The Coal Point Chronicle: Rathmines Catalina Memorial Park Association

Saturday 19 March 2022

Rathmines Catalina Memorial Park Association

The Rathmines Catalina Memorial Park Association is a not-for-profit group that was formed by past serving personnel to honour and reflect on the activities that occurred at RAAF Base Rathmines during WWII. Our volunteer activities include the maintenance of the memorial gardens, the placement of memorial plaques and the organisation and coordination of the annual Anzac Day service. Heritage Base Tours are also available for small groups.

The main task at hand is the restoration of the Catalina PBY-5A WWII flying boat to a static display standard, and it is progressing well. “Our Girl” was built for the US Navy in 1943 and post war was converted for civilian use but spent her last years unloved at San Juan Airport in Puerto Rico, from where it was purchased. Association volunteers attended the aircraft in 2013 to disassemble as much as practicable and make it ready for shipping to Australia. (Watch the video on the web site for a taste of the effort.)

Rathmines Air Force Base was home to 168 Catalinas during the war period as well as other flying boats and sea-planes and over 3000 personnel at its peak, so the aircraft represents a lot of history for our area.

Of the 3300 Catalinas built in the US most have been scrapped as war surplus. There are a few left in Australia, either as displays in museums or projects for future displays. Felix, The Black Cat, seen flying on special occasions is based at Albion Park, was a Chilean water bomber in civilian life. Refer to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society website for her full story.

Most of our aircraft is on private land in Ridge Road and is being restored on site. The years of neglect and the hot humid climate meant much of the aluminium skin and some of the stringers were badly corroded and in need of replacement. Removing fittings, their cataloguing and storage was a major activity to be reversed in due course. Hull re-skinning is moving ahead rapidly and inside the rear of the fuselage is being prepared for painting. We recently purchased from the US a second hand bow gun turret to convert our civilianised plane back into a war bird.

The original plan to relocate the finished aircraft as a static display within the ex-Rathmines Air Force Base precinct has been abandoned in favour of joining The RAAF Williamtown Aviation Heritage Centre, ‘Fighter World’. Plans for the move and associated logistics are underway with a probable interim structure whilst the Heritage Centre embarks on its own expansion plans. The prospective move has hurried restoration work as it is expected in the next year or so. It is expected that the displayed aircraft will incorporate the memorabilia and relevance to the Rathmines Air Force Base.

Most of the volunteers are local to this area and not everyone is an aircraft specialist.

You can get in touch via