This bird is actually a Boeing Canada built Canso, not strictly speaking a Catalina. It was delivered to the US Navy in 1944. It was struck off charge sometime in the 1950s and then passed through several civil operators before ending its working life as a firebomber in Spain. It was acquired by the QANTAS Founders Museum sometime in the 2000s, prepared for a ferry flight, and flown here to Australia. That flight was an aviation epic in itself involving an 18 month period in Indonesia for repairs and engine changes.
