VH-BRI  (1)     Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina         (c/n  1735)

                              

                                    This photograph is from the Len Dobbins collection (via CAHS) and shows this Catalina slightly
                                    out of its element in front of the Ansett-ANA terminal at Essendon, Airport, Melbourne.   It was
                                    more often seen plying the waters off the Great Barrier Reef .   Originally with the US Navy with
                                    BuA number 48373, it came onto the Australian Civil Register in 1959 with Ansett Flying Boat
                                    Services and was registered in the old Barrier Reef Airways series.   It was damaged beyond
                                    repair at Hayman Island in 1962 and is now a house-boat close by in Shute Harbor, Queensland.