This series of posts will retrace a few of the surviving airworthy (or close) PBYs around the world, and their history. Sometimes, we look back at some that are no longer with us.

In addition to its many fine accomplishments, the PBY Catalina also holds an unfortunate first in the history of aviation : Cathay Pacific’s VR-HDT “Miss Macao”, a PBY-5A, was the very first airliner to ever be hijacked, on July 16th 1948.

Tragically, during the struggle for control shots were fired, impairing the pilots and sending the plane to fatally crash in the sea below. There was only one survivor, one of the hijackers.