Flying Catalinas

The Consoldiated PBY Catalina in WWII

Andrew Hendrie

• Publisher: Pen and Sword Aviation
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781783036332
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

The consolidated PBY Catalina was probably the most versatile and successful flying boat/amphibian ever built, serving not just with the US Army, Navy and Coast Guard during the Second World War, but also with the air forces of Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with the Danes, Free French and Norwegians as well as in Brazil, Chile, Indonesia and elsewhere.With a remarkable lifting capacity and endurance, this long-range twin-engine aircraft could absorb a great deal of punishment and still return home after flights lasting an entire day and covering thousands of miles. It was employed as a maritime reconnaissance aircraft, as a bomber and torpedo-bomber, as an anti submarine weapon, as a mine layer, as a special operations machine and as a search-and-rescue craft by day and night. It ferried stores, mail and people - many of them sick and injured - across the world's oceans.In this book Andrew Hendrie tells the story of the "Flying Cats", of their achievements and exploits, of the heroism of many of the crews and the problems they had to endure.

Chapter 1

The Machine

Development of the Catalina flying boat

The first mention of the Catalina flying boat in the official US Naval Aviation history1 is under the date 28 January 1928. On that day a contract was awarded to the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation for the XPY-1 flying boat, the ‘first large monoplane… procured by the Navy’. It was designed to have installed either two or three engines. The abbreviation ‘XPY’ follows the US Navy’s code with ‘X’ for ‘experimental’, ‘P’ for ‘patrol plane’ and ‘Y’ for ‘Consolidated’ — the manufacturer.

The $150,000 contract was for the development and construction of the prototype. On completion however, the contract for a batch of aircraft to be produced was awarded to the Glen Martin Company which, with no development costs, was able to under-bid Consolidated.

The P2Y flying boat as used in training at Pensacola circa 1942.

The Consolidated design team, led by Isaac Machlin Laddon, developed a civil version based on the XPY design. From what was to become a successful passenger-carrying aircraft, a military version was prepared and on 7 July 1931 Consolidated was awarded a contract for 23 flying boats which were designated ‘P2Y-1’ Six of these aircraft on 7/8 September 1933, then with Patrol Squadron 5F and under the command of Lt-Cdr H. E. Halland, flew direct from Norfolk, Virginia, to Coco Solo in the Canal Zone, a record distance formation flight of 2,059 miles in 25 hr 19 min.

What may well be considered a true early type of Catalina was now to follow. This was the XP3Y-1 flying boat, for which Consolidated was awarded a contract on 28 October 1933 and, as the USN official history indicates, the Navy sponsored the ‘development of the PBY Catalina series…’

The XP3Y-1 was to be fitted with Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasp XR-1830-58 engines of 825 hp each. When airborne, this aircraft proved to have clean lines with retractable floats at the wing tips, was free of struts to the tailplane, and the waist positions had not yet received ’blisters’.

On 14/15 October 1935, U-Cdr K. McGinnis commanded an XP3Y-1 patrol plane of the US Navy on a flight from Cristobal Harbor in the Canal Zone, to Alameda, California, establishing a new world record for that class of aircraft by covering 3,281.4 miles in 343/4 hours. In 1937, on 21/22 October, VP-3 of the USN flew Catalinas (PBY-1s) non-stop from San Diego to Coco Solo in 27hr 58min.

An amphibian version of the Catalina was first ordered by the US Navy from the Consolidated Corporation on 7 April 1939. It was to become the prototype of the PBY-5A which is still flying in 1986 over various parts of the world.

An advertisement of March 1944 by the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation of New Orleans for workers to build PBY Catalinas.

One of the most obvious changes in the development of the Catalina is seen in modifications to the tailplane and fin assembly. Such variations began on the XP3Y-1 and were to continue up to the PBY-6A.

With the PBY-3 came the use of a Pratt and Whitney R1830-66 engine rated at 900hp and the type was distinguished from the PBY-2 by an air intake on top of the engine nacelles as required for a downdraught carburettor.

