Consolidated PBY Catalina

Naval Aircraft Factory modified versions of the Catalina



The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] made significant modifications to the PBY design, many of which would have significantly interrupted deliveries had they been incorporated on the Consolidated production lines.

The new aircraft, officially known as the PBN-1 Nomad, had several differences from the basic PBY.

The most obvious upgrades were to the bow, which was sharpened and extended by two feet, and to the tail, which was enlarged and featured a new shape.

Other improvements included larger fuel tanks, increasing range by 50%, and stronger wings permitting a 2,000 pound (908 kg) higher gross take-off weight.

An auxiliary power unit was installed, along with a modernized electrical system, and the weapons were upgraded with
continuous-feed mechanisms.

138 of the 156 PBN-1s that were produced served with the Soviet Navy.

The remaining 18 of them were assigned to training units at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and the Naval Air Facility in Newport,
Rhode Island.

Later, improvements found in the PBN-1 – notably, the larger tail – were incorporated into the amphibious PBY-6A.

Operational history


Roles in World War II


The final construction figure is estimated at around 4,000 aircraft, and these were deployed in practically all of the operational theatres of World War II.

The PBY served with distinction and played a prominent and invaluable role in the war against the Japanese.

This was especially true during the first year of the war in the Pacific, because the PBY and the Boeing [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] were the only two available aircraft with the range necessary.

As a result, they were used in almost every possible military role until a new generation of aircraft became available.

A Catalina of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] was also involved in a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] with a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Nell bomber of Mihoro Air Group near the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] on 25 December 1941, in which the Catalina was shot down.

Anti-submarine warfare


PBYs were the most extensively used ASW aircraft in both the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] of the Second World War, and were also used in the Indian Ocean, flying from the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and from [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Their duties included escorting convoys to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

By 1943, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] were well-armed with anti-aircraft guns and two [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] were won by Catalina pilots pressing home their attacks on U-boats in the face of heavy fire: [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] of the RAF, in 1944, against the U-347 and in the same year Flight Lt. [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (posthumously) against the U-1225.

Catalinas destroyed 40 U-boats in all, but they suffered losses of their own.

Maritime patrol


In their role as patrol aircraft, Catalinas participated in some of the most notable engagements of World War II.

The aircraft's parasol wing and large waist blisters allowed for a great deal of visibility and combined with its long range and endurance, made it well suited for the task.

• A [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Catalina located the German battleship [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] on May 26, 1941 while she tried to evade Royal Navy forces.
  
• A flight of Catalinas spotted the Japanese fleet approaching [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], beginning the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].
  
• An [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Canso flown by Squadron Leader [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] foiled Japanese plans to destroy the Royal Navy's Indian Ocean fleet on April 4, 1942 when it detected the Japanese carrier fleet approaching [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (Sri Lanka).
  

Night attack and naval interdiction


Several squadrons of PBY-5As and -6As in the Pacific theater were specially modified to operate as night convoy raiders.

Outfitted with state-of-the-art [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and painted flat black, these "Black Cats" attacked Japanese supply convoys at night.

Catalinas were surprisingly successful in this highly unorthodox role.

Between August 1943 and January 1944, Black Cat squadrons had sunk 112,700 tons of merchant shipping, damaged 47,000 tons, and damaged 10 Japanese warships.

The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (RAAF) also operated Catalinas as night raiders, with four squadrons Nos. [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], 20, 42, and 43 mounting mine-laying operations from 23 April 1943 until July 1945 in the southwest Pacific deep into Japanese-held waters, that bottled up ports and shipping routes and kept ships in the deeper waters to become targets for US submarines; they tied up the major strategic ports such as Balikpapan that shipped 80% of
Japanese oil supplies.

In late 1944, their precision mining sometimes exceeded 20 hours in duration from as low as 200 feet in the hours of darkness.

One included the bottling up the Japanese fleet in Manila Bay planned to assist General MacArthur's landing at Mindoro in the Philippines.

They also operated out of Jinamoc in Leyte Gulf, and mined ports on the Chinese coast from Hong Kong as far north as Wenchow.

They were the only non-American heavy bombers squadrons operating north of Morotai in 1945.

The RAAF Catalinas regularly mounted nuisance night bombing raids on Japanese bases, they earned the motto of 'The first and the Furthest' as a testimony to their design and endurance.

These raids included the major base at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

RAAF aircrews developed 'terror bombs', essentially empty beer bottles with razor blades inserted into the necks, these produced high pitched screams as they fell and kept Japanese soldiers awake and in fear of their life.

Search and rescue


PBYs were employed by every branch of the US military as rescue aircraft.

A PBY piloted by Lt. Cmdr. Adrian Marks (USN) rescued 56 sailors from the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] after the ship was sunk during [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

PBYs continued to function in this capacity for decades after the end of the war.

Early commercial use


PBYs were also used for commercial air travel. The longest commercial flights (in terms of time aloft) ever made in aviation history were the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] flights flown weekly from 29 June 1943 through July 1945 over the Indian Ocean.

Qantas offered non-stop service between [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], a distance of 3,592 nm (5,652 km).

As the PBY typically cruised at 110 knots, this took from 28–32 hours and was called the "flight of the double sunrise", since the passengers saw two sunrises during their non-stop journey.

The flight was made with radio silence (because of the possibility of Japanese attack) and had a maximum payload of 1000 lbs or three passengers plus 65 kg of armed forces and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Post-World War II employment



An Australian PBY made the first trans-Pacific flight across the South Pacific between [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in 1946, making numerous stops at islands along the way for refueling, meals, and overnight sleep of its crew.

With the end of the war, all of the flying boat versions of the Catalina were quickly retired from the U.S. Navy, but the amphibious ones remained in service for some years.

The last Catalina in U.S. service was a PBY-6A operating with a Naval Reserve squadron, which was retired
from use on 3 January 1957.

The PBY subsequently equipped the world's smaller armed services, in fairly substantial numbers, into the late 1960s.

The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] had PBYs (designated OA-10s) in service as scouting airplanes from 1946 through 1947.

The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] flew Catalinas in naval air patrol missions against German submarines starting in 1943.

The flying boats also carried out air mail deliveries.

In 1948, a transport squadron was formed and equipped with PBY-5As converted to the role of amphibious transports.

The 1st Air Transport Squadron (ETA-1) was based in the port city of Belem and flew Catalinas and C-47s in well-maintained condition until 1982.

Catalinas were convenient for supplying military detachments scattered among the Amazon waterways.

They reached places where only long-range transport helicopters would dare to go.

ETA-1 insignia was a winged turtle with the motto "Though slowly, I always get there".

Today, the last Brazilian Catalina (a former RCAF one) is displayed at the Airspace Museum (MUSAL), in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] used a PBY-6A (N101CS) as part of his diving expeditions. His second son, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], was killed while attempting a water landing in the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] river near Lisbon, Portugal, June 28, 1979.

His plane had just been repaired when he took it out for a flight.

As he landed, one of the plane's propellers separated, cut through the cockpit and killed the younger Cousteau.

Of the few dozen remaining airworthy Catalinas, the majority of them are in use today as [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] planes.

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the official airline of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]) was founded with two PBY amphibious flying boats.