A wicked anniversary gift.

[White trash]

After much pondering as to what would suit and surprise my lovely woman for an anniversary gift for the weekend, I came up with the brilliant plan of booking a flight on the Catalina flying boat out of Ardmore. Feeling very proud of myself and dropping a few hints and red hearings here and there, Sunday dawned and she was none the wiser as to what was happening.

We got out about 500 meters from the airfield before she clicked as to what was happening and then almost exploded with excitement. We've wandered around and had a look at the Cat' a few times and it's always intrigued us both but to get the chance to fly in this rare warbird is something else. This particular machine first flew on March the 14th, 1944 so was celebrating her 62nd birthday almost at the same time. The earlier Catalinas were built as boats only with no landing gear but with airfields popping up everywhere during WWII, they made later planes amphibious to add to their versatility.

Before climbing aboard, the crew briefed us with a little history and things to expect during our 1/2 hour flight. We boarded through the small hatch in the left hand side and made our way into the rear passenger compartment and were briefed on the safety warnings and escape hatches. Then the huge twin engines were primed and fired into life. And fuck me are they loud! No such thing as insulation in this puppy.

It's a pretty cool experience sitting on the tarmac at Ardmore, in a WWII flying boat, watching Harvards and other WWII planes take off and land right next to you. Pre flight checks completed, the pilots rolls us out onto the runway and gasses her up. Things are getting REAL loud now. As we accelerated to lift off speed, I was quite impressed by the acceleration this old plane showed and it's not long before you're bounced off the ground and getting a wicked view of Papakura as we banked to the right and headed north. At 1000 feet cruising altitude (which is bloody low) we were allowed to get out of our seats and experiance the coolest bits of the trip.

First, we went into the rearmost compartment for a look out of the observation blisters. Sitting right up in there you get a 180 degree viewof the ouside of the plane. It's absolutely stunning and I didn't want to move. You're only alowed 4 passengers at a time back there as it upsets the attitude of the plane so we moved forwards to let others have a look and climbed up behind the pilots to watch over their shoulders. With a forward facing view of Auckland, I was gobsmacked at the amount of instrumentation these things have. I also cracked up at the really nasty looking, 14 inch steel steering wheels they steer with. We also got a chance to climb up the inside of the pylon that mounts the wing and look out the observation windows, which have no glass. You're directly under two 1200hp, aircooled, 14 cylinder orbital engines. This is where the engineer would sit in the old days and it's fucken deafening.

We flew right up and 'round the Sky tower and over the Viaduct, all at 1000 feet and then flew back south. You really notice turbulence in this old thing as it's cruising speed is only 100 knots and a couple of times we got that funny lurching feeling. All bloody good fun.

All too soon it was over and we were perparing to touch down again back at Ardmore, everyone still grinning from ear to ear.

All in all, this was probably the biggest buzz I've had in a long time. The Catalina club own this plane, the only one flying in Australasia, and operate it on donations from Mainfreight and people buying seats as we did. It is without a doubt the best way to see Auckland city and if you're even remotely interested in old planes, you'd be sick not to. It's not even expensive.

Check out www.catalina.org.nz

I'm still buzzing now.

[Sniper]

Nice write up man. Makes me want to come up there

[Fishy]

Sounds wicked WT - thats cool that RR really enjoyed it!. , so...your allowed to play on the SV more often then without having to pinch the keys??

[N4CR]

Yeah I had fun in that thing when I went up a while ago too. Beats flying a cessna any day.

Good views and an interesting way to see Auckland.. definately! The one thing that will strike you the most is how close together things actually are in a straight line and when travelling 100kts you get places relatively quickly.

Good writeup.

[onearmedbandit]

Wow, what a day! Well done WT, she would've loved it.

[White trash]

Here's a couple of pics....

[nadroj]

Took my 2 eldest for their first ever plane ride in the Cat about 8 years ago.

[bugjuice]

that sounds cool!
shame you didn't get to experience a landing in water.. That'd be interesting.