Of the Catalina variants, the PBY-4 was the first to be received by the Royal Air Force. The service in fact received only one — P96302. The PBY-4s were fitted with engines rated at 1,050hp, the Pratt and Whitney R1830-72, and with a further change — the addition of spinners to the propeller hubs.

The Aeroplane’ refers to the RAF’s experimental Catalina, albeit as a ‘PBY-5’, flying from San Diego to Felixstowe via Newfound-land in July 1939 and taking 15 hours to cover the 2,450-mile Atlantic leg. The same account gives the engines as being 1,200 hp P&W Twin Wasps, R.1830-S1C3-G.

Delivery of a PBY-4 to the RAF

Consolidated’s European agent in 1939 was J. H. Millar, FRAeS, who received an order from the Air Ministry in February for one PBY-4.

As Mr Millar now recalls: ‘Consolidated took one from the US Navy’s production line and, using Dick Archbold’s private air crew — Russell Rogers, pilot; Lon Yancey, navigator and 2nd pilot; a radio operator and a flight engineer — the PBY-4 was flight delivered via Halifax, Nova Scotia to the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment, Felixstowe, England in June 1939.

‘I arranged for the Press to witness the touchdown. Many refused to believe the PBY-4 had flown the Atlantic non-stop to Felixstowe because the engines were not covered with oil. In those days, British radial engines did not have effective rocker box seals and threw oil, so some pressmen thought the Pratt and Whitney engines should do the same.

‘The RAF sent a launch to collect the crew after the boat had been put on a mooring, but were astonished when the crew disembarked wearing country clothes and hats and carrying golf clubs, etc.

‘That night, Wing Commander Wiggles-worth in charge at Felixstowe gave a dinner party in the Mess and a question was asked about the range of the radio in the flying boat. When the crew said they had been working San Diego as they were landing, there was a “hush”, and I felt they were disbelieved.

‘However, as the contract provided for the American crew to remain for two weeks and to familiarize the RAF, it was arranged that the RAF would be taken up for a flight the next day. On that flight, the American crew called up San Diego using the Bendix radio which was standard equipment on all PBY-4s, but the RAF had never seen anything like it — the range of the radio in the Short Sunderlands at that time was very short.

‘After “familiarizing” the RAF at Felixstowe and checking out pilots to fly it, Russell Rogers and his crew returned to America by boat. RAF Felixstowe then went on leave, and those who had been indoctrinated and taught to fly the PBY-4 were dispersed. When the war broke out, the PBY-4 was still on a mooring at Felixstowe and it was the only long-range — 4,500 miles — aircraft England had … I had to scratch around and finally Larry Skey, a Canadian with PBY-4 experience, came from Canada and flew it to the Clyde for better safety.

‘Air Marshal Sir Roderick Hill asked me to go to Harrogate to see him and told me they were going to order 40 or more. Eventually they took over the French contracts which I had negotiated. I had to go back to San Diego with drawings of brackets the Air Ministry wanted mounted on the leading edge of the wings. They were for ASV. I begged them to remove the “Top Secret” markings on the drawings — I felt that as they were very ordinary looking brackets it was a mistake to draw attention to them by marking the drawings “Top Secret”, but the Air Ministry insisted.

‘Much more important was the need to order the beaching gear to arrive ahead of the boats so there would be no delay in bringing the Catalinas ashore to have guns fitted, etc, but the Ministry of Aircraft Production refused to do so . .

A Naval Aviator’s Certificate as awarded by the US Navy, Pensacola to pilots who had completed their training successfully.

Development of the Catalina flying boat

Obvious visible differences between the PBY-4 and the PBY-5 which followed, were ‘blisters’ in the waist position replacing hatches, and modifications to the tail assembly. In the latter, the rudder was squared off and with a modified trimming tab.

The outbreak of war in September 1939 resulted in orders being placed immediately for the RAF and the US Navy. The RAF referred to the PBY-5s as ‘Mark Is’. The name given to the aircraft by the RAF — ‘Catalina’ — was adopted by the US Navy in October 1941. Due to its neutrality patrol commitments, the US Navy placed an order on 20 December 1939 with Consolidated for 200 PBY-5s, the largest single order for American naval aircraft since World War 1.

