MAAA Wingspan

14 15 Aeromodeller Garry Bromley and his father Bill Bromley first witnessed the 108-inch PBY Catalina take its maiden flight at HMAS Albatross, Nowra. Forty- five years later, and passed down from a couple of owners, Garry and Bill have been rebuilding the badly damaged model with a copy of the original plans. Garry recalls the first time he saw the PBY Catalina’s maiden flight with his father at the far runway of HMAS Albatross. At age 54, Garry and his father, Bill, aged 74, are restoring the damaged PBY Catalina after suffering a crash landing. “When I first saw this model, I was around nine years old. It was sitting in the sun on a large tar runway. This was a remarkable memory for me, and I never forgot it over the years, as with most who saw it fly that day,” Garry said. Nowra modeller George Parkinson built the PBY Catalina 108-inch circa 1975, and the model was painted with the bold colours of the Canadian Forestry Service. Garry says that the original plan was enlarged from a 74-inch wingspan and re-released by the original designer at 108 inches. “The Catalina is an unusual design being amphibious. It ended up being a very rugged and useful design during war service and after most were sold into commercial service. The model had a reasonable amount of scale detail for the period. This included folding wing floats as per the full-size aircraft.” “At the time it was built, it was probably one of the biggest RC models in the country. In comparison to today’s ‘giant scale’, it’s small. But at the time, it was using two of the biggest motors available, which were imported from the UK. This attracted a lot of attention and was quite a commitment by George, given the lack of internet resource and support available at the time. “George went to a lot of trouble to paint and detail the model to match the full-size aircraft. He also crafted a beautiful timber transport cradle which is a piece of furniture. This model (at that period) would have been more at home in a museum. But George was keen to see it fly.” frommaiden flight to restoring a piece of history At the time, Nowra did not have many experienced large scale RC modellers. To find a pilot for his model, George reached out to the Illawarra Model Flying Club, where member Doug James offered to maiden the PBY. “My dad took me down to HMAS Albatross on the day with many other members there to support Doug James and George. Many modellers travelled from Sydney, Canberra and the Illawarra to see the PBY fly,” Garry said. Years later, George Parkinson sold the model to a local Nowra pilot, Mick Beverly. “Unfortunately, Mick had a loss of power on approach to landing, and the 108-inch PBY was damaged during the heavy landing. Luckily not a “write off” and so Mick stored the model and cradle wanting to repair it in the future.” Mick then gave Bill an FRP replacement fuselage for the broken PBY and he used Mick’s plans to produce a second ‘daughter’ airframe. At the same time, Garry concentrated on repairing the damage to the original model. They planned to restore it to its original condition with the only variation of an electric motor conversion. “Dad and I wanted to restore the model for various reasons. These include the Nowra and Illawarra history and the current modellers involved, such as Mick, who deserve to see the model back in the air. There are not a lot of larger PBY Catalina models around, so it’s important for me that NSW and ACT members get to see it out and about,” Garry said. “Currently the wings have been fully restored and covered with Oracover from Germany. The bow has been reattached, and I’m in the process of grafting planks back into position. The tailplane has also been restored.” “At some point it will return to a field, hopefully Cootamundra!” “When I first saw this model, I was around nine years old. It was sitting in the sun on a large tar runway. This was a remarkable memory for me, and I never forgot it over the years, as with most who saw it fly that day.”