As part of the 2020 12 Planes of Christmas, we produced a “Cat Fact” for each day of the program. These planes contributed enormously to the allied efforts in World War II, below is a list of just some of they many interesting facts about the PBY’s and their crews.

Cat Facts #1

Did you know that before the plane was named the Catalina it was known as the Consolidated Model 28? The aircraft was built to replace the Consolidated P2Y flying boat. The PBY was accepted into service in October 1936 by Patrol Squadron 11F! 

Cat Facts #2 

Did you know that just before Pearl Harbor there were 14 VP(patrol) squadrons in the Pacific comprising 125 PBY’s? 

These were split up into 4 patrol wings that had 17 seaplane tenders to support operations. 

Cat Facts #3

Did you know that PBY’s flew clandestine missions before the Pearl Harbor attack? Using Australia as a base , two squadrons (VP-21& VP-22) flew “survey missions “ to scout out alternate supply routes in August 1941 but at the same time not alerting the Japanese . A pair of PBY-3’s completed the mission successfully.

Cat Facts #4

The PBY prototypes were being tested in it’s first rough water landings, tested in seas of 4-5 feet. On one full stall landing, the impact blew out the bombardiers window and forward hatch, cracked the windshield, wrinkled the hull and damaged all six propeller blades. So then Consolidated made the claim that a lesser built aircraft would have sunk, while at the same time adding stiffeners and extra bracing in private!

Cat Facts #5 – Quiz Time!

The PBY’s used a model of the R-1830 (dash 92 for the 6A) as it’s engines. What other aircraft used the R-1830(in all variants) as their power plants? 

Secondly how much horsepower did the PBY’s prototype put out and how much horsepower was the PBY-6A engine capable of?

B-24 and C-47’s both used R-1830’s. There were many other aircraft build around R-1830’s as well (F4F and TBDs being the more known ones)

Our PBY-6A has 2 R-1830-92’s which put out 1200HP each 

The original prototype XP3Y-1 had 2 R-1830-54’s – each with 825HP

Cat Facts #6

The first US offensive combat air strike of the Pacific War, 4 months before the Doolittle Raid, was flown by 6 PBY’s from the Dutch East Indies to bomb a Japanese base in the Philippines. The PBY was the only airplane with range enough to make the 1600 mile round trip. Only two aircraft survived the mission!

Cat Facts #7

On December 7th, shortly after 0600 hrs a PBY coded 14-P-1 from VP-14 departed NAS Kaneohe carrying live depth charges. While on patrol the crew spotted a strange object following the USS Antares, a supply ship towing a gunnery target. Dropping down the aircraft dropped smoke floats which attracted the attention of the USS Ward. Then the PBY attacked the object, which turned out to be a Japanese midget submarine with two depth charges. The Ward also attacked the submarine which disappeared. Thus the PBY became the first US aircraft to fire on the enemy in WW2!

Cat Facts #7 part 2

Before the attack on Pearl Harbor PatWing(patrol wing) 1 had 81 PBY‘a of various versions at Pearl. 4 were sent to patrol from Palmyra and Johnson islands while VP-21 was sent to Midway. So there were 68 PBY’s on Oahu the morning of the 7th. After the attack there were less than a dozen or so with the rest either destroyed, damaged or un-flyable.

Cat Facts #8

The day after the Pearl Harbor attack a PBY from VP-21 flew a patrol from Johnson Island back to Pearl when they sighted an enemy cruiser and destroyer and promptly attacked them. The problem was that the two ships were the heavy cruiser USS Portland and destroyer USS Porter. The cruiser fired back at the aircraft, luckily both sides missed!

Cat Facts #9

On December 10th 1941 a PBY from VP-101 became the first Navy aircraft to shoot down a Japanese A6M “Zero “ in the Pacific War during a PatWing 10 patrol over the Philippines. The A6M was shot down by the bow gunner of ‘Boat 2’.

Cat Facts #10

Just before the battle of Midway started here is the list of PBY units and amount of planes they had. There were 16 PBY-5A’s. VP-24 had 6, VP-44 had 7, VP-51 had 3. Also based at Midway there were 14 PBY-5’s from VP-23. Also VP-91 was deployed from Kauai to patrol between Midway and Hawaii. 

Cat Facts #11

On June 3rd a PBY, coded 44-P-4, call sign 8V55, spotted the invasion force of transports and their escorts just after noon roughly 700 miles from Midway. That night four PBY’s conducted the first ever torpedo attack by the Catalina. There were 3 aircraft from VP-24 ,even though one was flown by a pilot from VP-44, and one from VP-51. One transport was hit but the fleet kept sailing.

