Future Plans

Progress Report

The Foundation has already made major headway towards the goals for a living museum for the PBY Catalina. We also have our newsletter, and of course our webpage. On top of all this, we continue to negotiate for aircraft and outline future devevolpments for building our museum and hangar facility. The architectual firm of Tomasi, Lawry, Coker & DeSilva has been working with the Foundation to come up with design and layout for the hangars and museum facility. The estimated cost is about $3 million with a plan for phasing construction as funds become available. Aircraft aquisition plans continue even though we lost PBY #48294 to a European buyer. With the devaluation of the US dollar, the aircraft is a real boon to foreign buyers. However, it is sad to see our history taken out of the United Staes. We must continue to work towards our aircraft needs.

Airport Plans

Phase 1:Purchase of a PBY-5A
PhaseII: Acquisition of another PBY-5A, one PBY-6A, and a Convair 280 aircraft.

The four aircraft will be restored and refurbished in the following way:

One PBY-5A will be representative of the 1941 U.S. neutrality patrol aircraft.
The second 5A will be dressed out as a "Black Cat".
The 6A will be set-up in 1945 colors with all electronics of that era.
The Convair 280 will be used as a flying museum and theatre where the public can watch films and video about aircraft history.

The work on aircraft restorations and operations will be handled by volunteers. The foundation will not be limited by the four aircraft. Future PBY's will also be operational, flying around the country showing people what the PBY Catalina looks like in the air and on the water.

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