My ride on the PBY-5A Catalina

“The Catalina in Bremerton might not have enough spots. There might not be enough time to get there. Should we go?” said Dad. This was my chance to ride in a PBY-5A Catalina, a real World War II airplane built in 1943.

“We will try.” said Mom.

We got in our car and zoomed down the highway through Seattle and Tacoma on our way to Bremerton. The Catalina was in Bremerton for an airshow. The paint was flaking off our car because we were going so fast. I felt very excited.

We parked the car and Dad and I rushed to the entrance of the airport. Once we got inside, I saw an F-104 Starfighter jet. It was flying low and fast. It made a lot of noise. Then I saw the Catalina called the Princess of the Stars. It was beautiful.

“Are there spots?” Dad asked Ms. Pfaff. Ms. Pfaff works in the Catalina gift shop and is the mom of the Director of the Catalina.

Ms. Pfaff said “yes,” with a giant grin on her face.

I felt so happy because I was going to fly in a real airplane from World War 2. I jumped up and down and screamed, “Yay!”

I felt excited while I was waiting to board the Catalina. The first thing I noticed was cold wind on my body from the spinning propellers. The second thing I noticed was people waiting to get on the plane. The last thing I noticed was stinky exhaust and fuel.

Finally, I walked up a staircase in the back of the plane and boarded the Princess of the Stars. We sat down behind the cockpit and put on our seatbelts. Suddenly, the old plane got very loud and its nose rose up. The back got close to the ground. Then the smokey air from forest fires went around the plane. Finally, the amazing Catalina took off. It was splendid.

When we were in the air, I noticed the smokey smell of the loud engines. Cold air flew across my skin and it felt good. The metal I touched was cold. We unbuckled our seatbelts and moved to the blisters in the back of the plane. The blisters are big oval windows that a gun used to be in. I could see down, up, forwards and backwards. I could see everywhere! It was very cozy in the blisters, so I felt joyful. I sat on a comfortable couch that was medium sized. The ground looked like shiny lakes and the cars were small like small toys.

After 2 hours the landing gear went down and I felt sad because the PBY was landing. We got off the plane in Eugene and saw two spare Catalina fuselages. They were stripped and their tails were gone. Next we rented a car and drove five hours to Seattle in the middle of the night. I felt very tired and I slept. We arrived home at 2:00 in the morning.

I couldn’t believe I rode on a real World War II airplane! I loved it and felt connected to the past. It is important to remember our history because it will be lost if we don't.

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