Untitled Document
Consolidated PBY “Catalina” Boat Plane.
As the science tells us, “quantity matters over quality”. Another confirmation of this is the “Catalina” boat plane, about 3300 of which were made. This is more than any other boat plane. Moreover, this is more than all other WWII boat planes put together!
But apart from sheer numbers, “Catalina” possessed a number of remarkable traits, such as reliability and universality, which allowed it not only to honorably perform its military duties, but also to remain in service 60 years after the war!
PBY is one of few aircraft, which biography started earlier than most, ad which didn’t become obsolete in the war. The first flight of the XP3Y prototype happened on March 21, 1935. And on the June 29, 1935 “Consolidated” signed the Navy Contract on supplying 60 PBY-1 boat planes. The aircraft possessed excellent flight characteristics, which made mastering it easier. A fine demonstration of these qualities was the flight of 12 aircraft of the VP-6F division from San-Diego to Pearl-Harbor over the Pacific Ocean. The division left San-Diego in the evening of January 27, 1936, and all aircraft reached Pearl-Harbor in 21 hours 48 minutes.
PBY received the name “Catalina” in November 1940, when the first America-built boat planes were sent to Great Britain. Then many British names were accepted for joint use by the Allies.
Before the war the PBY-1, 2, 3, 4, 5 modifications were made, which consequently received better engines, weapons and instruments. The last modification was designed as an amphibious aircraft, and received the tricycle-equipped landing gear with a nose wheel, which considerably broadened the aircraft’s stationing possibilities.
The first conflicts between PBY-4 and Japanese fighters showed PBY’s vulnerability due to the lack of tank protection and cockpit armor.
Because of that, the most glorious activities to bring fame to “Catalina” were operations “Black Cats” and “Dumbo”. The “Black Cats” were night patrols, armed with torpedoes or bombs and equipped with modern radars, which disrupted the Japanese navigation. They were painted black for disguise purposes. VP-12 division was the first such a special unit. It led its black “Catalinas” to Guadalcanal in December 1942. The “Cats” achieved considerable success in this quality. For example, for the last two and a half months of 1943, VP-52 “Cats” had managed to sink or damage two Japanese cruisers, two submarines and three destroyers. More than 10.000 tons of trade ships were destroyed and 24.000 tons were damaged.
Americans paid much more attention to rescue operations, than Japanese. “Catalina’s” operations to rescue shot pilots were called after the Disney’s flying elephant Dumbo. At this post the aircraft also showed its best qualities. For instance, only the three aircraft that were based on Tulagi in the Solomon Isles from January 1 to August 15, 1943 rescued 161 pilots.
The respect given to this aircraft shows in the words of one American army pilot: “Whenever I see PBY, I salute it”.
PBY “Catalina” in the "Pacific Storm"
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