years, I know, I worked there. When it was bought out by Million Air the parts/paint hangar and a rental space where Buddy Potter rebuilt Widgeons was emptied. The spares (more than just PBY parts, C-46,B-17 and Grumman Goose parts also) were sold off and the building was razed. That space was then used as more tiedown area before a new Fuel Farm was installed next door to it. Then it was used to park fuel trucks. The Pan-Air/Million Air Hangar that had stood since before WW2 was knocked down by an approx. 20' high wall of water that washed over the airport during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
 
That's sad to learn. I haven't been to Lakefront Airport since before Katrina. It was my go to place between service calls until I retired in 2002.
 
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