PBY "Catalina" - Page 1

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - PBY "Catalina" (Page 1 of 3)

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:27:16 PM EDT

Who else likes these? I love seaplanes, float planes, flying boats, etc. but these are my favorite multi-role planes of this type.

Did you know?:

That a U.S. Navy pilot in a Lend-Lease PBY first spotted the Bismark so that the torpedo planes could get to work.

That "Black Cats", PBY's painted black and configured for night interdiction missions against Japanese ships, were used as glide bombers. The pilots would climb to 3000 feet, throttle back the engines and glide down to about a 100 feet before releasing their 500 pound bombs.

That PBY's would accompany strike aircraft so they would already be on scene if an aircrew needed to be rescued.

"Plucking downed fliers from angry seas meant hazarding an open-ocean landing. Setting down in 16- to 18-foot swells required a full stall, carefully timed to touch down on the peak of a wave. Bringing the Catalina as close to the heaving surface as possible with wing floats lowered, the pilot cut the throttle to idle, pulled the nose up to stall the wing, and—as the crew braced themselves—executed a controlled splashdown of the 30,000-pound airplane.

Banging across the top of the wave, then plunging into the deep valley between swells, the ship met the ocean. Water surged over the cockpit and doused the engines. Hull structure was overstressed. Leaks spewed from popped-out rivets. Catalina crews walked around with a pocket full of golf tees, perfectly sized to plug a hole."

The fighters and their pilots get the lion's share of glory and praise, but I think these planes and their crews did a hell of a job.

https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/legends-of-an-ocean-crossing-seaplane-180971743/

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:31:32 PM EDT

[#1]

That is my favorite aircraft.

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:32:19 PM EDT

[#2]

Used as passenger aircraft in Alaska.

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:32:24 PM EDT

[#3]

A true Clasic in every way!

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:33:23 PM EDT

[#4]

They're awesome planes.

I refer to Catalina dressing as "Flying Boat Dressing".

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:33:59 PM EDT

[#5]

I like the Black Cats.

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:35:19 PM EDT

[#6]

A friend of mine was flying one, and on long final one of the throttles broke off. They had to use some long nosed vice grips as one of the throttles.
He was a bit surprised.

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:35:33 PM EDT

[#7]

The cutaway display model at the Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum is fascinating.

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:37:12 PM EDT

[#8]

My dad said they were so slow they might as well been flying backwards.

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:38:10 PM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted:
The cutaway display model at the Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum is fascinating.

View Quote

Great museum
As a kid a built multiple models of this aircraft

Machine guns in the bubbles!!

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:38:23 PM EDT

[#10]

One of my absolute favorites and I think it was my fathers favorite.

Sooooooooo versatile.

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:39:38 PM EDT

[#11]

This thread needs more pictures. Not my picture, but this is the only PBY I’ve seen in person:

Attached File

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:39:45 PM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:
They're awesome planes.

I refer to Catalina dressing as "Flying Boat Dressing".

View Quote

This place is so worth $24 a year.

Until the Kodak Quest came out this was my lotto win airplane.

Attached File

I have this print:

Attached File

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:39:56 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
Who else likes these? I love seaplanes, float planes, flying boats, etc. but these are my favorite multi-role planes of this type.

Did you know?:

That a U.S. Navy pilot in a Lend-Lease PBY first spotted the Bismark so that the torpedo planes could get to work.

That "Black Cats", PBY's painted black and configured for night interdiction missions against Japanese ships, were used as glide bombers. The pilots would climb to 3000 feet, throttle back the engines and glide down to about a 100 feet before releasing their 500 pound bombs.

That PBY's would accompany strike aircraft so they would already be on scene if an aircrew needed to be rescued.

"Plucking downed fliers from angry seas meant hazarding an open-ocean landing. Setting down in 16- to 18-foot swells required a full stall, carefully timed to touch down on the peak of a wave. Bringing the Catalina as close to the heaving surface as possible with wing floats lowered, the pilot cut the throttle to idle, pulled the nose up to stall the wing, and—as the crew braced themselves—executed a controlled splashdown of the 30,000-pound airplane.

Banging across the top of the wave, then plunging into the deep valley between swells, the ship met the ocean. Water surged over the cockpit and doused the engines. Hull structure was overstressed. Leaks spewed from popped-out rivets. Catalina crews walked around with a pocket full of golf tees, perfectly sized to plug a hole."

The fighters and their pilots get the lion's share of glory and praise, but I think these planes and their crews did a hell of a job.

https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/legends-of-an-ocean-crossing-seaplane-180971743/

View Quote

I get that magazine! 1st article I read out of that issue. The PBY is one of my favorites, built the model as a kid.

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:41:55 PM EDT

[#14]

As a child, I fell in love with these planes. It could take you anywhere in the World, airstrip or not. To me, it just screamed adventure!

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:43:26 PM EDT

[#15]

If Hollywood wouldn’t fuck it up, they really need to make a Black Cats movie.

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:43:48 PM EDT

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:
My dad said they were so slow they might as well been flying backwards.

View Quote

I once spoke to a pilot who said the Cat was equipped with a calendar instead of an airspeed indicator.

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:44:45 PM EDT

[#17]

Grew up a Navy brat lived in Coco Solo surrounded by them...they were awesome...still are.

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:46:42 PM EDT

[#18]

Attached File

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:47:31 PM EDT

[#19]

@Squid1jz

He has some really cool pictures of one.

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:53:33 PM EDT

[#20]

During WW II my uncle worked on them as a mechanic. He also worked on the China Clipper for Pan Am.