Cat Facts #12

Before dawn on June4th 1942, VP-23 sent out 11 PBY’s to scout 15 sector patrols. They were sent out in the anticipated direction that the Japanese fleet would come from. The sector centered on the 315 degree mark would be flown by PBY 23-P-6( call sign 4V58) piloted by Lt Howard Ady. At 0510 AM this crew spotted a Japanese scout aircraft then at 0530 they spotted the Japanese carrier fleet which was relayed back to the Americans in a message “ Enemy carriers “. Then at 0552 Ady’s crew radioed that they had spotted two aircraft carriers and two battleships. 

Cat Facts #13

During the battle of Midway more than 200 Navy, Marine and Army Air Force aircrew went into the water on June 4th. Between the 4th and the 21st of June PBY’s made 13 landing at sea to rescue 41 aircrew. This included Ensign George Gay, the sole survivor of VT-8 after the failed TBD attack. 

Cat Facts #14

On August 12th 1942 a PBY became the first aircraft to land on Henderson Field on the island of Guadalcanal. A PBY-5A, BuNo 05045, Admiral John McCain’s aircraft landed with supplies and took off the next morning with wounded Marines

Cat Facts #15 

Units, especially “Black Cat” units were always looking for some way to add more weaponry for their PBY’s. Some added two to four .50 caliber machine guns in addition to the nose turret, some added 20mm cannons to the nose. According to a PBY crewman I had a chance to meet a few years ago, his unit tried fitting the 75mm cannon that was carried by versions of the B-25. The cannon was mounted to fire through the panel that normally mounted the bombsight. But due to the lightweight internal structure of the aircraft when the gun was test fired the shell of course went forward but the guns recoil tore the gun off it’s mount and out the rear of the aircraft. The total weight of a fully loaded PBY was 33,000-35,000 pounds!

Cat Facts #16

On October 26th 1942 a PBY from VP-24(hull number 24–P-6) was returning from a patrol when it was jumped by 7 A6M “Zeros “. The Japanese aircraft made two passes at the Catalina and damaged the aircraft but the Cat kept flying. It then ran into American carrier aircraft returning from a strike. Later it was identified on radar as a “bogey”but luckily it was id’d for what it was. Four hours later it was able to land at its base without rudd or elevator control. After landing there were 144 bullet holes in the PBY, with 78 from the blisters on back. One tough airplane the PBY was!    

Cat Facts #17 

On October 26th 1942 a PBY from VP-24(hull number 24–P-6) was returning from a patrol when it was jumped by 7 A6M “Zeros “. The Japanese aircraft made two passes at the Catalina and damaged the aircraft but the Cat kept flying. It then ran into American carrier aircraft returning from a strike. Later it was identified on radar as a “bogey”but luckily it was ID’d for what it was. Four hours later it was able to land at its base without rudder or elevator control. After landing there were 144 bullet holes in the PBY, with 78 from the blisters on back. One tough airplane the PBY was! 

Cat Facts #18

To show the versatility of the PBY, not only was it a scout plane that played an important role in multiple battles, it was also a very effective air-sea rescue aircraft, nicknamed “Dumbo “. But the PBY also was a very important anti submarine platform as on September 15th 1943 a PBY from VP-23 helped a destroyer USS Saufley sink the Japanese submarine RO-101. The sub was damaged by the destroyer and finished off with depth charges from the PBY!

Cat Facts #19

In June 1952 a PBY flown by the Swedish Air Force was flying over the Baltic Sea looking for a DC-3. It was intercepted and shot down by Russian fighter aircraft! The DC-3 was found in 2003 and raised in 2004-5. This is an example of how many countries flew the Catalina and how long they were in active service!

Cat Facts #20

Following the theme of countries that used the PBY here is a list of how many countries used the Catalina. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada{ who also built the Catalina as either the PB2B-1 or PBV-1 Canso, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba,Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the United States! 

Cat Facts #21

It is well known that a PBY discovered the German battleship Bismarck but did you know that an American was part of the crew that found the ship? On the morning of May 26th 209 Squadron of the British Coastal Command was tasked with finding the battleship after it had broke radar contract. One of the PBY’s ,AH545” took off from Loch Erne at 0325 and headed west in search of the ship. On board the aircraft was an American Ensign Leonard Smith who had secretly been sent to Britain, to “train” RAF pilots on how to fly the PBY. Officially Smith was the co- pilot as not to raise concerns, but he was flying the aircraft. Six hours later they reached their patrol sector. At 1010 Smith spotted what he believed to be the Bismarck. He made several course changes to get a better look and when he came out of the clouds the PBY was met by heavy anti-aircraft fire. The aircraft got rid of the depth charges they were carrying and at the same time radioed their position and then lost contact with the ship. At 2130 they landed completing an 18 hour mission which helped in the sinking of the Bismarck which was sunk by British forces the next morning!

