JOHN HOPTON MEMORIAL COLLECTION
No. 8058. Consolidated 28-5A OA-10A Catalina (VH-SBV c/n CV 592) Trans-Australia Airlines
Photographed at Bankstown Aerodrome, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1962, by Eric Allen

Consolidated 28-5A OA-10A Catalina

08/15/2008. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "Canadian Vickers undertook license manufacturing of the Consolidated Model 28-5 in 1942. The USN ordered 230 examples, designated PBV-1A (BuNo 67832 to 68061) from Canadian Vickers in 1943, after acceptance by the USN, they were diverted to the USAAF designated OA-10A-4-VI (s/n 44-33868 to 44-34097).

The first 173 were produced by Canadian Vickers, the company ending aircraft production on November 11, 1944. The new Crown company, Canadair Ltd., took over the Canadian Vickers plant at Cartierville, hence the remaining 57 OA-10As being built and delivered by Canadair under the company designation CL-1. The 250 aircraft were delivered in 1943 (4), 1944 (201) and 1945 (25).

The pictured aircraft was accepted by the USN in January 1945 under BuNo 68045, and diverted to the USAAF under s/n 44-34081. It was sold by the Foreign Liquidation Commission in Manila to Cathay Pacific of Hong Kong in November 1946, registered as VR-HDH. It was acquired by Macau Air Transport in 1948 and registered as VR-HDH it was operated on the services from Hong Kong to Macao and Canton.

In 1962 it was sold to Trans-Australian Airlines and refurbished at Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia. In October 1962, registered as VH-SBV, it was flown to Jackson Field, New Guinea, where the landing gear was removed and faired over. On November 5, 1962, the flying boat started the Sunbird Services around the New Guinea coast, the service ended on January 10, 1966, and the aircraft was withdrawn from use the following May.

Intended to be displayed at a museum, eventually the aircraft became a derelict and in 1968 it was used to train crash rescue workers. The remains were acquired by the Museum of Transport and Technology of Auckland, New Zealand, in the 1970s, being traded to the New Zealand Air Force Museum in 1983. An attempt was made to restore the aircraft, however, presently only the partly restored hull is displayed at RNZAF Museum Wigram."


Created August 15, 2008