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Whidbey
News Times
'Gerral's Girl' greeted warmly by PBY lovers at Seaplane Base
By JUSTIN BURNETT
Whidbey News Times Staff reporter
Jul 13 2010, 3:57 PM
Aviation lovers, veterans, U.S. Navy
dignitaries, former newspaper pubishers, even a state representative
showed up to Simard Hall on the Seaplane Base Saturday, July
10, to permanently welcome back a PBY 5A Catalina flying boat
that once called Whidbey Island home.
PBY Memorial Foundation
members Will Stern and Win Stites secure the U.S. Navy flag onto
a PBY flying boat while Naval Air Station Whidbey Island’s
commanding officer, Capt. Gerral David, speaks about the historic
aircraft.
The historic aircraft, which was stationed
on Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in 1943, was recently purchased
by the PBY Memorial Foundation and transported to the Seaplane
Base. It’s to be restored and put on permanent display just
outside the foundation’s museum in Simard Hall.
“I’ve only got one word, ‘awesome,’”
said foundation President Win Stites, of Saturday’s dedication
ceremony.
A sizable crowd turned out for the event
that officially welcomed the PBY home after its 67-year absence.
Speakers included Stites, the widow of the one of the aircraft’s
first pilots, and base commander Capt. Gerral David.
David commended the foundation for its
work to acquire the plane, as it was an effort that spanned about
12 years. It will serve as a unique attraction for the Seaplane
Base and is a piece of Whidbey Island’s history, he said.
“This is truly part of the legacy
that informs our future,” David said.
Norwood Cole, who died in 2000, was one
of the plane’s earliest pilots. He flew the PBY in the Aleutian
Island campaign of World War II. David said the families of servicemen,
such as Cole’s wife Phillis, also make sacrifices and deserve
special recognition.
“She is a patriot that shared her
husband and son with the Navy,” David said.
The Coles’ son, Peter, retired as
a commander after a 26-year career in the Navy.
Phillis Cole said her husband, along
with his fellow pilots and crew, flew their missions in hostile
weather and under enemy fire for the preservation of freedom,
and that she was honored that their contribution was being memorialized.
“It is exciting to me and our son,
Peter, to be able to honor these brave young men after all these
years for service to their country,” Phillis Cole said.
“May this PBY Catalina always stand as a living reminder
of the sacrifices made by our flyers in World War II.”
The foundation is planning an extensive
restoration project over the next few years. If it can acquire
the funding, it will invest up to $150,000 into the aircraft
in several project phases. While the restoration will be extensive,
there are no plans to restore the PBY to flight-ready status.
The dedication ceremony was concluded
when Phillis and Peter Cole broke a champagne bottle over one
of the aircraft’s cleats, officially rechristening it as
“Gerral’s Girl.” According to Stites, the foundation
may have secured the aircraft, but Capt. David deserves much
credit. He has not only made it possible for the foundation to
set up its museum in Simard Hall, but he also OK’d the PBY’s
return onto base property.
“Capt. David made this possible
for us,” Stites said.
The foundation is looking for people
to help restore the aircraft. Those interested in volunteering
can leave a message at the museum by calling 360-240-9500.
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Northwest
Navigator
PBY Catalina returns home permanently after 64 years
By Tony Popp
NAS Public Affairs reporter/photographer
Thursday, July 1, 2010
A sign on
the nose of the PBY-5A Catalina says it all.
Members of the PBY Memorial Foundation
watched their dream become reality June 25 as a WWII-era PBY
Catalina seaplane was brought in to NAS Whidbey Island by Columbia
Helicopters at about 9:30 a.m. Some onlookers were quite overwhelmed
by the arrival on which they had worked over a decade to achieve
“We had tears in our eyes,”
said Win Stites, president of the PBY Memorial Foundation and
former VP-91 Catalina aircrew member. “We felt it was worth
all the effort.”
The foundation worked with Columbia Helicopters,
who used one of their Chinook helicopters to deliver the PBY-5A
to Oak Harbor. The seaplane was hoisted and flown from a location
near the Skagit Valley Airport to the parking lot next to the
PBY Memorial Foundation Museum in Simard Hall.
