Present to mark the occasion were four HARS members who will feature in the upcoming documentary titled Return of the Catalina.

Filmmaker Daniel Bunker followed the ‘‘Catalina Crew’’ as they restored and flew an old Catalina from Spain – where it had been used as a water bomber – to the Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach in Queensland, where it now sits as a tribute to the crews that served during World War II.

HARS has its own Catalina which the organisation still flies. It will provide the backdrop when the feature-length film premieres at a ‘‘red carpet affair’’ at the HARS Museum on August 22.

The Catalina is described as a long-range maritime reconnaissance, rescue and mine laying aircraft designed in the early 1930s.  

According to HARS, the first Catalina flew in March 1935.   Nearly 3000 were built of which 175 entered service in Australia.

In 1943, at the urging of the British government, the Royal Air Force in Britain supplied Qantas with five Catalina aircraft, if Qantas agreed to open a flying route from Perth to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). 

It was to be the world’s longest regular non-stop service – a total distance of 5632 kilometres (3520 miles). The weight of fuel limited the Catalina’s load to only three passengers and 69 kilograms of diplomatic and armed forces mail. 

Passengers and crew endured cabins that were not pressurised, freezing conditions and the constant threat of a surprise enemy attack.

Because the journey was made by night, the crew and passengers saw the sun rise twice, hence the name ‘‘Double Sunrise’’ service.

The flying boats were very slow, travelling at no more than 160 miles an hour and as a result the flights still hold the record for being the longest ever non-stop commercial flight – 32 hours 9 minutes.

The top secret, civilian service made 271 crossings of the Indian Ocean with no loss of life, the last flight taking place on July 17, 1945.