Rescue Miss Pick Up from Loch Ness

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated to our campaign to rescue our beloved Catalina, Miss Pick Up, pictured here on Loch Ness just after she ran into engine problems on Saturday 17th October (Photo credit: Eoghan Smith).

*** FINAL UPDATE *** Now that we have exceeded our funding target and Miss Pick Up is back home safely in IWM Duxford, all ongoing updates about progress will appear on the Catalina Society website and Facebook pages.  The society is the supporter club for our Catalina, Miss Pick Up. ***

We are also very thankful to the RNLI Loch Ness  for helping us secure the aircraft following the engine troubles and for towing her to safety. After a few stressful and worrying days, we were finally able to crane her onto dry land on 22nd Octoberthanks to donations received here. 

Photo credit: Garry Short

Miss Pick Up is one of the world's only airworthy Catalina flying boats and is currently operated by Plane Sailing based in IWM Duxford, Cambridge. We are a small team of dedicated volunteers who do it for the love of preserving this wonderful WWII flying boat. You can read more about our aircraft and how we keep her flying on our supporter's website here: https://www.catalina.org.uk 

What was originally thought to be just a faulty starter motor turned out to be something inside the engine itself shearing and preventing the starter motor from turning the engine over. The only solution is to change the engine and send the damaged one off for overhaul. Thanks to the generosity of everyone who donated here, we were able to fund the rescue mission as follows:

Phase 1 - Lifting Miss Pick Up from the Loch to dry land
Phase 2 - Performing the engine change away from base 
Phase 3 - Returning Miss Pick Up to the Loch to fly her home 

Phase 2 involved transporting our spare engine from IWM Duxford to Loch Ness and spending just over two weeks swapping them over. This involved two more cranes; one to winch the damaged engine off and another to put the replacement back on. That was not an easy task, especially out in the open and away from the facilities of our home base. 

Phase 3 involved another big crane to put her back onto the Loch along with boats to ensure it all went well. Once back on the water, she was flown to Inverness for a final check before flying back home to IWM Duxford where she now resides thanks to all the donations received here.

Photo credit: David Barlow

All funds raised here will be received by Plane Sailing Ltd, who operate and manage the Catalina, and used to help with the continual costs involved with operating a WWII era aircraft. 

Thank you for taking the time to read our plight and please be assured that every donation, no matter how small, will help us keep her flying for future generations to enjoy.  Now that she is back in the IWM Duxford, please come and see us in the hangar and tell us that you donated. We would love to thank you in person!