With the exception of the wingtips that
were removed and delivered to the Seaplane Base by ground transport
last month, the seaplane remains in its original condition, just
as it was when it was in service at NAS Whidbey Island in the
early 1940’s. With the wingtips removed, the aircraft weighs
approximately 18,000 pounds.
The transport flight took about 30 minutes,
and covered 18 nautical miles. Tending lines as the fuselage
was lowered down to the parking lot were Aviation Boatswain’s
Mate (Handling) 1st Class Michael Feliciano, Aviation Boatswain’s
Mate (Equipment) 2nd Class Brian Deroulet and Aviation Electronics
Technician 2nd Class John Spencer.
This project was organized by the PBY
Memorial Foundation and coordinated with Capt. Gerral David,
Commanding Officer of NAS Whidbey Island.
“I want to thank the Navy for where
we are now,” said Stites, “and military veterans and
supporters like Eileen Brown (retired NAS Whidbey base newspaper
“Crosswind” editor), the late Dorothy Neil (long-time
Oak Harbor resident, author and city historian) and the skippers
of the base who had the vision, especially Capt. David, who opened
it (space in Simard hall) up to us.”
Stites and his wife Donna had no idea
a visit to NAS Whidbey Island to see his “old base”
in the summer of 1998 would change their lives and that of many
PBY fans forever. They had come to Oak Harbor as a gift from
their children when they lived in Yakima, Wash., and dropped
by Simard Hall to visit the base newspaper “Crosswind”
office. By Sept. 22, 1998, 14 people had come together for lunch,
set the wheels in motion and the rest is history.
By late 1999, the group became a foundation
and then received permanent status as a non-profit organization
in 2004. From 14 members, the group now numbers about 300. For
many years, Stites had a standing column in Crosswind entitled
“Cat Tales,” depicting harrowing and humorous stories
along with his own original artwork of the PBY.
“We were naïve at the time;
we thought it would be easy to get a PBY,” said Stites,
who now makes his home in Coupeville. “Talking to former
crewmen, many of whom are gone now, we wanted to get a Catalina
in memory of crews who served at NAS Whidbey.”
Nostalgically speaking, customers of
the main Navy Exchange are also walking in history as that structure
was once a PBY hangar. With the hard work of so many, there is
something tangible today to remind young and old alike of the
role of the PBY Catalina in WWII, the history it played at NAS
Whidbey Island and the sacrifice and honor of those who flew
it.
Official dedication of the static aircraft
display is planned for 1 p.m. on July 10 at the PBY Memorial
Foundation on the Seaplane Base.
© 2010 Sound Publishing, Inc.
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Colette Weeks | Skagit Valley Herald
June 26, 2010
 A World War II-era PBY-5A seaplane
was picked up from a field near Skagit County Regional Airport
Friday morning and flown to the PBY Memorial Foundation museum
display at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Oak Harbor.
It was great news for the foundation,
which has been trying to get a plane since its founding in 1998.
The museum has various items connected to WWII, Korea and Vietnam
war history, but no aircraft, until now.
Everything had been too expensive or
too far away, according to foundation Chairman Richard Rezabek.
This particular seaplane, which happened to be at Skagit Regional
Airport, came available about four months ago, and the foundation
was able to purchase it for the right price—about $60,000,
he said.
Dan Sweet of Columbia Helicopters Inc.
of Portland, Ore., said the seaplane weighed 16,800 pounds. Using
a Chinook helicopter, pilots were able to fly at speeds up to
60 knots during transport, he said.
Some light rain fell as they approached
Oak Harbor, but the seaplane “flew” every bit as well
today as it did years ago, he said.
“Our helicopter pilots had been
slightly concerned it might want to wander as it flew, but it
stayed straight and steady all the way to Oak Harbor. In our
estimation, the process could not have gone any better,”
Sweet said.
The PBY Memorial Foundation was established
in 1998 to preserve NAS Whidbey aviation history, the PBY Catalina
and the Seaplane Base at Oak Harbor, according to its website.
But that mission was expanded. The foundation now aims to preserve
all aircraft that were based and flown from NAS Whidbey since
1942.
