Consolidated PBY Catalina - "Black Cat"

RAAF 42nd Sqn “Black Cat” RK-E Serial A24-96. Finished over 12 months after starting. On and off the bench many times as newer projects surfaced.

Great kit that for the most went together well. Eduard masks & PE (essential and worked perfectly) though most of the internal PE was just too small for my skill level). Finished with Tamiya & SMS paints, AK & MiG washes. MiG rigging. The Ronin decals were tricky (folding back on themselves) but got there in the end with Micro Set & Sol. The plane is deliberately very heavily weathered as these planes really took a beating looking at the old photos – plus I enjoy it.

This kit was of interest being Australian and I grew up near the WW2 Catalina base at Rathmines on Lake Macquarie, NSW. Additional inspiration from the excellent book RAAF Black Cats. I highly recommend it.

So what happened to RK-E?

While on a mine laying mission A24-96 was forced to make an emergency sea landing on 14 January 1945 after being damaged by Japanese anti-aircraft fire, the crew was rescued the following morning by a Catalina from No. 43 Squadron, which then destroyed RK-E with machine gunfire.

SEE PHOTO: The crew of the disabled Catalina aircraft, serial no. A24-96, code RK-E of No. 42 Squadron RAAF in their dinghies preparing to move across to the Catalina aircraft of No. 43 Squadron RAAF which came to rescue them. The aircraft had come down near Japanese held territory. On the night of 14 January 1945, during a mission to Surabaya, a plane from No. 42 Squadron RAAF, captained by Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) Harrigan, experienced trouble with its port engine and immediately began to lose altitude. At the time Flt Lt Harrigan was flying at 300 feet below heavy cloud off Sumba Island. He jettisoned his mines, but the plane continued to lose altitude and he was forced to alight on the open sea. The hull of the Catalina aircraft was damaged and began to leak. However, the water was kept down by baling. Using the radio-telephone, the crew was able to make its position known to returning minelayers. All night they worked on the faulty engine, but without success. However, in the morning, a Catalina aircraft of No. 43 Squadron RAAF, captained by Flt Lt Ortlepp, landed in the heavy swell, covered by a Liberator aircraft, and took off Flt Lt Harrigan’s crew. Flt Lt Ortlepp then destroyed the disabled Catalina aircraft with machine-gun fire and returned safely to base.