CAF PBY damaged

Flight Journal, Oct 1998 by Jones, Geoffrey P

On a sad note, the CAF's PBY was flipped over by a tornado that went through the northern and eastern suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, on the night of May 30, 1998. Although the aircraft was tied down at Fleming Field, maintenance crews had removed an engine, all fuel and hull ballast from the aircraft. Since the PBY was much lighter than usual, the tornado picked it up from its tiedown area between two hangars and deposited it in front of this hangar.

The wing is beyond repair, but most of the fuselage survived intact. The CAF knows of a wing that's attached to a corroded fuselage and hopes to make a deal to get the Catalina flying again. -Geoffrey P. Jones