The Missus and I spent the day volunteering at the Military Aviation Museum. It's winter and our guest census is low, so I spent part of my day prowling the hangars for pictures.
Late in the day I spotted the sun streaming in through the windows of the Navy hangar doors, striking the hull of our PBY-5 Catalina, creating intense shadows along the rivet lines. The "Cat" is a flying boat, or more accurately, an amphibian since it can land/take-off from land or water. This is the part of the hull/fuselage near the nose of the plane.
From the Museum's website: "The Catalina was an American flying boat of 1930’s design that was one of the most widely used, multi-role, designs of the war. It served in military branches as an observation, night attack, maritime patrol, bomber, air-sea rescue, and anti-submarine aircraft.
The Catalina’s outstanding range and endurance made her the key element in the destruction of the German battleship Bismarck and the Japanese fleet at the Battle of Midway, where a Catalina also rescued the sole survivor of Torpedo Squadron Eight, Ensign George Gay."
