Tony Mason obituary

[Peter Lewis]

From our local 'Aucklander North Shore' newspaper:



The only Catalina crash I can find that fits is NZ4031
"Stalled on take off from Funafuti Lagoon at 0620 hours on 13 April 1945 while being operated by No. 5 Squadron. The aircraft then sank in 15 fathoms of water. 3 crew killed but 7 survived. " PIC is listed as F/L A R Tuckett, so Mason must have been the co.
Another item of accurate media coverage!

[Dave Homewood]

Well they were only one year out. ;D

Sometimes the Catalinas carried as many as three pilots, a captain, a second pilot and a third pilot who was usually a new guy gaining experience.

By the way, according to the article his name was Tony, not Tom.

[Peter Lewis]

Name corrected - finger slip!

[furd]

Tony Mason was a Flight Engineer not a pilot and was the FE on the Catalina that crashed. I first met Tony in the mid 60's when I was on 5 squadron Sunderlands. Tony at that time was an active reserve officer and would join the squadron each year for a few weeks including later years with the Orions.