The PBY-5A is the amphibious version
of the PBY Catalina and served missions including search and
rescue and as antisubmarine warcraft.
WANT TO GO?
A luncheon and auction will be held at 11:30 a.m. July 9 at the
NAS Whidbey Chief Petty Officer’s Club. For information
and reservations, call 360-240-9500. The plane will be dedicated
on July 10.
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Whidbey
News Times
Whidbey PBY returns to the Seaplane Base
By JUSTIN BURNETT
Whidbey News Times Staff reporter
Jul 01 2010
 After a 67-year absence, a PBY 5A Catalina seaplane
can once again call Whidbey Island Naval Air Station home.
The flying boat, which was stationed
in Oak Harbor in 1945, arrived at the Seaplane Base Friday, June
25, from a location near Skagit County Airport.
The local nonprofit group PBY Memorial
Foundation purchased the plane earlier this year from Spring
Valley Bank in Skagit County, ending a 12-year search for one
of the historic aircraft.
Seeing it land safe and sound at a parking
lot near Simard Hall was for many foundation members, especially
those who served on PBYs during World War II, a deeply personal
and meaningful occasion, said Richard Rezabek, chair of the foundation’s
board of directors.
“We had one of our members kissing
the airplane,” Rezabek said.
Adding to the emotional homecoming was
the perilous journey the aircraft undertook to get to Whidbey
Island. The PBY was not airworthy and had to be transported with
a Chinook heavy-lift helicopter. Thankfully, the transport of
the 16,500 pound seaplane went swimmingly, Rezabek said.
“It was a precision maneuver,”
he said.
 The
flight from Skagit County to Whidbey only took only about 25
minutes but the transport was complicated. A special harness
had to be designed for the aircraft and foundation members had
to arrange for the temporary closure of Highway 20 and another
small farm road in Skagit County.
The entire transport was also a closely
guarded secret, Rezabek said. The foundation had specific instructions
from the Navy not to publicize the airplanes arrival. According
to NAS spokesperson Kimberly Martin, Capt. Gerral David, the
commanding officer of the base, gave specific instructions to
keep the arrival under wraps. The plane was going to be dropped
off on base property and he couldn’t allow the swarms of
people that showed up to see another PBY come in at Oak Harbor
Marina in 2009, Martin said.
According to Jim Siggens, a foundation
member who played a key role in the aircraft’s purchase,
this PBY has an interesting history. Built and then stationed
on Whidbey Island in 1943, the seaplane went on to serve two
tours in the Aleutian Islands campaign of WWII being flown by
Lt. j.g. Norwood Cole.
Where it went and what it’s done
since is still somewhat of a mystery as the plane’s logbook
was confiscated, and lost, by the U.S. Marshal’s office
about 15 years ago. Apparently, one of the previous owners had
been using the aircraft to run drugs.
 Although
the plane was also confiscated in the bust, it ended up in the
hands of an oil company that used it in the Gulf of Mexico. It
was later damaged in an accident in Montana and from there it
was disassembled and trucked to Skagit County, where it has remained
for the past 10 years.
“It’s a convoluted situation
is what it is,” Siggens said.
But whatever its past, the foundation
owns the aircraft free and clear. Over the next few years, the
group hopes to spend about $150,000 on a three-phase restoration.
The first phase will be largely cosmetic work, such as new paint,
tires and the installation of side gunner blisters and a nose
piece.
Phase two will see the restoration of
the cockpit, while phase three would be total refurbishment.
How long it takes could depend largely on the number of volunteers
the foundation gets to help do the work, Rezabek said.
People interested in working on the plane
can leave a message at the PBY Memorial Foundation museum by
calling 240-9500.
A dedication for the plane will be held
Saturday, July 10, at 1 p.m. at Simard Hall on the Seaplane Base.
Speakers will include base commander Capt. Gerral David; Norwood
Cole’s wife, Phyllis Cole; and several foundation members.
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Whidbey
News Times
PBY Seaplane coming back to Oak Harbor for permanent exhibit
By JENNY MANNING
Whidbey News
Times Reporter
 Apr 11 2010
More than 11 years, 136 newsletters and
282 members later, the PBY Memorial Foundation finally achieved
its goal of “Project Seaplane.”
