A 2015 Christmas / Birthday Story

On December 24, 1923 Russell Redman came into the world. Of course, unknown at the time, Russell was destined to fly the Consolidated PBY Canso for RCAF No. 6 (Bomber Reconnaissance) Squadron on 10 to 18 hour long anti-submarine patrols in 1944 – 1945 from Coal Harbour on Vancouver Island.

After the war Russell, like many veterans’ settled into civilian life raising and enjoying his family. However, he never forgot his time, enthusiasm or experiences flying the PBY, and in 2012 joined a fledgling loosely knit organization called The Catalina Preservation Society. Here he found other PBY pilots, crew and friends to swap stories with and do what he could to help in the preservation of our PBY Canso C-FUAW or RCAF 11024.

Our present day story begins a month ago, in November, when Russell’s daughter Leslie, found a real aviation treasure buried in a box of her father’s aviation past. The story of coincidence began to unravel itself when she read entries in a book made by her father.

Beaming with excitement, Leslie contacted us at TCPS to share her treasure. She had found her father’s Military Aviation Logbook from 1944 to 1945!

It was all there in Russell’s very neat handwriting, his wartime flights in a PBY now being Preserved by a Society he had become a member of.

Today, December 24th, 2015 Russell Redman turns 92 years old and is posing beside PBY Canso 11024 proudly sharing with us stories from entries in his logbook of flying 11024 in April of 1944 to July 1945 on his 18 hour long anti-submarine patrols.

A time of rugged self-reliant people, in particular, PBY Pilot and Crew members Andrew Carswell, Carl Ensom Sr, Lionel Churchill, Mike Pearson spent many hard working hours flying in Consolidated PBY Canso RCAF 11024 now owned by Robert Dyck with Pacific Flying Boats and TCPS. We are happy to include Russell Redman in their ranks.

We at Catalina Preservation Society thought this a wonderful Birthday /Christmas tale worthy of sharing with our followers around the world.

Royal Canadian Air Force Flight Sergeant Russell Redman celebrated his 92nd birthday December 2015 with a visit to our PBY Canso RCAF 11024.