How a Brazilian Catalina ends up in Russia

The Catalina concerned, Consolidated PBY-5A was built for the US Navy as BuNo  46457 (c/n 1821). After its American service life the Cat was exported to Brazil and taken on charge by the Força Aérea Brasileira (FAB, Brazilian Air Force) as a PA-10 with serial 6510.

It was sold by the FAB to the well-known aircraft broker/restorer David C. Tallichet. He had the amphibian registered as N4582U to Project Catalina Inc/ MARC, Chino (CA) on 23 December 1983. Four months later, in March 1984, the Cat arrived from Brazil in Fort Lauderdale (FL).

It was then transported to the Rescue Memorial Museum at Kirtland AFB (NM). In that museum the Cat was displayed as an USAF OA-10A SAR version of the Catalina with serial 44-34077.

Somewhere in 2019, the PBY is said to have been traded with a Russian museum (but for what? We do not know… Anyone?) Prior to shipment to Russia, the Cat was restored by the American Aero Service in New Smyrna Beach (FL) and painted blue overall with white undersides and red stars insignia as “433882”.

Early this year, the Cat was transported to Verkhnyaya Pyshma (a city in the Sverdlovsk region of Russia. From May 2021 it is on static display in the building of the "Krylya Pobedy" (Wings of Victory) department of the local UMMC Military Museum.

Its presence serves as a tribute to the Russian crews that flew the Catalina during WW II. Some 150 PBY-5 amphibians and 24 PBN-1 Nomad flying boats that were supplied by the USA under Lend-Lease conditions. Already early in WW II, the Soviets produced an unknown number of a licence version of the Catalina, designated GST.

Photo: Snimok1