Or as the bright yellow fundraising buttons
proclaim, “The cat came back.” The Catalina PBY, that
is.
On Wednesday, the foundation purchased
a PBY after nearly a dozen years of fundraising and searching
for an available aquatic aircraft. The plane will be transported
to Oak Harbor later this year for a permanent static display
on the Seaplane Base.
Many Whidbey residents saw it in action
last summer when one landed in Crescent Harbor for the first
time in decades.
The historic planes may be one of the
most versatile to ever grace the skies, said PBY Memorial Foundation
member Jim Siggens. The Marine Corps rigged bombs under the PBY’s
wings, converting the seaplanes into bombers for the battle of
Guadalcanal, and the U.S. Army Air Corps used the PBY to ferry
“some of the top brass” from island to island before
the Seebees constructed airstrips.
What began as a small, passionate group
of 14 members who met at the CPO Club for lunch on Sept. 22,
1998 to discuss a PBY purchase, blossomed into the PBY Memorial
Foundation Association and later became the PBY Memorial Foundation,
a nonprofit organization, in 1999.
Since then the group has faced its fair
share of ups and downs.
There’s been four planes within
reach, and all but this last one got away, Siggens said.
They’d been short on funds, out-bid
and even hit with international adversity over a PBY in Canada.
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity arose
and “this was it,” he said. “We were way short.
There was $8,600 in the bank and we needed to raise $50,000 in
less than a week.”
A bank-owned PBY, near Skagit County
Airport, was up for sale, he said. It seemed like this could
be the foundation’s last shot to acquire one.
The membership met on a Tuesday, he recalled,
and in 50 hours the they gathered $50,000.
“Some of it was outright; some of
it was loans,” Siggens said. “ All of it is from the
membership. I am so proud of this group.”
The private loans will need to be repaid,
so the foundation has a lot of fundraising left to do, but the
payoff is worth it, he said.
“We’re no longer a lunch bunch,”
joked Win Stites, a fellow founding member.
“This day would not have happened
without Whidbey Island Naval Air Station Captain Gerral David,”
Siggens said. “God bless him; he’s bent over backwards
to restore historical importance on base.”
Since the commissioning of the Seaplane
Base on Sept. 21, 1942, which took place on the steps of Building
12—the current home of the PBY Command Display —Whidbey
Island Naval Air Station has undergone major changes to accommodate
the rapid evolution of technology. The goal of the PBY Memorial
Foundation is to preserve the history that made today’s
operations possible.
“The PBY is to this base as the
cannon is to Fort Casey,” said Dolores Meisch, wife of founding
Foundation member Adoph Meisch.
Stites anticipates the plane’s arrival
sometime in May and the group is already planning a dedication
ceremony for June.
The plane is no longer airworthy, so
one option is to airlift it to the Seaplane Base via helicopter,
Siggens said.
The static display will be located on
the former PBY tarmac on the right-hand side of Maui Avenue near
the Seaplane Base gate.
Whidbey News Times Reporter Jenny Manning
can be reached at jmanning@whidbeynewstimes.com.
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HaroldNet
Oak Harbor museum hoping for historic seaplane
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
By Kristi O'Harran, Herald Columnist
The wartime exhibits in Oak Harbor that
would fit inside a typical three-bedroom rambler may be lean
of space.
But they’re huge of heart.
Veterans, spouses and those interested
in military history are fashioning a place to reminisce about
combat from World War II through Iraq.
When you walk into the historic building
on the Naval Station Whidbey seaplane base, there is a USO-type
canteen. A Nat King Cole tune played on a 1940 Wurlitzer jukebox.
Joyce Tighe greeted visitors at the front
door like cherished uncles at Thanksgiving. The widow’s
husband, Don Tighe, was a radioman in Korea and Vietnam.
She guided folks past a replica of the
USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii.
“Come into World War II,” she
beckoned.
Tighe knew all the wonders at the PBY
Memorial Foundation Historical Display in Oak Harbor.
The display features information on the
PBY, an amphibian aircraft flown by the U.S. Navy, Army and Coast
Guard in the 1940s. It was known as “Dumbo,” and served
as a rescue craft, anti-submarine weapon, minelayer and transport
for people and materials.
