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- quality wooden model WWI and WWII airplanes -
PBY Catalina, US Navy
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Model
"B"
Photography by Action Asia Photo |
Using new structural techniques as well as practical experience gained by the Navy from its first monoplane patrol boats, the Consolidated PBY Catalina was designed to replace the P3M and P2Y seaplanes. Initial models produced in 1937 were strictly seaplanes limited to water-borne takeoffs and landings with retractable outer wing floats. If repairs were required on shore, beaching gear was floated out and attached to a buoyed aircraft to permit it to be towed up a ramp for necessary maintenance. In November 1939 Consolidated flew the first of its true amphibian designs that incorporated retractable tricycle landing gear to give them greater flexibility as a warplane. In May 1941, a lend-lease PBY flown by a US Navy pilot on duty as an instructor with the RAF is credited with locating the damaged German pocket-battleship Bismarck to be sunk the following day by a British battleship/cruiser force after her steering had been crippled earlier by a Royal Navy Swordfish. It was also a PBY that made the only attack on a Japanese ship during the Pearl Harbor attack when it bombed a midget submarine on the fateful 7th of December, 1941. Later in the war, it again was a PBY that spotted the Japanese invasion and carrier strike forces during the Battle of Midway. The Catalinas performed a variety of essential duties during WWII including long-range scouting, anti-submarine warfare, convoy escorts, search & rescue and also torpedo/bombing attack operations. It was in the latter functions that the PBY established its greatest legacy by sinking more enemy shipping than any other single type of aircraft during World War II. One squadron in particular - the Black Cats - with aircraft painted black for night operations were credited with sinking hundreds of tons of enemy shipping. Two squadrons were equipped with magnetic anomaly detection gear in order to locate submerged submarines. Retro-bombs were also installed which, - when fired backwards at a velocity equal to the speed of the aircraft - dropped straight down upon a target being over flown by the aircraft. The last of the Navy's PBYs were retired in 1957. Many of the aircraft are still in active use today for forest fire fighting operations in which they land on lakes and scoop up water into special internal tanks to be dropped on hot spots. Crew:
Seven to nine
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