Correcting Richard Llewellyn's letter

August 6, 2025

I’m happy to correct Richard on the points he raised.

The US Navy describes the Catalina flying boat as an “antique” in a wartime newsreel;

The life of the Catalina was deemed over at the outbreak of WWII. Veteran Philip Dulhunty and others described it to me as doomed to the scrapyard before it was saved.

For colour, which you criticise, I refer you to RAAF Catalina gunner Cyril Payne’s hilarious description of his friend Lenny on an early flight using the wrong shute to poo down with the result spraying all over the interior.

This is in the 2017 film I made for the men and their families called Into the South China Sea. The link is back on our site today

And there’s plenty more from the crewmen! I’m surprised at just how restrained I was in the article’s colour.