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I have been doing some research on the small number of PBY-5A Catalina aircraft that were taken on by the RAF. Only 12 of the amphibian version - called the Catalina IIIA - were acquired. I have obtained the Aircraft Movement Card for Catalina IIIA FP536 - which shows the various units which took this particular aircraft on charge. What is interesting is that in the Aircraft Movement Card the 'A' in 'Catalina IIIA' under the heading 'Type' has been struck out and there is a note which reads "Conversion to flying boat Beaumaris SRoe 14.5.43". I know Saunders Roe had a facility at Beaumaris which modified Catalinas for RAF service. But this sounds as if FP536 was converted to a pure flying boat i.e. the undercarriage was removed. Has anyone every heard of this conversion? Just by way of background it looks like FP536 was written off (Category E) in 1944 when it was with 131 Operational Training Unit.
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As requested, another seaplane, this time a model scratchbuilt 3 years ago: A Japanese pilot, in a British flying boat, starting a record flight attempt from the United States. Strange as it may sound, pilot Yoshihara and mechanic Oishi were the main characters in this story. Yoshihara was already a pilot of certain renown, and he commissioned a Cutty Sark from the assembly line with the specification that the machine would have a single engine, instead of the customary two; the flight Yoshihara wanted to attempt required that, in order to save fuel for the long haul to Japan from San Francisco. The year: 1932. I have many times contemplated the graceful lines of the SARO (Saunders & Roe) Cloud, Cutty Sark and Windhover, and wondered about them as possible models. I must confess that of the three, the Windhover attracted me the most, with its three engines and the auxiliary wing on top of them. A vision only the British could spawn. But that sounded like a very ambitious project, so when I saw a photo of the crashed Yoshihara plane with its atypical single engine, I decided I'd give it a go. This machine was British-registered G-ABVF, even when flying in the US, and it was legally considered an export to Japan (and thus potentially saving a lot of bureaucratic headaches with the local aeronautic and customs authorities). The engine was an Armstrong Siddeley Lynx IVc. The design is simple enough to attempt to scracthbuild it, and so I started to collect what I could on this specific plane and the general type. The converted plane did away as said with one engine, the additional two passenger seats, the amphibian landing gear, and installed large additional fuel tanks. Photos show the legend "HOCHI NIPPON", very small flags at the bow of the above-mentioned three countries, and the regs on fuselage sides and wing. The plane is aluminum color, only the prototype of the series was painted light blue according to publications. "Hochi" was for Hochi Shimbun, the newspaper that sponsored the flight. As far as I can understand, hochi means to "broadcast", "inform". Nippon of course is for Japan.
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