january-2012

Sentimental journeys
For aviation enthusiasts, nothing quite beats owning
your very own vintage plane. Andy Round enters a world
of beloved bi-planes and spruced-up Spitfi res
Paul Warren Wilson makes
owning a plane sound like a lot
of fun. “So we loaded up, took
off from England and fl ew down
to South America,” he says. “We
went all over the place.” Where? “Oh,
Bolivia, Barbados… Th ere’s a lot of room in
the Catalina, it was built for long distances
and because it’s amphibian, it has the added
advantage of being able to land on water,
close to beaches.”
Warren Wilson’s Catalina was built for
the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1943 and
used for hunting submarines in World War
II. Aft er being decommissioned, it was
transformed into a ‘water-bombing’
Canadian fi re fi ghter. Warren Wilson and a
few friends then came across the plane in
2002, paid CAN$275,000 (€200,000) for it
and then spent “probably the same again”
on modifi cations.
“It’s a real privilege to fl y such a piece of
aviation history,” says the former
professional pilot. “Th ere are only a handful
left , and we always get an emotional
response from people who come on board
when we go to air shows.”
So what’s it like to fl y this piece of
aviation history? “It’s fun. Especially
landing on or taking off from water. Th ere’s