The first PBY came to the seaplane base
on Whidbey Island in 1942, piloted by Lt. J.A. Morrison. He made
several sweeps before landing because there were too many logs
in the harbor.
There is a picture at the Oak Harbor
display of that first crew and pilot. Visitors can also see rooms
dedicated to eras in history, a PBY nose turret and wing, flight
goggles, vintage crew clothing, aircraft models, a flight simulator,
library and gift shop.
Visitors can even take some time to listen
to oral histories on tape.
It seemed odd there was no PBY hanging
from the rafters or tethered in the parking lot. Acquiring a
PBY is all part of a dream for the foundation.
The hold up?
They need about $250,000 to make a purchase.
Members hope to surround a plane in a memorial hangar with dioramas,
crew documentaries, a video theater, lecture hall and children’s
center.
To become a member, mail $25 to PBY Memorial
Foundation, Box 941, Oak Harbor, WA, 98277-0941.
In celebration of the 67th anniversary
of the seaplane base, a PBY flew in Friday and folks may see
it today and Thursday. Drop by the seaplane base during daylight
hours. It might leave at noon Friday, but the time isn’t
firm, said Richard Rezabek, who served in the Navy for 33 years
and is chairman of the board of directors for the PBY group.
Rezabek said he enjoys putting exhibits
together at the display on Pioneer Way in Oak Harbor.
If you make a visit, any of the volunteers
will be fine guides. You’ll hear personal stories from warm
hearts that admire those who served our country and the equipment
they favored.
“I think it’s important to
keep the history of every airplane alive,” Tighe said. “People
who flew the PBY are getting fewer and fewer.”
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451,
oharran@heraldnet.com
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Oct 06 2009, 2:02 PM
The PBY Catalina fly-in to the Naval
Air Station Whidbey Island Seaplane Base on Friday, Sept. 18,
was a thrill to many who had never seen such an aircraft fly
except in movies or on the History Channel. This plane and the
crews that served her are the stuff of history.
The PBY Memorial Foundation required
a great deal of effort to bring this plane to Whidbey Island.
With gratitude the PBYMF thanks the U.S. Navy Command at Naval
Air Station Whidbey Island for all of the help and cooperation
given by the Navy as well as naval contractors who made this
fly-in possible.
Of special note is the herculean effort
given by the firefighters of Oak Harbor and NAS Whidbey. Their
contributions were many, including site preparation, displays
of equipment, wash-down of the aircraft (salt water corrodes
aluminum), locational and advertising signage and a great deal
more.
Our local firefighters volunteer to put
their health and lives on the line to protect us and the things
we value. Many people do not think about them until they need
them … and then, they really need them!
We hated to see the PBY leave, but it
has places to go and things to do while the fire season continues.
We hope to see it back here soon.
The firefighters will not be leaving,
and we can thank God for that. They are such an invisible (usually)
part of our community that we often take them for granted.
The PBYMF and the City of Oak Harbor
owe them a huge debt of gratitude.
Jim Siggens
Oak Harbor
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Whidbey News Times
PBY Catalina
turns into time machine: Oak Harbor sees 60 years into the past
By LIZ BURLINGAME
Whidbey News Times Reporter
Sep 18 2009, 4:35 PM
Photos by Nathan Whalen/Whidbey News-Times
Click here to view photos of the event.
A huge Oak Harbor crowd Tuesday afternoon
welcomed the return of the legendary PBY Catalina the Seaplane
Base after an absence of six decades.
At 12:48 p.m., just 12 minutes shy of
its landing, the PBY Catalina made a sweep over the base as the
multitude craned their necks to get a glimpse at it.
"The old cat looks the same,"
Win Stites, PBY Memorial Foundation president, said, standing
among the throng anxious to renew their acquaintance with the
beloved flying and floating warhorse.
Stites patrolled the North Pacific for
a year and a half as a flight engineer, and was one of many at
the fly-in ceremony with memories of the old, flying boats.
The aircraft made its landing in Crescent
Harbor and it's one of only 21 remaining airworthy PBY Catalinas.
