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Vintage Catalina Flying Boat In Nic Cage Film Partially Sinks On Beach
Yesterday, a gorgeous Catalina PBY named Flora-Bama that was being used as a prop for the upcoming Nicolas Cage movie USS Indianapolis: Men of Honor began taking on water while performing touch and goes for the camera. Today, the plane sits half sunk in the surf along Gold Beach, Florida, a most peculiar sight for beach-goers. (foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com) More...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
The writer of this article should be ashamed to have their name on it, and their editor should be fired. Missing words ("...apparently the vintage flying was..."), wrong beach (plainly says Orange Beach on two of the rescue craft, not Gold Beach), wrong state (Orange Beach is in Alabama), and they wouldn't know what a back hoe is if you buried them with one (that's a front end loader in the pictures).
Since it's a film with sufficient budget to afford a major name in a starring role (from a box office standpoint, anyway), and not only is the subject matter so deeply eemotional for WW2 veterans and relatives but the aircraft itself is practically a co-star, hopefully the film's backers (and its insurers) will be able to respond rapidly before any bad weather conditions occur, then refloat and relocate the aircraft without further damage to an onshore hanger where it can be fully restored to operating condition.
James, I wish you were right for the sight is sad and the future is even sadder. Seawater chews like nothing, aluminum can withstand but the innards of the plane like wiring, piping and so on would have to be replaced entirely and put a figure on that. Does anyone know what kind of engines this paricular beauty have, P&W 1830s or perhaps Wright 2600.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2015/06/05/3826031/with-love-from-puyallup-wwii-floatplane.html
A sad outcome for the aircraft and the efforts of everyone who brought it back to life in the first place, but thanks for that link (which has sublinks to two different stories, before and after the event).
plane is not named florabama. florabama is the name of a beachfront bar located on the florida-alabama border.the plane is right by florabama.florabama is partly in orange beach alabama & in perdido key florida.