C-FOWE

On May 31, 1986 at 10:50 AM, C-FOWE experienced a crash involving Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina, operated by Jonathan Seagull Holdings, with the event recorded near Plymouth Devon.

The flight was categorized as demonstration and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.

7 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 7 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 3, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The Catalina was one of two that arrived that morning in celebration of the first transatlantic flight by a Curtis NC-4 aircraft in 1917. The first landed without incident but the 2nd veered off course on landing and hit a temporary buoy before crashing into a heavy permanent navigational buoy that ripped off part of a wing and one of her floats. This caused the aircraft to cartwheel around out of control performing a spectacular 'surface loop'. Luckily she stayed afloat and the people on board were rescued by the occupants of some of the welcoming party's boats. One member of crew was taken to hospital with a gashed leg. The sinking aircraft was kept afloat and towed to the nearby former RAF flying boat base at Mount Batten where she remained in one of the old 'Sunderland' hangars under repair for several months. She eventually flew out of Plymouth Hoe on the return leg of the transatlantic flight towards the end of the year.

Aircraft reference details include registration C-FOWE, MSN 11074, year of manufacture 1941.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 50.4159°, -4.1239°.