It will remain on the Seaplane Base for
the next week, open for public view.
Oak Harbor resident Beverly Souza says
she remembers the planes as a child, when she was a part of the
"waterfront gang." Kids were allowed to play around
the airplanes on the Seaplane Base and even crawl on them, she
said.
"We would pick up driftwood and
pretend to shoot at them," Souza said. "It was an exciting
time to be a kid here."
The Seaplane Base saw its first Catalina
in Dec. 1942 and the population in Oak Harbor soon tripled. There
were 16 squadrons in Oak Harbor, Stites said, and there were
20 to 30 seaplanes tied to the ramps at a time.
In World War II, PBYs were used in patrol
bombing, convoy escorts and search and rescue missions, among
others.
Oak Harbor residents became accustomed
to PBY planes training for missions in the Aleutian Islands,
Stites said, where Japanese forces had attacked.
During Friday's landing, base security
asked the crowd to move behind fire trucks after the plane touched
the water and pulled in. The nose wheel didn't lock into place
as it came up the ramp, so the plane backed up for a second attempt.
The crowd quickly swarmed the Catalina
for a closer inspection.
"In the past, guys in wet suits
would attach the wheels and a tractor would pull it up,"
Stites said.
Stites described the Catalina as the
"finest example of the remaining planes." It's owned
by Bud Rude of Spanaway and piloted by Fred Owens and Craig Haws.
The PBY landing followed a National Prisoners
of War/Missing in Action Recognition Day service at the Memorial
Fountain.
The guest speaker Lt. Cmdr. Brian Danielson,
a member of the National League of Families for POW/MIAs whose
father was shot down over Laos in 1965.
Danielson joined an expedition in 2006
to search for his father's remains. The team found a DNA match,
and his family was able to hold a memorial in 2007, nearly 37
years after his death in combat during the Vietnam war.
"One of the amazing aspects was
to see 250 motorcycles show up and form a perimeter of flags
around the whole church," Danielson said.
The Brothers in Arms Motorcycle Club
donated a POW/MIA flag for the afternoon ceremony.
"We hope these ceremonies can go
on," Chris Gomes, president of the motorcyle club said.
"We can't forget until all of them come home."
Butch Larsen, a four-year prisoner of
the Japanese, helped raise the POW/MIA flag as the Electronic
Attack Squadron 129 performed a formation fly-by.
Members of the Oak Harbor High School
band opened the ceremony with the "Star Spangled Banner."
Whidbey News Times Reporter Liz Burlingame
can be reached at eburlingame@whidbeynewstimes.com or 360-675-6611.
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|
 Sep 16 2009
by Jenny Manning
reporter
The age of the PBY Catalina flying boats
has been just a distant memory of an aging Navy community in
Oak Harbor.
But that’ll all changing on Friday.
Fresh memories will form as one of the
21 remaining airworthy PBY Catalina aircraft descends upon the
waters of Crescent Harbor at about 1 p.m., a sight unseen for
approximately six decades.
“We’ve been on it for 11 years,”
said Win Stites, PBY Memorial Foundation president and founding
member, of the fly-in project. Stites led the dedicated group
of foundation volunteers who made this rare vision a reality
and praised Whidbey Island Naval Air Station commanding officer
Capt. Gerral David for his help to get a PBY on the Seaplane
Base for a one-week stay.
Stites knows the PBY inside and out.
He patrolled the North Pacific for a year and a half as a flight
engineer. While on tour he controlled the raising and lowering
of wingtip floats and engine gear and monitored fuel consumption,
oil pressure and engine instrumentation.
Stites describes the famed PBY Catalinas
as the “workhorse of the beginning of World War II.”
After the Navy lost most of its fleet
at Pearl Harbor, it turned to the PBY, he said.
Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, Calif.,
and Navy factories in Philadelphia and New Orleans produced most
of the 3,272 PBYs, and a small number of “Cats” originated
from the Boeing facility in Vancouver, B.C.
The PBY may be one of the most versatile
aircraft to grace the skies, said Jim Siggens, PBY Memorial Foundation
member. The Marine Corps rigged bombs under the PBY’s wings,
converting the seaplanes into bombers for the battle of Guadalcanal,
and the U.S. Army Air Corps used the PBY to ferry “some
of the top brass” from island to island before the Seebees
constructed airstrips.
