Forced landing at sea of a PBY-5 Catalina off Australia, possibly Western Australia on 19 April 1942

FORCED LANDING AT SEA
OF A PBY-5 CATALINA
OFF AUSTRALIA, POSSIBLY WA
ON 19 APRIL 1942

visits since 8 July 2007

On 19 April 1942 US Navy PBY-5 Catalina, BUNO #2418, of VP-101 was proceeding on patrol at about 250 feet in automatic lean mixture setting when the starboard engine sputtered and cut out. The mixture was changed to auto rich, but the engine did not retake. Due to the heavy load on board the aircraft, a forced landing was made in open and choppy seas. The investigation Board believed the engine failure was due to a shot of water in the fuel system and because of the low altitude of plane, corrective measures were not taken in time to prevent the forced landing.

Repairable damage:- Keel broken, stringers sprung, chine damaged, plating damaged, rivets popped and loosened between station's #6 & #7.

The crew were not injured:-

Pilot Ens Charles R. Dillon, AV-N USNR
Ens Harold M. Averback, AV-N USNR
CAP Deland C. Westfall
AMM2c David O'Hearn, Jr.
AMM3c Louis P. Fox
ARM1c Leroy Gassett
ARM2c Matthew E. Fay

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Terence Geary and Greg Shea for their assistance with this web page.

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