We are nearly halfway through the year and work on “Our Girl” was progressing very well and then a little bug came along and stopped us (and the rest of the world) in our tracks, forcing us to suspend restoration work on 23rd March.

It is timely to reflect on the tough times that businesses are experiencing at the moment and in particular, the many and varied Supporters and Festival Sponsors that contribute immensely to the success of the Catalina restoration and the effective running of the Catalina Festival.  it is important we support the local businesses in our local area in any way we can.

With the “COVID-19” rules staring to be relaxed, hopefully we will be back restoring the Catalina sooner rather than later and as outlined to volunteers on the 23rd March, we will have the modified hygiene rules in place to protect everyone as best we can.

Our goal at the beginning of the year was to have the fuselage largely repaired enough by the end of 2020, to allow the inside of “Our Girl” to be painted, enabling us to commence re-assembly of the internals.

This is still a possibility and would be a huge morale booster for the volunteers after the many years of hard work, replacing and repairing the corroded aluminium sheets.

A big thank you to the volunteers for their efforts to date and please stay safe.

Progress update summary

• The restoration progress over the last 3 months has continued strongly, achieving excellent progress on both the fuselage and centre wing, visible in the form of shiny new sheets of aluminium.

• The front landing wheel bay has been painted and looks excellent, installation of the mechanical components has commenced. The main landing gear wheel wells will follow and we estimate these will be painted and assembled by mid-year.

• We should be very close to having the fixed blisters manufactured and the fuselage/hull repaired by the end of 2020 and ready to paint the inside of the aircraft. At a guess, the top half of the Centre Wing spar should also be close to being repaired and ready to turn the Centre Wing over and start work on the underside by early 2021.

• The restoration team has taken some time off over January for rest and relaxation.  The intense heat has also reduced some operational time.

As an association, our immediate concentration is to be as organised and advanced with the restoration as possible, to allow us to participate as best we can in the RAAF’s Centenary celebrations in 2021.

Equipment donations

• We have received donations from several unrelated sources in the form of general and specialised tools, purpose-built scaffolding, benches, etc., and RCA purchases of much needed cutting and folding metalworking machinery.
• A local private collector has also gifted the Rathmines Catalina Association with numerous genuine radios and associated equipment as used on the Catalina aircraft and at the Radio Transmitting Rooms on the Rathmines Air Base during WWII.
• RAAF Heritage have also been proactive, assisting the RCA to acquire two Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 engines which were surplus to their requirements.
  ... For all of these we are very grateful !

Onsite safety

With the growing number of volunteers attending each workday we have identified for some time a requirement for a defibrillator (AED) to be kept on site. With the assistance of a NSW Government Grant, the RCA recently purchased an AED which complements our trained First Aid representatives and gives us the confidence and an assurance that we are as well prepared as we can be, for most medical conditions on site.

In the same vein, we have commenced an automatic re-ordering system for our volunteer Personal Protective Equipment, with a standard max/min order replenishment each month, ensuring a regular supply of safety equipment at all times.

Terry Fahey
Restoration Coordinator