“This plane has been used by everybody
for pretty much everything,” he said.
Siggens and a NAS Whidbey film specialist
will be in the air filming the PBY’s arrival. The members
of the PBY Memorial Foundation hope to use the footage for a
documentary video.
The plane’s owner, Bud Rude of Spanaway,
said these special “amphibian” airplanes continue to
provide important services today. They fly passengers into remote
destinations and drop water on forest fires.
“It’s very, very unique unto
its own,” he said.
Rude earned his wings as a commercial
pilot in 1948, but is wasn’t until much later that he learned
to fly the PBY from retired Navy pilot Pat Cozier.
“It’s an airplane and a boat
all tangled up in one,” he said with admiration. “To
operate in the open sea - as they call it - there’s very
few planes that can do that. It’s one of the ruggedest planes
every built.”
The PBY-6A that will fly into Oak Harbor
Friday was one of the last PBYs to roll off the production line,
Rude said.
Built in 1945, the last year of PBY production,
it served the Navy until 1956. Leo Demars bought the retired
plane and used it to fight forest fires along the West Coast,
according to “Consolidated PBY Catalina, the Peacetime Record,”
by David Legg.
Rude purchased the PBY “N 85 U”
in 1983 for his company, Flying Fireman, Ltd., based out of Victoria,
B.C. Two years later, he moved the plane to Washington, where
it’s been used to fight fires ever since.
“In 15 years it’s never missed
a fire,” he said of the plane’s impeccable safety record.
Fred Owen, Rude’s longtime friend,
will pilot the PBY during its flight into Crescent Harbor Friday.
“It’s really an honor to fly
it,” Owen said. “It’s full of history.”
Owen never flew the PBY during wartime
combat, but he’s spent thousands of flight hours in the
air as a commercial pilot and battling fires in eastern Washington.
 “I’ve
come full circle,” he said of his aviation career, which
began at the age of 17 when he went to work for Rude as an air
service pilot in Alaska. Owen eventually turned to commercial
planes, but now he’s back to working for Rude as a PBY water
bomber.
The airplane requires a crew of two for
“fire combat,” Owen said, and carries up to 1,700 gallons
of water.
“In many cases, if the fire is close
to the water source, we can make drops every four to six minutes,”
he said. “Land-based planes can’t do that.”
This particular plane may return to the
Seaplane Base for good if the PBY Memorial Foundation can raise
enough money to purchase it. Rude said the plane is for sale,
at a price tag of just under $0.5 million.
The PBY Memorial Foundation has its eye
on this and other PBYs, said Stites, but the major hurdle is
funding.
The foundation has already secured three
historical education grants and is in the application process
for a fourth, he said.
“Historic education is badly needed,”
Stites said. “You don’t think about saving wartime
equipment until it’s too late.”
Stites said the foundation has also searched
for a PBM or PB5M — two other planes that later flew out
of the seaplane base — but there’s none left.
The foundation’s greatest aspiration
is to have a PBY on permanent display to serve as a memorial
to the Seaplane Base and all the crewmen who served on the PBY
from WWII and beyond. It’ll be an honor to have such a display
at NAS Whidbey, he said.
“It’s my old base and it feels
like home.”
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Whidbey News Times
Editorial: History
flies into Oak Harbor Friday
Sep 16
2009, 8:01 AM
Whidbey Islanders won’t want to
miss a piece of flying history Friday.
Look down Saratoga Passage at about 1
p.m., and go back in time approximately 65 years when the PBY
Catalina was a common sight, flying in and out of the Whidbey
Island Naval Air Station Seaplane Base.
The old base property is now a popular
destination for its city boat marina and the Navy Exchange. But
the broad seaplane ramp is still intact, and it will be used
once again as this particular Catalina rolls up onto dry ground
for a few days of public display.
 Arranged
by the PBY Memorial Foundation
with assistance from the Navy, the flying boat called the Catalina
will no doubt bring tears to the eyes of aging islanders who
manned the airplanes on their long, dangerous patrols during
World War II.