Cat Facts #22 

All the internal fuel for a PBY is carried in the center wing section. The 1750 gallons carried gave the PBY incredible endurance. The longest recorded mission was 31 hours and 45 minutes long! The PBY was also unique for its size that it did not have flaps! For the aircraft to takeoff at full weight on calm water was very difficult if not impossible. So to be able to takeoff the pilot would do a series of figure 8’s to “rough” up the waters surface, that way the waters suction of the hull would be lessened enough to be able to lift off!

Cat Facts #23

Did you know that I some Black Cat PBY units the aircraft commander was not in the pilots seat but in the wing pylon? The flight engineer manned the area inside the pylon where he had a good view of both engine nacelles for oil leaks plus monitor the engine gauges and other controls that were mounted there. His seat wasn’t really a seat but just a simple sling similar to a playground swing!

Cat Facts #24

The PBY’s cruising speed was about the same whether the wingtip floats were up or down, but the pilot had to be ready to counteract the large yawing motion created by raising the tip floats. The reason for the yaw was because when the floats were in motion they did so asymmetrically because each float had it’s own retraction system. One other thing is that ailerons were not as effective when the floats were in the down position.

Cat Facts #25

Most military aviation enthusiasts know about the A6M2 “Zero” that was discovered in Alaska which was rebuilt and tested to find out the aircraft’s secrets. But did you know that the plane was found by a PBY in which a crewman who was battling airsickness. He had just leaned out of one of the aft observation blisters to vomit when he spotted the overturned Japanese fighter plane.

Cat Facts #26 

One of the major design features of the PBY is the wet wing. This was the first wet wing aircraft to go into production. A wet wing means the wing skin itself is the fuel tank! This way there is no need for separate fuel tanks or bladders to go into the bays between the ribs and spars thus saving weight but it requires every seam and rivet to be sealed or gasketed.

Cat Facts #27

The PBY went by quite a few names. Like the Catalina or Canso or Nomad or Black Cat. Catalina was the American name for the aircraft, Canso was the name given to Canadian made planes and Nomad was the name for aircraft made by the Naval Aircraft Factory most of which went into service with Russia.

Cat Facts #28

As the PBY grew long in the tooth Consolidated worked to develop it’s replacement in the form of the P4Y Corregidor. This was a much different aircraft than the PBY as it had a wing using the same high aspect, high lift, low drag, laminar flow wing as the B-24, the Davis airfoil. Plus it was to use the same engine as the B-29, the R-3350. But the War Department decided to cancel the whole project after only one prototype was built! Plus the factory built in New Orleans to construct the P4Y was converted into building PBY’s like the one being rebuilt by our unit!

Cat Facts #29

The PBY was well known in the air-sea rescue role, nicknamed Dumbos. The aircraft and crews rescued thousands of downed pilots and seamen. One Dumbo landed 3 times to pick up a bomber crews and in the end took off with 25 extra men on board. The pilot, Lt. Nathan Gordon became the only PBY pilot to earn the Medal of Honor! Another Catalina needed a three mile takeoff run to get 63 men, including the crew, off the water popping half the rivets on the hull of the aircraft. The record though belongs to an Australian PBY that took off with 87 Dutch sailors after their ship was sunk. The basic weight and balance rule was that if the payload did not sink the aircraft it could somehow takeoff and in this case with 15000 pounds of extra passengers, fuel and crew weight the PBY still managed to get airborne!

Cat Facts #30

Following on from yesterday, probably the most famous Dumbo mission was the one flown almost at the end of the war involving rescuing the remaining crew members of the sunken USS Indianapolis in July 1945. After a PV-1 Ventura spotted sailors in the water and radioed for help a PBY piloted by Lt. Adrian Marks arrived at the scene. Against orders he landed in 12 foot seas damaging the aircraft in the process. Taxiing to the sailors the crew started picking up survivors. In the end the crew picked up 56 men some of which were strapped to the wing using parachute cords, after the pilot shut off the engines. Finally rescue ships started arriving on the scene and took the sailors off the damaged aircraft. But due to the damage from the landing the PBY was sunk on the spot!