Have a photo request PBY-5a

OK gang, I have a request. My wife’s grandfather, age 92, was a flight mechanic in VP 14 on PBY-A. He was at Pearl Harbor Dec 7, 1941.

He is pretty deaf so finds enjoyment from the cool PBY stuff I find on Ebay for him. Today he was looking through some stuff and mentioned, no one ever has a photo of the flight engineer station. He used to sit at that station for hours.

So here is the mission, I know there are some of these still flying. Can someone point me to an owner that can source some interior photos for me?

Thanks,

Mike
Tulsa OK

I’d start here https://www.google.com/search?q=pby+5+a&es_sm=91&biw=1095&bih=598&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=89WIVM_8L4KoNo7Yg8gE&ved=0CDUQ7Ak&dpr=2.5

That is sure a mess load of photos but as I have encountered 99% are great exterior flying photos. Google has been my best friend in locating stuff for him.

But you did give me an idea. I would happily make a donation to a museum that could take some photos or video. I bet Pensacola has one.

Try contacting the Catalina Preservation Society at pbycatalina.com/

Several videos of the Catalina are found at consolidated-pby-catalina.blogsp … chive.html - I haven’t looked at them but some may have engineer station views

Here’s a search on the Wayback Machine (archive.org) on the Catalina: archive.org/search.php?query=pby-5

Hope your grandfather-in-law finds what he would like to see! And thank him for his service.

The Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola has a library. I went there years ago and did a little research, and they were helpful.

navalaviationmuseum.org/educ … r-library/

The site says they might do “limited” research if you cannot visit the library.

I received some photos from Pensacola museum today of a cut away they have. When I am back in the US I will also try the preservation group. That was a great tip.
Finding cool stuff for him has become a hobby. It gets him excited and prompts him to start in on stories.

I can’t imagine the stories he must have… My uncle was an artillery forward observer in the European theater and some of his stories (when he did share them) were absolutely mind-boggling, far beyond what Hollywood could ever dream up.

Best of luck in your efforts to help give back to a deserving vet. People often tend to forget that people like him are valuable first-hand witnesses and participants to some very important world history.