This beautiful seaplane landed between the sea and the desert of Saudi Arabia, and remained there for almost 50 years. The PBY-5A Catalina, an American military seaplane produced since the 1936s. It is located on a beach in the Tiran Strait on the Saudi Arabian side from the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba.
The PBY-5A model aircraft was purchased from the United States Navy by Thomas W. Kendall, a former businessman who converted it into a luxury flying aircraft.
The PBY-5A Catalina was one of the most widely used multipurpose aircraft of the Second World War.
In the spring of 1960, Mr. Kendall traveled around the world with his wife and children, along with his secretary and her son. They were later joined by a photographer and journalist to document part of the trip for the magazine's life.
On March 22, 1960, the plane landed in the Tirana Strait and anchored near the coast to spend the night there.
On the afternoon of the next day, they were attacked with machine guns and automatic weapons from a nearby promontory. The children swam back to the plane. Mr. Kendal and his secretary were injured while trying to launch the Catalina, but they managed to travel by plane for about 800 meters, unfortunately, he ran aground on a coral reef.
The shooting lasted from 30 to 40 minutes and at least 300 shots hit the plane. The fuel tanks were shot through and nearly 4,000 liters of fuel were poured out of the holes, but miraculously, the plane did not catch fire. The depth of the sea in this section was only about 1.5 meters, and everyone on board managed to leave the plane and reach the shore.
