“It would serve in every maritime theatre of the war while performing an array of missions, from reconnaissance and search-and-rescue to sub-hunting and anti-shipping.”

By James Brun

THE CONSOLIDATED PBY was not one of the Second World War’s more glamorous warplanes; it was a slow and ungainly, twin-engine “flying boat.” Yet despite its odd appearance, it would go on to become the most numerous and successful amphibious float plane in history. It would serve in every maritime theatre of the war while performing an array of missions, from reconnaissance and search-and-rescue to sub-hunting and anti-shipping.

Here are seven amazing facts about the Catalina PBY, an aircraft that patrolled the vast reaches of the world’s oceans, looking for an enemy to track, report, or destroy.

It entered service before WW2

The PBY line of flying boats was conceived in 1933 in Buffalo, New York. It was originally designed as a long-range patrol bomber, intended for use to sink shipping and disrupt enemy sea lines of communication. The prototype first flew from Lake Erie in 1935 and by 1936 the aircraft was in service with the U.S. Navy. “PB” stands for Patrol Bomber, with “Y” being Consolidated Aircraft Corporation’s manufacturer identification. Amphibious variants with retractable landing gear were appended by the suffix A, as in PBY-A.

It was big and slow, but had amazing endurance

She was 63 feet (20 metres) long, 19 feet (six metres) high, with a 104-foot (31 metre) wingspan. The PBY’s two Pratt & Whitney 1,200 horse power radial engines were maximized for range and endurance, and could cruise a distance of over 2,500 miles (4,000 km) at 125 m.p.h. (200 km/h), with a maximum speed of 180 m.p.h. (288 km/h). The airplane had an operating ceiling of over 15,000 feet, (4,400 metres) and under the right conditions, could stay in the air for up to 20 hours.

It was a true multitasker

The PBY was a jack-of-all-trades. A critical asset in the Pacific, Caribbean, Atlantic, Mediterranean and Arctic theatres of operation, the aircraft’s mission set included dropping anti-shipping mines, aerial reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, search and rescue, anti-submarine patrol, bombing, transport and even troop insertion.

Although lightly armed, it carried the latest technology

A polyvalent warrior, the PBY could be armed with four 1,000-pound bombs, eight depth charges, or two torpedoes attached at drop points beneath the wings. For defence against enemy aircraft, PBYs carried four machine guns: two .50 calibre Brownings on either side of the fuselage at the waist; one .30 calibre in the nose. A second .30 calibre was situated along the bottom of the hull in the ventral position. Interestingly, PBYs were among the first American aircraft fitted with radar to search for surface ships and aid in navigation. The PBY was also the first aircraft equipped with magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) equipment to help locate submerged submarines.

PBY crews worked round the clock

A typical PBY crew included nine officers and men. Typically, the plane commander, co-pilot, third pilot and navigator were all commissioned. Any of these could act as bombardier when not flying the plane. The enlisted men were mechanics and signalmen. These crew-members normally rotated through manning the guns when not engaged in their primary duties. On long-range patrols, crews rotated through watches. Responsibilities, such as making coffee and distributing meals, were conducted by whomever was off duty.

Catalinas flew for many Allied nations

The PBY was the most numerous aircraft of its kind. More than 3,300 were built before production ended in 1945. Catalinas served in the armed forces of the U.S., Great Britain, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, the Soviet Union and Brazil. A Canadian-made version of the Consolidated PBY Catalina was dubbed the Canso. Cansos were built in Vancouver by Boeing Aircraft of Canada and in Montreal by Canadian Vickers Ltd. Cansos operated on coastal patrols in the Pacific and Atlantic hunting submarines and protecting convoys and merchant shipping. The Canso airframe was operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) until 1962.

The PBY’s Greatest Hits

The PBY was an essential component of some of the most dramatic moments of the Second World War. This brief collection of wartime narratives illustrates the PBY’s wide range of diverse roles.

During the May, 1941 Battle of the Denmark Strait, the German battleship Bismarck sunk HMS Hood, and damaged HMS Prince of Wales. Amid the subsequent hunt for the Bismarck, it was a RAF Catalina that first spotted the enemy warship west of Brest on May 26. The PBY-5 was piloted by Ensign Leonard B. “Tuck” Smith of the U.S. Navy, on loan with the RAF to help train British pilots to fly the aircraft. Smith sighted the Bismarck and a contact report was disseminated. The sighting directly resulted in the destruction of the infamous battleship by the Royal Navy.