Between March 1941 and January 1942, the RAF were to receive 92 of the Mark I Catalinas; a further seven PBY-5s were delivered to the RAF in early 1941, but due to differences in equipment, these were designated ‘Mark IIs’. In 1942, 21 more PBY-5s were received by the RAF to be designated ‘Mark IIAs’.

An amphibian version of the Catalina flying boat was first ordered by the US Navy on 7 April 1939, and for this a PBY-4 was converted using a retractable tricycle undercarriage. This increased the empty weight in relation to the PBY-5 by over 3,3001b and reduced the maximum speed by 6mph, rate of climb by 70ft/min, ceiling by 5,000ft and the range by 640 miles. Other disadvantages, due to the installation of landing gear, mentioned to me by Dennis Briggs were reduced living space and the collection of water in the wells which located the landing wheels.

In 1940, Boeing Canada was licensed to build PBYs in Vancouver and, in 1941, Canadian Vickers Ltd agreed to construct them in Cartierville, Quebec. The Canadian version of the Catalina came to be known as the ‘Canso’. By 17 May 1945, Canadian Vickers Ltd had delivered 369 of these aircraft to the USAAF and the RCAF. Boeing on Sea Island, Vancouver produced 240 Catalinas which were designated PB2B-1s, but the first of Boeing’s PBYs at Vancouver were 55 Canso-A amphibians.

In 1941, the American Naval Air Factory in Philadelphia was contracted to build 156 Catalinas. The design of these aircraft incorporated changes in the hull, wing and tail, with modifications to the wing-tip floats. The fuel capacity was increased and a power operated turret in the nose was equipped with a 0.5 calibre gun replacing the earlier 0.3. These flying boats were designated PBN ‘Nomads’. Some of the design variants were to be repeated in the Boeing 2B2B-2 flying boats including tall tail and radome. The 2B2B-2 was one of the variants operated by the RAAF.

The final production variation to the Catalina line was the PBY-6A, of which there is now an example at the Aerospace Museum, RAF Cosford. Apart from the tricycle landing gear, perhaps the most obvious difference between this aircraft and those flown by the RAF is the tall tail fin, but there are also alterations in the hull design.

Catalinas operated by the USAAF and, later, by the USAF, were designated OA-10s (‘A’s or ‘B’s). A number of Catalinas were ferried to Russia, and the Russians were licensed to build their own machines — characteristically with strengthened hulls to withstand the Arctic conditions. Although I received some data from Moscow, such help did not include numbers of aircraft either used or constructed4. Capt Scarborough gives the total PBY/Catalina/Canso production as 3,272, which includes 1,418 amphibians.

The successors to the Consolidated Corporation — General Dynamics — state that the Convair workers built 2,393 of these aircraft, thus the difference in the totals is represented by the production from Canadian Vickers, Boeing Canada, and the US Navy factory in Philadelphia.

The price quoted for the Catalina in the early war years was $90,000, the same as that for a Lockheed Hudson, and at 1938 exchange rates, about £17,000 sterling.

Conversion of Catalinas by Saunders-Roe at Beaumaris

The Consolidated Model 28-5ME was the USN type PBY-5. In modifications for the British, alterations were made to the hull to cope with stowage of different equipment. In the wing, structural changes were made for the carriage of British bombs on British bomb carriers in lieu of the American-type carriers which were fitted to all RAF marks except Mark IB.

The first aircraft arrived on the Clyde in February 1941 and conversion work on Mark Is was undertaken both at Greenock and Beaumaris. Greenock at that time was better equipped with hangars, roadways and an electric winch for hauling up flying boats, all of which were lacking at Beaumaris. Consequently most of the aircraft were dealt with at Greenock.

One of the earliest alterations was the provision of new ASV aerials which were followed in a few months by an urgent request for long range ASV. The resulting installation proved satisfactory and became standard on Marks I and IB aircraft...