When Cats do not go Gentle

Fifteen hour over-water flights are taxing enough in today's pressurised airliners with comfortable seats and drinks at the push of a button. We arrive tired and weary in even the best aircraft. Can we then honestly imagine doing it in the noisy, cramped and uncomfortable conditions in a PBY Catalina in a situation where it is very likely that someone will try to kill us somewhere along the journey?

Those were the exact challenges facing the men of the Royal Australian Air Force that flew in long-range Catalinas out into the heart of Asia to lay mines at the doorsteps of protected Japanese bases in World War II. These were the crews of the legendary Black Cats; men whose exploits are known well but their stories seldom told. That has been.