Here’s a lovely short video by Yannick Barth and Aeromedia Concept showing a pair of majestic flying boats at AirPower 2009 in Switzerland. I’ve loved the Catalina shape since I was a small child and when then Dornier Do24 was returned to flight in 2002, it brought a flying boat shape I’d never seen before.
The Catalina was designed as a long-range aircraft, able to spend nearly 24 hours in the air at a speed of 200 km/h – for long distance reconnaissance and the escorting of naval convoys. The Allies also used it for submarine hunting and cargo transportation. It gained it’s reputation, however, for its search and rescue capacities rescuing downed airmen and sailors from oceans across the world, The Catalina you can see in this movie was built in 1943 for the Canadian Air Force and is operated from Duxford, UK, by Plane Sailing..
The Dornier Do-24, also performing at the AirPower09, is a unique aircraft. it s the last water plane model built by the German constructor Claud Dornier (1944) and the only one still ably to fly. On the other hand, the Dornier Do-24ATT has a unique biography: First used as an evacuation plane in Spain (1944 – 1971), it was later on purchased and completely renovated by Claudius Dornier, a son of Claude Dornier. In 1983, this vintage plane became an experimental aircraft: fitted with new turbine engines and newly-developed trapezoidal wings, it served Dornier as an amphibious technology carrier (ATT). In 1992, she was mothballed in the aviation museum of Oberschleissheim, but ten years after the plane was reactivated by Iren Dornier, a grandson of Claude Dornier, expensively renovated and rendered airworthy for a second time. Iren Dornier was also the pilot of the Do-24ATT during its flight over Zeltweg.
You can see more of Yannick’s excellent aviation videos on his website here.
The video that ran here has since been removed from Vimeo.
Consolidated PBY Catalina and Dornier Do-24 ATT Airpower 09 from Yannick Barthe on Vimeo.