On April 4, 1942, a RCAF squadron leader named Leonard Birchall was patrolling south of Ceylon in his Catalina PBY when he spotted a Japanese carrier fleet steaming for the island, which was home of the Royal Navy’s Eastern Fleet. Birchall’s crew alerted Allied forces before their plane was shot down by a group of Zeros launched from a Japanese carrier. The fighters strafed Birchall’s downed aircraft in the sea, killing three members of his crew. The remaining six survivors, including Birchall, were picked up by a Japanese destroyer and taken prisoner. Birchall spent the rest of the war in a Japanese prison camp, but his crews’ signal alerted the defenders of Ceylon to prepare for the impending attack. For his actions, Leonard Birchall is remembered today as the “Saviour of Ceylon.”

On June 3, 1942, U.S. Navy Ensign Jack Reid of PBY patrol squadron VPB-44 located elements of the Japanese carrier fleet steaming for the Midway Atoll. The next day, another American PBY discovered the main Japanese fleet, facilitating the decisive battle that saw the U.S. Navy sink four Japanese carriers, thereby turning the tide of the Pacific War.

In October, 1942, U.S. Navy PBYs attacked enemy ground forces and flew bombing raids against Japanese ships, all at night, during the Guadalcanal campaign. Soot residue from burnt oil was added to soap and washed over the fuselage of the PBYs, turning them black and making them difficult to spot in the darkness. This technique proved so effective that within months, new PBYs landing on Guadalcanal arrived painted black and became known as the “Black Cats.”

On June 24, 1944 RCAF Flight Lieutenant David E. Hornell and his Canso destroyed the German submarine U-1225 in the North Atlantic. Hornell’s aircraft was shot down during the engagement and he and his crew spent over 20 hours in the frigid sea before being rescued. Hornell succumbed to exposure following his rescue and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroism.

A U.S. Marine was shot down while attacking the Japanese fortress at Rabaul Harbour in 1944. The pilot was badly burned, temporarily blinded, and being shot at by Japanese forces ashore. A Navy PBY was ordered into the harbour to rescue the wounded Marine. The flying boats gunner stripped down to rescue the wounded man while under fire. The iconic photo was taken by Horace Bristol as the gunner got back to his station, under enemy fire, with no time to change back into his clothes before manning his weapon. The identity of the ‘naked gunner’ has never been established.

On July 30, 1945, two torpedoes launched from a Japanese submarine slammed into the side of USS Indianapolis, days after she completed her secret mission to deliver enriched uranium and other parts of the Hiroshima bomb to Tinian Island. Within minutes, the heavy cruiser was gone. More than 900 of Indianapolis’ crew escaped the sinking ship but remained in the water for days; 600 would die of thirst, hunger, exposure and shark attacks. After the 316 remaining sailors were spotted by a Lockheed PV-1 Venture, a PBY-5 arrived on Aug. 2 to begin picking survivors. The plane was flown by Lieutenant Commander Robert Marks. He had orders not to land in the open ocean, but rather to drop life-rafts. He polled his crew, and they agreed to land the aircraft in the 4 metre swells. Fifty-six survivors were loaded onto the plane, but the aircraft was damaged by the landing and unable to fly. After nightfall, the first of seven rescue ships arrived.

Post-War Cats

Catalinas would continue to serve in a number of nations’ navies and air forces for decades after the Second World War; Brazil, for example, continued to operate the PBY until 1982. Surplus models would later be put to work in North America as forest fire water bombers. As many as 80 Catalinas remain as museum pieces in more than a dozen countries; at least 20 are still airworthy and make regular appearances at air shows.

James Brun is an officer in the Royal Canadian Navy and regular contributor to MilitaryHistoryNow.com. For his daily tweets of rare and fascinating World War Two photos, follow him at @lebrunjames81

Sources:

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, “Consolidated PBY-5A Canso” https://www.warplane.com/aircraft/collection/details.aspx?aircraftId=11 (Accessed 30 September 2020).

Canadian Aviation and Space Museum, “Consolidated PBY-5A Canso A” https://ingeniumcanada.org/artifact/consolidated-pby-5a-canso-a  (Accessed 30 September 2020).

The Catalina Preservation Society, “Specifications” http://pbycatalina.com/specifications/ (Accessed 30 September 2020).

National Naval Aviation Museum “PBY 5A Catalina” https://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/aircraft/pby-5a-catalina/ (Accessed 30 September 2020).

Polmar, Norman. “Historic Aircraft.” Naval History 18, no. 5 (10, 2004): 14-15. https://search-proquest-com.cfc.idm.oclc.org/docview/203520587?accountid=9867.

Rare Historical Photos, “The naked gunner, Rescue at Rabaul, 1944” https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/naked-gunner-rescue-rabaul-1944/ (Accessed 30 September 2020).

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, “Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina” https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/consolidated-pby-5-catalina/nasm_A19730277000 (Accessed 30 September 2020).

Wilkinson, Stephan. 2013. “Cat Tales.” Aviation History 23 (5): 24–31. http://search.ebscohost.com.cfc.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mth&AN=85414212&site=ehost-live&scope=site.