Catalina Dreaming

by Andrew McMillan

ISBN 1 876631 28 7

$21.95

Published April 2002

A
 


"I remember us banking away from landfall after we got hit. We were trying to gain height and as we banked away the moon was on our starboard wing. I looked out and I could see the moon, and I could see the man in it too. And the man in the moon said to me, 'Don't worry son, you're going to be all right tonight.'"

Here is a personal history of the RAAF Catalina flying boats based in Cairns, Karumba, Darwin and Melville Bay during World War II, and the men who flew and looked after them. This is the story of ordinary men from southern Australia thrown into a hostile landscape, and their confrontations with tropical conditions, Aboriginal tribesman, Yanks, air raids on Darwin, boredom and terror, sharks, and of course the Japanese.

Author of An Intruders Guide To East Arnhem Land, Andrew McMillan has visited the bases, consulted the archives, and talked to many of the men involved. With affection he has told their story, and the story of the aircraft they often came to love.

 

 

 

 

 


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