Catalina damaged by hail storm at Rathmines in 1945

This article is about the hail damage of Catalina's at Rathmines in 1945. The damage to many aircraft necessitated the posting in of many Fabric Worker's from all bases to facilitate the repairs to the airacraft in quick time. This brought about the formation of a Training School and the start of formalised training of Fabric Workers.

Note the obersvation window above and below. ~ Member Photos

Catalinas being repared at Lake Boga, Vic in 1944 & 1945

Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) and RAAF fabric workers fitting new fabric on to a mainplane of a Catalina flying boat at the RAAF Flying Boat Repair Depot. ~ Photo AWM.gov.au

Two WAAAF fabric workers of the maintenance staff of No. 1 Flying-boat Repair Depot RAAF in north-western Victoria, doping the tail-unit of a Consolidated Catalina flying-boat. ~ Photo AWM.gov.au

There will be other stories told by Ex-Fabric Workers, Safety Equipment Workers, or Aircraft Life Support Fitters on this website soon. I have a 60 minute audio cassette of stories that I will get around to converting into digital files and linking them in this page. I do hope you enjoy this site, and I would like to hear from past and present members with your stories so I can add them to this page. Just send and e-mail to the .