The Catalina was responsible for Oak
Harbor’s transition from a hardscrabble farm town to a thriving
Navy town. Farm families went to work building the base and working
in the myriad civilian jobs suddenly available, including keeping
Oak Harbor Bay clear of driftwood as the Catalinas came in for
a watery landing.
To see the sight of a flying Catalina,
and hear the roar that oldtimers still talk about, will be an
historic occasion in Oak Harbor, serving to unite the generations
in a common interest. The airplane is owned by Bud Rude of Deer
Park, and fittingly, it’s still a working aircraft, involved
in putting out forest fires.
The public should particularly appreciate
the PBY Memorial Association, which has done admirable work with
scant resources in recent years, from building a memorial to
the PBY crews to opening a museum at Building 12 on the Seaplane
Base. This event will give the association some well-deserved
attention and boost its efforts to eventually put a PBY Catalina
on permanent display.
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Whidbey News Times
PBY Catalina
to fly into Oak Harbor, land on Crescent Harbor
Sep 08 2009, 3:30 PM
Veteran pilots, crewmen of World War
II, Oak Harbor oldtimers and aviation history buffs will have
“eyes on the sky” over Crescent Harbor at 1 p.m. on
Friday, Sept. 18, as a familiar silhouette emerges from Saratoga
Passage.
A 1940s-vintage PBY Catalina will arrive
and land in Crescent Harbor then taxi up to the Navy Seaplane
Base for the first time in about 65 years.
The 6A model of the PBY is one of the
last flying “Cats” and is in “factory fresh condition”
according to Win Stites, a founder of the PBY Memorial Foundation
in Oak Harbor.
The Catalina is owned by Bud Rude of
Deer Park, Wash. He has piloted PBYs and a wide variety of aircraft
in his lifetime. This particular Catalina has logged an incredible
record in military and private operations, and is currently employed
as a fire fighter, scooping up water from nearby lakes and dropping
its 1,700-gallon “water bomb” on its enemy – the
forest fire.
“The visiting aircraft is truly
a living, flying piece of history,” Stites said. “The
timing of the Catalina fly-in couldn’t be better as it coincides
with the 67th anniversary of NAS Whidbey Island’s commissioning
on Sept. 21, 1942.”
PBY Catalinas were developed in the mid
1930s and produced until 1945 for a total of 3,272 planes; more
than any other Navy seaplane. They were recognized for their
versatility. Accomplishments included protecting convoys on the
Atlantic, spotting the Battleship Bismarck, locating the Japanese
fleet on the way to Midway on June 1942 and rescuing hundreds
of shipwrecked seamen and downed aviators during the dark days
of WWII.
The PBY-6A was the last model produced
by Consolidated Aircraft in San Diego. Modifications to convert
the PBY-6A from a combat seaplane to peacetime firefighting machine,
have allowed it to continue to honorably serve national and state
forestry agencies in the work of saving lives, trees and homes.
The public is invited to attend this
historic event. Once the plane has landed, it will be towed up
the ramp and tied down near the old seaplane hangar, known today
as the Navy Exchange, where it will remain for a few days.
The event, made possible with the help
of the City of Oak Harbor and the Navy, is sponsored by the PBY
Memorial Foundation. Their offices and aviation historical displays
are headquartered at building 12 on the Seaplane Base. The PBY
Memorial Foundation’s goal is to have a PBY Catalina permanently
on display to preserve the legacy of the air station and all
who have flown this aircraft.
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Sep 01 2009
My husband and I visited
the PBY Museum when vacationing at Whidbey Island. We had difficulty
finding their location, and we were so happy this event was part
of our vacation! Speaking with Adolph and Bob and hearing firsthand
insights was truly a highlight of our vacation to Whidbey Island.
Luckily in an outdated
chamber of commerce brochure the phone number for PBY Museum
was listed. They phoned us back and gave us directions.
The PBY Museum will be
our main reason for returning to Whidbey Island with our teenagers
in the future. We are also sharing our experience with friends
and family who are planning to visit also.
Adding to the PBY Museum
to your future brochures will attract services, citizens interested
in history, and patriots alike!
Dottie Abston
Vancouver, Wash.
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