Last November, we here at Vintage Aviation News reported on the acquisition by the Yanks Air Museum of Chino, CA, of the Consolidated PBY Catalina fire tanker used in the movie Always (article here), which has spent the last 30 years sitting on the apron of Ephrata Municipal Airport, WA, but lately the Yanks Air Museum has provided an update on the arrival of their new Catalina, and their future plans for the aircraft.
As discussed in that previous article, this Catalina, N9505C, was converted to a “Super-Cat”, with its engines upgraded to Wright R-2600s and its rudder enlarged and squared off to counteract the torque of the more powerful engines. Flown by Robert P. Schlaefli, the owner of SLAFCO, Inc., N9505C was used during the production of the Steven Spielberg film Always. After Schlaefli retired, N9505C was flown from Moses Lake to Ephrata, and sat out on the flight line, occasionally being brought up for purchase, but no one offered to buy the old Catalina. With public officials from the Port of Ephrata seeking to auction off the aircraft to gain proceeds for the Department of Revenue and clear up space for operational aircraft, Port Director David Lenham began actively searching for a buyer interested in saving the aircraft, leading to the Yanks Air Museum’s acquisition of the old fire tanker for $32,000, with the proceeds going to the state government in Washington.
Recently, the Yanks Air Museum posted on its social media pages that a team from the museum arrived in Ephrata to begin disassembling the aircraft for shipment by trailer to Chino. In its replies to commentators, the Yanks Air Museum has also announced that the ultimate goal of Yanks’ acquisition of the Catalina is to restore it to airworthy condition and maintain it as such. In addition to this upcoming Catalina, the Yanks Air Museum has already been storing another Catalina formerly used as a fire tanker by SLAFCO in Washington state, N2763A, which was previously used as an airliner for Alaska Coastal Airlines. While the aircraft has been stored for nearly ten years now at Yanks, it will now be providing parts for N9505C. On the first weekend of October, N9505C arrived at the Yanks Air Museum, where photographer John Guzzi happened to be there and captured the scenes of the Catalina being lifted off the trailer and placed on the tarmac. As for when the Catalina will begin flying out of Chino, all that can be said is that it will be done when it is done. It is a tremendous undertaking for the museum, but they are determined to give the Always Catalina a new lease on life. For more information, visit the musuem’s website here.
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Raised in Fullerton, California, Adam is pursuing a Bachelor's degree in History. Fascinated by aviation history from a young age, he has visited numerous air museums across the United States, including the National Air and Space Museum and the San Diego Air and Space Museum. He volunteers at the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino as a docent and researcher, gaining hands-on experience with aircraft maintenance. Known for his encyclopedic knowledge of aviation history, he is particularly interested in the stories of individual aircraft and their postwar journeys. Active in online aviation communities, he shares his work widely and seeks further opportunities in the field.
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