Catalinas at Hobsonville

[Dave Homewood]

I scanned this interesting photo out of an old RNZAF News magazine I had from the early 1990's. I thought it was interesting to see all the Catalinas lined up on the grass.

[beagle]

was this taken when they were retired and replaced with sunderlands.
So maybe taken around 1954/55

[Dave Homewood]

It doesn't say when it was taken sorry. I think there were Cats stored there up till the 1960's weren't there?

I'd think it's certainly after they retired, awaiting disposal, otherwise it's a lot of effort to drag them up that steep embankment from the apron for nothing.

[Peter Lewis]

admin said:

I think there were Cats stored there up till the 1960's weren't there?
.

The last seven operational Catalinas NZ4037 41 42 44 49 53 55 were declared surplus in 1956, at Hobsonville. The Warkworth Cat (NZ4055) was among these, and left for Warkworth in 1958 so the field was probably cleared of Catalinas by then.

[Dave Homewood]

Only today in the Hobsonville DVD I watched, I noted an airman sid his first impression of Hobsonville when he first entered the base after being posted there was all the derelict Catalinas parked up on the field inside the gate, and that was 1948.

So they must have sat there a fair while.

[Bruce]

There was always the "stored reserve" of catalinas at Hobby, even in wartime. The aircraft were swapped in and out of the reserve on a reasonably regular basis during the period of cat operations. The aircraft in the reserve therefore caried from almost new P2Bs to old war weary PBYs in a variety of colour schemes. Catalinas were therefore regularly pulled up the hill from the wet apron - major servicings were also carried out in the airfield hangars as well.
The photo is after retirement though, all the cats are in postwar white / grey schemes, they are still in fairly tidy condition and they are located in a different area to the "Stored Reserve" graveyard, where many of the stored Catalinas were badly damaged in a storm in 1951.