Full story: On the 22nd March 1960 Thomas Kendall landed at the Strait of Tirana and anchored the aircraft a short distance from the shore to spend the night there. They heard someone shouting but did not pay any attention. In the afternoon of the following day they were attacked with machine guns and automatic firearms from a headland nearby. The children were able to swim back to the aircraft. Mr Kendal and his secretary were wounded while trying to start the Catalina but moved it about 800 metres, unfortunately it ran aground on a coral reef. The firing lasted 30 to 40 minutes and no fewer than 300 shots hit the aircraft. The fuel tanks were perforated and 4000 litres of fuel poured from the holes but miraculously the aircraft did not catch fire. The sea was only about 1.5 metres deep and all aboard managed to leave the aircraft and reach the shore. On the beach they were captured by a group of Bedouins attached to the Saudi Arabian army, who had taken them to be Israeli commandos. They were eventually taken to Jeddah, interrogated and finally set free with the help of the American Ambassador. The Ambassador protested to the Saudi Arabian government but they refused to accept any liability for the attack and consequent loss of the aircraft.

Hi, I'm from Saudi Arabia. I visited the plane in 2012 and I was fascinated by the scene. I wrote to many museums asking them to restore the plane but they had problems with finance and transportation, I also tried to reach a local transporter but the cost was too expensive :( unfortunately the plane now is in a real bad shape and unrestorable. Sorry fellas for telling you that. God bless you all.

There's always something very haunting about abandoned aircraft. Thank you for posting this.

The PBY Catalina is a beautiful plane. It's a crying shame this one was left to rot.

It's a shame that no one there appreciates the Catalina enough to have recovered it earlier.

This is REALLY sad..... It's like seeing a pelican with a broken wing ;(

Damn shame. Another forgotten hero in an uncaring world.

I visited the site in 1998/99 while working in Tabuk. Took some nice photos, but I can't imagine there would be much left of her now. Thanks for the memories.

Sad. :-( should be transported and restore to a museum.

I was told about this film some years ago but I have never found a copy, it features among others Richard Attenborough and Eva Bartok. A still from the film can be found on the British Pictures website. I was also told that Thomas Kendall makes a brief appearance in The Guns of Navarone piloting one of his other flying boats although I have not found any confirmation of this.

I agree with Freddie. It'd be better being acquired and restored for museum use.

Damn it! This is the second video of a Catalina I've seen in the last couple of hours that's an amphibious variant, instead of a flying boat variant.

Thanks for posting!

What a great loss Such beautiful airplane, real work of art, they should take him from this place and rebuild. If I had so many money then I would rebuild him

Saw this aircraft at London Gatwick England in either the late 1950's or early 60's. Amazing to see this video, such a sad sight.

Amazing. Can't imagine them just leaving it there, even decades ago. The PBY was still a useful plane, heavily used in fire fighitng and rescue up to about 20 yrs ago.

Love Catalina's. She deserves better.

@ 0:23 stunning & dramatic yet melancholy use of the blurred vision effect! All kidding & technicalities aside, this was great! Thanks for sharing. The music all started to make sense as the epilogue approached. Nice touch. :^)

48397 (c/n 1759) to civil registry as N5593V and converted into luxury flying yacht. In the spring of 1960 owner took hisfamily around the world on a pleasure trip and on Mar 22, 1960 they landed at the Strait of Tirana to spend the night there. The next afternoon they were attacked by automatic fire from a headlands nearby. The aircraft ran aground while they were attempting to takeoff. The passengers were captured by a group of Bedouins attached to the Saudi Arabian army, who had taken

nice vid, thanks for sharing