I saw the plane out a few times over the weekend. Each time I stopped to watch it pass over..

[Riff Raff]

That was an amazing experience, and probably the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me. WT has earned some serious brownie points!!! I didn't stop grinning from the moment we got on the plane.

All week those who were in the know about this surprise were sending me way off the trail by telling me I'd need gumboots, raincoat and water balloons!

There was a family on the flight, including their nana who was in her 70s, who were there to remember their grandfather who had flown in a Cat during WWII as an engineer. Nana was saying that she could feel his presence with her on the flight. It was really special to share this with them.

It was a really lovely experience, and the views were spectacular. Highly recommend to everyone.

Thanks WT xxxx

[Stroker Girl]

Great write up WT and congrats on earning some brownie points with such a cool present!

My parents use to fly in the Catalina as kids when they lived in Fiji, taking them from the islands to the boarding school on the mainland. This would of been way back in the 1930's! This has given me a good idea for the old guy's birthday coming up this month.

[vifferman]

That second picture is SO cool, WT!
Brilliant! Glad you both enjoyed it.

[marty]

Nice write up man. Makes me want to come up there

it'll be at warbirds over wanaka at easter doing flights - awesome over the southern alps.

[Lou Girardin]

Now imagine being in it while half a dozen Zeros are using it for target practice!

[WRT]

Growing up on Great Barrier Island, our regular link with Auckland was See Bee Air, which flew Grumman Goose's from Mechanics Bay (where the rescue helicopter is now based in downtown Auckland), into the various harbours on the island. In Tryphena, it used to land on the harbour and then run up onto the beach in front of the Mulberry Grove shops. If the tide was in and covering the beach, then it just ran up the boat ramp and parked up in the middle of the road, completely blocking it for half an hour while the passengers and daily items like bread, milk and mail were unloaded. Closest thing you get to a traffic jam on the island.

I'll never forget flying to the island on those planes, as a young kid we were often invited to sit up with the pilot for the flight, and the whole process was amazing. Every thing was done by hand, there was even a crank handle to wind down the wheels just before the plane taxied up the beach, and the sound of those big engines is just incredible. Take off and landing on water is something that has to be experienced, it really is a rush. There were very few occaisions where the planes didnt fly because of the weather, although if the harbour was too rough then they would land at the airport instead.

The guy that set it up was the type of good keen man that kiwi legends are made of, although his name escapes me at the moment. There were stories of him buzzing mates houses and dropping supplies out of the window of the plane to people that were too isolated to be able to easily come in to Tryphena. I think he finally lost his pilots licence after flying under the Harbour Bridge. The planes were eventually retired from service at an age of about 75 years, after finding parts had become too difficult. Before they closed down for good, they had even taken a plane from Motat to strip down for spares.

Its a shame that the airline no longer runs, as it was just a fantastic way to fly. I'm envious of your ride in the Catalina, I think that will have to get added to the list of "things to do before I die".

[Motu]

Always wanted to go up in the Catalina,or the DC3.The DC3,or one of them at least used to do top dressing - I remember watching it one day in the 70s,out at Kawakawa Bay,that big 90deg right hander before you head down to the bay...it was top dressing in there,and I was slack jawed watching this big plane doing wing tip turns at what looked like stall speed...awesome.

When I lived on Waiheke Island the Gruman flying boats used to be our rapid transit,and I went on it a few times...shit that was fun...if a little scary!

[edit] Just seen your post WRT - he was Fred Ladd and when I was a kid at Bucklands Beach he used to just pull up on the beach and ask if anyone wanted a ride....all us kids ran up to see him like it was an icecream truck.Cranking the wheels down by hand was hard case,so was the cord to flood the carb.One time in a rough weather I was in it,and it had to take off from Oneroa...we went right out into the rough water to take off heading inland,the waves were crashing over the windows,I was losing sight of land in the swells.An adventure everytime.