Catalina Lost! 60 Minutes 1994

[Venomnut]

I've just uploaded the 60 minutes clip from 1994 covering the loss of Catalina N5404J on it's ferry flight to NZ. Hard to believe it's 25 years ago.
The crew had a lot of bad luck followed by a lot of good luck, to survive and be rescued so quickly after ditching.
Sorry about the quality.
For those that haven't seen it-

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Jason. I'd never seen this before. This documentary is great record of a sad chapter. Peta Carey did a terrific job.

And it's great that the late Ross Ewing and the team never gave up, and thanks to their efforts we have ZK-PBY here.

[feuer]

I hadn't seen this either. Great record. Thanks for posting it.

[ZacYates]

A friend of Dad recorded the original piece (covering the initial prep, training and the radio-trouble-plagued first attempt) and Catalina Lost! and lent it to us on VHS. For someone who had Catalina Dreaming pretty much from day one it was great to see and hear it all happening (well, not all of it, but you know). Thanks so much for uploading this Jason, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it today.

Apr 10, 2019 15:16:56 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Peta Carey did a terrific job.

I just read a piece from the Listener by Peta about the experience, published around the time of the tenth anniversary: www.noted.co.nz/archive/listener-nz-2004/a-much-loved-war-heroine/ I quite like her writing.

[Venomnut]

Zac, would you (or anyone for that matter) happen to still have the clip of the first attempt? It would be nice to have them both archived. I never got to see that one. 

[Dave Homewood]

Also did 60 Minutes follow the team when they brought the second Catalina, ZK-PBY, to New Zealand, successfully?

[Venomnut]

Dave, not sure if 60 minutes did anything about it. I uploaded this clip a few days ago of Z-CAT's arrival. I'm not sure if any Kiwi's were aboard for the ferry flight? I thought it was just Pierre's crew. It's been a while since I read Catalina Dreaming and I can't remember.


Z-CAT's arrival-

[baronbeeza]

I saw the guys with the Cat at Harare just a day or so before departure. There were certainly New Zealanders about but one guy I didn't know was going to be on the flight was Aussie Dave, one of my drinking mates from Redhill airfield in the UK. I had met a Cat co-pilot in Zimbabwe a year or so earlier, I think he may have been a Dave as well. I was about to go up to Kenya from Harare but the Catalina was not going North, they were just headed out across the ocean. Edit perhaps Dave Evans was the guy in Harare that used to fly the Cat.

[Dave Homewood]

Another great clip here Jason of the arrival, thanks! That Harvard escort was impressive.

[ZacYates]

Apr 16, 2019 6:03:36 GMT 12 Venomnut said:

I'm not sure if any Kiwi's were aboard for the ferry flight? I thought it was just Pierre's crew. It's been a while since I read Catalina Dreaming and I can't remember.

Luckily for all I have both versions handily sitting with a Catalina kit I'm working on. Pilot was Bob Dyck (who flew PBY on my ride at Omaka 07), co-pilot was UK-raised Kiwi Dave Andrews, 2nd pilot/navigator/purser/dogsbody Chris Snelson, John Howroyd (friend of Bob Dyck) as relief pilot, engineer Harry Holdcroft and Chris Snelson's partner Vicki Hollings accompanied them as far as Colombo.

[ZacYates]

Apr 15, 2019 22:37:47 GMT 12 Venomnut said:

Zac, would you (or anyone for that matter) happen to still have the clip of the first attempt? It would be nice to have them both archived. I never got to see that one. 

I never throw away a VHS I'll see if I can find it, but I may need to post it to you as the last time I tried a transfer some part of the equipment failed.

[baronbeeza]

Apr 16, 2019 13:39:07 GMT 12 ZacYates said:

co-pilot was UK-raised Kiwi Dave Andrews, 

The guys were calling him Aussie Dave, another in the gang was Dave Cotton from the Isle of Man. Aussie Dave was so we could tell the difference and I thought his mum was in Oz, possibly Melbourne. I guess changing countries is almost as easy as changing gender these days.

I think the pilot that was flying the Catalina in Africa may have been Dave Evans. I believe he was a Rhodey. It would have been 1993/94 and he had just come back from an expedition up the Nile with the thing.

[Dave Homewood]

There was a documentary made about the Catalina when it was flying in Africa, following one of those expeditions. I cannot recall what it was called but it was not long before it came here. I think TV3 aired it in the 1990's.

[stubbie]

i think the film was the last african flying boat i think its still on you tube

[Venomnut]

Last clip from my archive in this series, Paul Holmes takes a flight on ZK-PBY and talks to Tom Neave and Bob Dyck.







The Last African Flying Boat doco featuring Z-CAT
Not my download, but here's the link-

[ZacYates]

Apr 15, 2019 22:37:47 GMT 12 Venomnut said:

Zac, would you (or anyone for that matter) happen to still have the clip of the first attempt? It would be nice to have them both archived. I never got to see that one. 

I finally have the VCR hooked up to the laptop via a USB capture device with about a dozen tapes to “back up” - Wing And A Prayer, the first part of the N5404J story on 60 Minutes, is capturing as I speak. I should be able to upload it to YouTube later today :-)

[ZacYates]

Here we go:

[Dave Homewood]

Good stuff Zac.

[planecrazy]

That brings back some memories, was a member of the Catalina Club for any
years and remember there was a hard working lady Marlene Grey who did some
great behind the scenes work for the club, I think she was the secretary?

A pic of my wife and kids, Marlene proudly wearing her Catalina Club t-shirt
and Geoff Freer who gave us a guided tour of the MOTAT Solent, this pic was
taken in 2005.