FOUR PBY-5 CATALINAS FROM CRAWLEY SEA BASE
SUNK OFF PERTH AFTER WW2

visits since 21 November 2000

The five aircraft (PBY-5) that QANTAS used at the Crawley Sea Base in Western Australia were supplied by the RAF they did not come from RAAF stocks and they flew with civilian registration marked on the fuselage and each aircraft had a large single number on the fin and rudder, the aircraft themselves were camouflaged in standard RAF pattern and they had to be disposed of after the war as they could not be kept on the British register. The remaining four were sunk just off Perth and they may still be laying there today. (Can anyone confirm?)

QANTAS was not the only airline that was a wolf in sheep's clothing during the war. ANSETT did a lot of transport work for the US Air force as did other smaller airlines. It was Reg Ansett's war time work that made him so successful.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I'd like to thank Dennis Whiley <pcdrw@esc.net.au> for the above information.

Heaps of WW2 books available at Amazon.com

This page first produced 2119 November 2000

This page last updated 02 April 2002