Tuesday, November 7, 2017

We used to make things in this country, #277 Catalina Flying boats

Peter Piggot, Taming the Skies, A Celebration of Canadian Flight, Dundurn Press, 2003
In 1941, Canadian Vickers of Montreal was contracted to build the PBY Catalina flying boat. In total between the two plants the company controlled, 312 were built, many of which were were supplied to the US war effort. The Duke reminded me of a previous post he had made of a PBY he found locally, I wonder where it was built.

2 comments:

Steve said...

Boeing also operated a plant at Sea Island near Vancouver BC. From 1942 to 1945, the plant built 362 Catalinas, along with several other aircraft as well as sub-assemblies for the B-29 bombers.

http://seaisland1.homestead.com/Boeing.html

Mister G said...

Thanks for the addition! The book I was reading only mentioned Boeing in passing. I'll have to look for more information on that operation, hopefully find enough for a post.