Specialists In Contemporary Photographs and Moving Images of Historical Aircraft
Home News Current Projects Online Store Stories Photo & Video Downloads Subscribe Links About Us	WW2 Aero DVD: Catalina PBY-5a This DVD will feature contemporary video footage and historical information about the Bristol Fighter F2.b, the Royal Aircraft Factory SE5a and the Sopwith Camel -- the three fighter aircraft that provided the backbone of the Royal Flying Corps during the latter stages of the First World War. Used by many nations during the Second World War, the Catalina also servered with two RNZAF squadrons in the Pacific Theatre. This disk provides information and previously unreleased video footage of the PPBY-5a currently based in New Zealand. During the Second World War, the RNZAF operated a total of 56 Catalina flying boats. None of these aircraft were of the amphibious type as is ZK-PBY, but this Canadian built example is painted to represent one of the flying boats operated in the Pacific Theatre. Noteworthy for its extremely long range, the Catalina crews often spent up to 12 hours in the air at a time, covering hundreds of miles of open sea. The two New Zealand 'Cat' squadrons had little success as maritime patrol bombers, however they did achieve considerable success in the air-sea rescue role. During the campaign in the Solomons, RNZAF Cats were stationed at strategic sites throughout the islands, ready to take off whenever they were needed. Not only did they rescue many allied airmen from the sea, but their mere presence helped to keep up the morale of other aircrew, who knew they had a good chance of being rescued if they had to 'ditch' into the sea. A truly elegant aircraft, this is currently the only airworthy Catalina in New Zealand, and is lovingly maintained by the Catalina Group of New Zealand - see their web site for many more details about the Catalina in New Zealand service.   Sample Movies Click on the thumbnails below to view the movies... Catalina PBY-5a Duration: 2:12 Mins   Size: Approx 11Mb   Please join the HAFU mailing list, by emailing us, if you'd like notification when this product is available (in 2008). The more interest we get, the sooner it will be produced. Also please do let us know if you'd be interested in downloadable versions of the material which can be played on Apple TVs, iPods and other MP4 video players. About The DVD Click on the thumbnails below to view the movies... contain a minimum of 100 mins of video footage, including ground to air, air-to-air and on-board camera footage. be available in both PAL and NTSC formats include previously unreleased video footage and photographs	Back To Current Projects List If you can't see the movies at the bottom of this page you will need to download and install the QuickTime software in order to watch the videos on this site. The software is free, and you'll find complete installation instructions at the Apple website. Click the button below to get QuickTime.  Quicktime 7.x Required We use Quicktime format movies on this site, to provide you with small, yet high quality video. Please feel free to email us with any comments you have regarding any of the photos or video on this site (especially if you have any problems viewing our content). We're always pleased to hear some feedback about our work.
Back To Top	Historical Aviation Film Unit :: Email: info@aviationfilm.com :: Fax: +64 3 578 8227