Good book on one PBY squadron is In the Hands of Fate.

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:54:49 PM EDT

[#21]

Pensacola

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:58:35 PM EDT

[#22]

There’s a museum dedicated to the PBY on Whidbey Island WA, including an airworthy example.

https://pbymf.org/

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:59:05 PM EDT

[#23]

Quote History

Quoted:
@Squid1jz

He has some really cool pictures of one.

View Quote

"The Thousand Mile War" about the Alaska theater had quite a bit about the PBY's

Posted: 4/8/2019 7:59:40 PM EDT

[#24]

This one took me by surprise. It's at the AirForce Museum in Dayton, Ohio.

The Army Air Corps used them for SAR. @crzapy The AAC designated them OA-10.

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:00:09 PM EDT

[#25]

As a kid, I always thought they were cool.
Even built a few models.

My Dad was a waist gunner on a PB4Y in WWII, but he still gets excited about B17s!

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:01:18 PM EDT

[#26]

Quote History

Quoted:

Attached File

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That cut-away used to be part of WALL. The skinned side of the airframe was outdoors and the see-through part was inside a training building.

Story: Here.

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:02:00 PM EDT

[#27]

Much like the A10 and A1 the PBY is one of those planes that's so ugly it's gorgeous. Like a picasso.

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:02:14 PM EDT

[#28]

My grandfather was rescued by one after being shot down in the Pacific.

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:08:31 PM EDT

[#29]

I'd see them flying every once in a while when I was growing up in southern CA. They're awesome. A grail float plane, perhaps?

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:10:35 PM EDT

[#30]

Quote History

Quoted:
That is my favorite aircraft.

View Quote

Was always one of my favorites too.

If I had crazy retard money, I'd buy one and convert it into a party plane, complete with all the Colombian drug lord/Russian
arms dealer trimmings, hookers and blow, and fly all over the world so I could hang my dick out the gunners port
cupola and piss on the wretched peasants below.

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:11:00 PM EDT

[#31]

Belly landed on snow in Greenland to rescue downed B-17 crew.

https://www.historynet.com/seven-down-in-greenland.htm

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:11:02 PM EDT

[#32]

Reminds me of Ens. George Gay

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:12:10 PM EDT

[#33]

First saw one in Tora! Tora! Tora! Always thought they were awesome.

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:15:57 PM EDT

[#34]

They still pop up for sale every now and then. Decently priced.

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:22:22 PM EDT

[#35]

Family vacation aircraft, shot up by Saudi troops

http://expeditionwriter.com/a-beautiful-bird-left-to-the-desert/

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:25:07 PM EDT

[#36]

Gramps flew these and rescued men.

Attached File

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:43:13 PM EDT

[#37]

Cool airplane.

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:44:24 PM EDT

[#38]

My grandfather flew them in WWII.

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:53:06 PM EDT

[#39]

Quote History

Quoted:
My grandfather was rescued by one after being shot down in the Pacific.

View Quote

My Great Uncle Fred was the guy that had to go out and bring in the pilots, often they were dead.

He carried an Iver Johnson .38SW 5 shot revolver to shoot the rubber rafts after they had recovered the pilot/occupants of the raft(s).

I have that cheap little break top revolver! Will never part with it. I miss you Uncle Fred!! RIP, died in 2000, my last elderly relative.

Posted: 4/8/2019 8:56:26 PM EDT

[#40]

Got to see one up close and personal about 10 years ago at an air show. It was very impressive taking off and leaving. It was at it’s last US air show since the owner had just sold it and after the show it was off to Australia, I think.

Posted: 4/8/2019 9:18:41 PM EDT

[#41]

I was wanting to get a R/C one but never pulled the trigger.

Wasn't there a several episode show about these a couple years ago? Seems like some company in Canada or Alaska was still using them for cargo?

Posted: 4/8/2019 9:23:40 PM EDT

[#42]

My Grandfather Flew them for a long time and was a squadron commander during WW2 love those things. Getting to talk to many of the people who flew them growing up was fascinating.

Posted: 4/8/2019 9:25:09 PM EDT

[#43]

Long been a favorite of mine.
I've actually got a thing for seaplanes of all types, it seems. The Clippers are another favorite, and I have a small collection of memorabilia of them.
And even oddities like the Convair Sea Dart. I've seen all the surviving examples in person.

Posted: 4/8/2019 9:34:06 PM EDT

[#44]

I was stationed on the Trumbo annex of NAS Boca chica (Key West) and spend a lot of time at Pensacola. Both were former sea plane bases. It makes me nostalgic to see the old hangars and ramps

Posted: 4/8/2019 9:42:31 PM EDT

[#45]

Flying gas can.

Would be awesome to have a modern version with PT-6's.

Posted: 4/8/2019 9:42:45 PM EDT

[#46]

Quote History

Quoted:

My Great Uncle Fred was the guy that had to go out and bring in the pilots, often they were dead.

He carried an Iver Johnson .38SW 5 shot revolver to shoot the rubber rafts after they had recovered the pilot/occupants of the raft(s).

I have that cheap little break top revolver! Will never part with it. I miss you Uncle Fred!! RIP, died in 2000, my last elderly relative.

View Quote

That's awesome.
Do you know if he was around the Marshals and Gilbert's?

Posted: 4/8/2019 9:45:42 PM EDT

[#47]

Quote History

Quoted:
During WW II my uncle worked on them as a mechanic. He also worked on the China Clipper for Pan Am.

Good book on one PBY squadron is In the Hands of Fate.

View Quote

Did someone mention the Clipper, granted not a PBY but a hell of a story from the same era..