Alaska Aviation Museum - (unofficial)
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While operating with the 10th Rescue Squadron in 1947 at Elmendorf Air Force Base, the AAM Catalina landed at Dago Lake on the Alaska Peninsula. It was an emergency landing caused by engine failure. The lake was too shallow for the plane to receive repairs and then take off. Declared government surplus, it was purchased by the R.S. Richards family, stripped of parts and left at Dago Lake until 1984.

A gigantic recovery project conducted by the National Guard and the AAM volunteers finally brought the huge amphibian to the museum utilizing two Alaska helicopter operations in 1984 & 1987. This operation was captured in a DVD called "The Queen of Dago Lake".

CH-54 with OA-10A wreck AK 1987
Overhead CH-54 with OA-10A wreck AK 1987

An Alaska Army National Guard Sikorsky CH-54B Tahre airlifts an U.S. Air Force Canadian Vickers OA-10A Catalina flying boat (s/n 44-33954) while departing Lake Clark Pass during a recovery operation.

Photo by: Sgt. Kevin L. Bishop, US Army

Monday August 10, 1987 - Anchorage Times

Plane recovery hits snag

A World War II-vintage PBY Catalina rests in Lake Clark Pass near King Salmon during efforts to salvage the historic aircraft.

PBY King Salmon

Times photos by Walt Johnson

Associated Press

Efforts to recover a World War II vintage PBY Catalina ran into a hitch during the weekend when a lift strap broke and an Alaska Army National Guard helcopter was forced to leave the plane in Lake Clark Pass.

The crew of the Sikorsky Skycrane had picked up the airplane at King Salmon for a flight to Anchorage. They set the plane down at the north end of the pass, about 125 miles southwest of Anchorage.

"We look at this as an inconvenience compared to the first efforts we began making over three years ago to get it moved from Dago Lake where it had rested for 37 years," said Ted Spencer, president of the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum. The museum owns the plane.

Guard and museum officials were trying to obtain more special lift straps to complete the airlift sometime this week.

Spencer said his museum's PBY was built in 1943 in Canada under license from the U.S. Army Air Corps. It saw no combat during the war, he said. PBY Lift

"Its historical significance Is from its type," he said. "There are fewer and fewer of these planes and they are starting to go into museums."

The plane in 1947 had an engine failure while flying over the Alaska Peninsula and landed in a shallow lake. "The plane was already obsolete by military standards," Spencer said. "After attempts to get it airworthy, the military gave up and put it up for surplus."

It became known as the "Queen of Dago Lake," he said. "I don't know where that phrase came from. It was kind of a navigational aid, a landmark. The lake actually became known as PBY lake."

Spencer said his group has been working to move the plane since 1978, and managed to get it to King Salmon in 1984.

PBY Catalinas saw heavy use in the Aleutian Islands campaign of World War 11. Nearly 1,200 of the sturdy aircraft saw service in all theaters of the War. About 800 were used by our allies.

The aircraft were designed for endurance and could fly non-stop up to 24 hours. Its maximum speed was about 175 mph at 7,000 feet. It typically cruised at 110 mph.

Recovery Timeline

1947, Sep 30 Five months after arriving at Elmendorf Air Force Base, this Catalina made an emergency landing on Dago Lake south of King Salmon, AK on September 30, 1947 due to engine trouble. There was some minor hull damage and everyone onboard survived this adventure unscathed. Many unsuccessful attempts were made to recover the plane. Several Noorduyn Norseman aircraft were damaged when they were used as crew ferries. A replacement engine was lost to the lake... The military wrote it off as a loss, after having had guards initially on the site, and rendered it immobile by disabling hydraulic lines and control cables.
Declared government surplus, R.S. Richards of Anchorage, AK bought the salvage rights for $58 and held them from October 1948-1978. They did not know the plane had been "sabotaged". Discouraged from restoring it, they traded parts of it with Alaska Coastal Ellis Airlines for a Piper floatplane.
1948 USAAF Serial Number 44-33954 Model OA-10. Assigned to the USAAF 10th Rescue Squadron.
PBY-5A/6A amphibians for use in by the USAAF for search and rescue duties. This series was redesignated A-10 in 1948. (pacificwrecks.com, wikipedia - Consolidated_PBY_Catalina)
1978 Alaska Historical Aircraft Society, Anchorage, AK
1984, May Registered with the FAA as N44BY - Model: PBY-5A, 44-33954
1984, Sep 30 Lifted from Dago Lake by Alaska Army National Guard CH-54 "Penelope", transported to King Salmon. Recovery of PBY USAAF SN 44-33954 Manf 1943 transferred to US Army Air Force Air Sea Rescue, Recovery by 207th Aviation CH-54B Skycrane and Kulis ANGB Sgt Paul Sandhofer using giant airbags to lift aircraft at Dago Lake, Alaska.
1985, May U.S. Historical Aircraft Preservation Museum, Anchorage, AK
1987 PBY Print A recovery project conducted by the National Guard with volunteers from the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum salvaged the wreck in 1987, transported from King Salmon to Anchorage and Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum.