PBY beached during filming of movie

[StormILM]

Bill, I concur. That's exactly what I was thinking as I saw the events unfold. Honestly, I feel it might have been better to rig floatation bags under the hull and once stabilized and level, pump out the remaining water and then slowly/safely tow it to shore. Once there, then make a careful attempt to beach it with the gear manually extended. The reason I feel that trying to lift a PBY out of the water is not a good idea is simply because the wing root and wing structure of a PBY are somewhat fragile to begin with(not taking into account the age of the airframe). I have seen similar hoist attempts with PBY's go horribly wrong as this one did. Sad, very sad indeed!

[stansdds]

Bill, I concur. That's exactly what I was thinking as I saw the events unfold. Honestly, I feel it might have been better to rig floatation bags under the hull and once stabilized and level, pump out the remaining water and then slowly/safely tow it to shore. Once there, then make a careful attempt to beach it with the gear manually extended. The reason I feel that trying to lift a PBY out of the water is not a good idea is simply because the wing root and wing structure of a PBY are somewhat fragile to begin with(not taking into account the age of the airframe). I have seen similar hoist attempts with PBY's go horribly wrong as this one did. Sad, very sad indeed!

Bingo! The PBY wing structure and how it is connected to the airframe is not the same as conventional aircraft.

[Motormouse]

Oh my, did they use Lizard Lick towing or something.

I'm sure the guys at Kermit Weeks place would have been able to advise on recovering a veteran airframe.
They're in the same state after all, even if a few hundred miles distant.

Ttfn

Pete