PBY Catalina was the United States Navy designation for an American and Canadian-built flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s. PB stands for Patrol Bomber, with Y being Consolidated Aircraft's manufacturer identification. It could be equipped with depth charges, bombs, torpedoes, and .50 caliber machine guns and was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. Catalinas served with every branch of the US military and in the air forces and navies of many other nations. In the United States Army Air Forces and later in the USAF Strategic Air Command their designation was the OA-10 while Canadian-built PBYs were known by the nickname Canso.
Prototyping and development
* An estimated 4,051 Catalinas, Cansos, and GSTs of all variants were produced between June 1937 and May 1945 for the US Navy, USAAF, United States Coast Guard, Allied nations, and civilian customers.
Mass-produced U.S. Navy* variants
The Naval Aircraft Factory made significant modifications to the PBY design, many of which would have significantly interrupted deliveries had they been incorporated on the Consolidated production lines. Later, improvements found in the PBN-1 – notably, the larger tail – were incorporated into the amphibious PBY-6A.
Naval Aircraft Factory production
See also: List of PBY Catalina operators
The Royal Australian Air Force ordered its first PBY-5 Catalinas in 1940. By the end of the war the RAAF had taken delivery of 168 Catalinas. The RAAF used Catalinas in a wide range of roles including reconnaissance and anti-submarine patrols, offensive mine-laying and air-sea rescue. In addition, RAAF Catalina aircraft were used to transport Australian personnel back to Australia at the end of the war. The RAAF retired its last Catalina aircraft in 1952.
Initial deliveries of the Royal Air Force's Catalinas began in early 1941 and these entered service with No. 209 and No. 240 squadrons of Coastal Command. In all, nine squadrons of Coastal Command were equipped with the Catalina, as were an additional 12 squadrons overseas. The total acquisition was approximately 700 spread over the following designations: Catalina Mk I, Mk IA (PBY-5A amphibian in RCAF service only), Mk IB, Mk II, Mk III, Mk IVB (Canadian built PBY-5, the PB2B-1), Mk IV, and Mk VI (a PBN-1 style tall tail version built in Canada). The Catalina Mk V which would have been PBN-1s were a cancelled order.
In British service the Catalina was fitted with .303 inch guns, typically a Vickers K at the front and Browning MGs in the waist positions. Some received the Leigh light to aid anti-submarine warfare by night.
Between 1940 and 1945 seven former RAF examples were used by BOAC (two for a Poole to Lagos service), and Qantas (five for a Ceylon to Perth service).
Distribution to the Allies
Around the same time as French purchase order covered 18 aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force, some of which would be used to re-establish the British-Australian airlink through Asia (see Order of the Double Sunrise)
Soon after the receipt of Britain's first order for production aircraft, a French purchasing mission ordered 30 aircraft in early 1940. Allocated the Consolidated identification Model 28-5MF, none of these were delivered before the Battle of France.
48 planes were ordered by the Netherlands for use in the Dutch East Indies
South African Air Force
Swedish Royal Air Force TP47
Operators
The final construction figure is estimated at around 4,000 aircraft, and these were deployed in practically all of the operational theaters of World War II. The Catalina 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 Catalina and the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress were the only two aircraft with the range necessary for these operations. As a result they were used in almost every possible military role until a new generation of aircraft became available.
Roles in World War II
Catalinas were the most extensively used anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters of the Second World War. One of their jobs was escorting convoys to Murmansk. By 1943 U-boats were well armed with anti-aircraft guns and two Victoria Crosses were won by Catalina skippers pressing home attacks on U-boats in the face of heavy fire: John Cruickshank in 1944 against U-347 and in the same year Flight Lt. David Hornell RCAF (posthumously) against U-1225. Catalinas destroyed 40 U-boats in total but suffered losses of their own. On December 7, 1941, Japanese Mitsubishi Reisen "Zero" fighters from the Akagi carrier group attacked NAS Kaneohe Bay at Oahu, Hawaii, destroying or disabling all of the 33 Catalinas stationed there.
Anti-submarine warfare
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; this combined with its long range and endurance made it well suited for the task.
It was an RAF Coastal Command Catalina with a USN Pilot among the British crew that located the German battleship Bismarck on May 26, 1941 while it tried to evade the Royal Navy forces that would sink it within a couple of days. Maritime patrol
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 magnetic anomaly detection gear and painted flat black, these "Black Cats" attacked Japanese supply convoys at night. Catalinas were very 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 Royal Australian Air Force also operated Catalinas as night raiders, with RAAF aircraft mounting mine-laying operations deep into Japanese-held waters. The RAAF also occasionally used Catalinas to mount nuisance night bombing raids on Japanese bases, including the major base at Rabaul.
Night attack and naval interdictionCatalinas were employed by every branch of the US military as rescue aircraft. Catalinas continued to function in this capacity for decades after the end of the war.
Search and rescue
With the end of the war, flying boat versions were quickly retired from the US Navy, but amphibious versions remained in service for many years. The last Catalina on active service for the US military was a PBY-6A operating with a Naval Reserve squadron, retired 3 January 1957. It must be noted that a PBY was being maintained at Clark AB, Republic of the Philippines as late as 1968. The Catalina subsequently equipped the world's smaller armed services, in fairly substantial numbers, into the late 1960s.
The USAF Strategic Air Command had PBY Catalinas (OA-10 Catalinas) in service from 1946 through 1947.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau used a PBY-6A Catalina (N101CS) as part of his diving expeditions. His second son, Philippe Cousteau, was killed while attempting a water landing in the Tagus 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 are in use today as aerial firefighting planes.
China Airlines, the official airline of Republic of China (Taiwan) was founded with 2 PBY Catalinas configured as amphibians.
Employment in peacetime
