The story of the Spanish Air Force's only PBY-5A Catalina amphibious aircraft

The Consolidated PBY Catalina was a famous flying boat manufactured in the USA that made its first flight on March 28, 1935.

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Initially designated PBY-1, this aircraft was fitted with landing gear in its PBY-5 version, becoming an amphibious aircraft, meaning it could take off and land on both water and land. The aircraft was equipped with retractable floats at the wingtips, deployed by electric motors—a truly ingenious design. Between 1936 and 1945, 3,308 PBY Catalinas were built, mostly (2,661) in the United States, with 620 units in Canada (where it was known as the Canso) and 27 in the USSR.

The Catalina is a very famous aircraft because one of them was the one that discovered the Japanese fleet at the Battle of Midway in 1942, causing the Japanese to lose the element of surprise and suffer a crushing naval defeat. During World War II, the Catalina was used in maritime patrol, naval bombing, and search and rescue missions, primarily by the US Navy and Army, the British Royal Air Force (RAF), and the Royal Canadian Air Force.

On July 7, 1943, a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) PBY-5A Catalina, serial number 42-109020 (BuNo 08122), mistakenly landed in Sidi Ifni, in the Spanish Sahara. The aircraft and its crew were interned until the end of the war. The aircraft was transferred to Barajas Airport, Madrid, on October 8, 1943, by its own crew and under the supervision of Spanish military personnel, following an agreement with the United States Embassy, ​​according to the blog Incidentes aéreos en España en la SGM.

After the war, once its crew was repatriated, the aircraft remained in Spain, as did other Allied aircraft that had entered Spanish territory, after being purchased from the US by the government of General Franco. In 1949, the then Minister of the Air Force, General Eduardo González Gallarza, ordered that the PBY-5A to be put into service with the Spanish Air Force. After a reconstruction in Getafe, the PBY-5A flew again on May 13, 1951, this time with Spanish roundels and piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Pombo Somoza and Commander Machuca. The aircraft received the military registration DR.1-1, initially displaying the number 66-1 and later 74-21.

The DR.1-1 began its service at the Matacán Higher Flying School in the province of Salamanca, despite being the only aircraft of its type operated by Spain. Later, it was assigned to the 51st Seaplane Regiment in Pollensa, on the island of Mallorca, although due to its condition it spent most of its time at Son San Juan Airport. In December 1954, the aircraft suffered an accident during takeoff, after which it was withdrawn from service and subsequently scrapped.

At the Cuatro Vientos Air Museum there is a PBY-5A preserved with the DR.1-1 livery, but it is obviously not the original aircraft. It is an aircraft built for the US Navy in 1944 with the BuNo 46596. After the war it was acquired by the Mexican Air Force, which operated it briefly, before it passed through the hands of various civilian operators in the United States, Australia, and Canada. In 1967 it received the tail fin of a PBY-6A, which is why it is often mistakenly identified as that variant.

After a turbulent history, primarily as a firefighting aircraft, BuNo 46596 arrived in Spain in 1992, briefly serving in firefighting operations with the company Servicios Aereos Españoles (SAESA) in the Canary Islands, with the civil registrations EC-314 and EC-693, and flying with emblems of ICONA (National Institute for Nature Conservation). The aircraft finally ended up at the Air Museum in 1996. The initial livery was applied a few years later during a restoration process. Today, the YouTube channel of the Asociación de Amigos del Museo del Aire has published an interesting video that tells the story of this aircraft (the video is in Spanish; you can activate automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):

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Main photo: Elentir.