What would become the most prolific and widespread flying boat in history started out as a fairly modest proposal by the US Navy for an aircraft that could patrol the Pacific Ocean. As such, it would need range more than anything else. The Navy had already adopted the Consolidated P2Y, but it and other designs suffered from a lack of range and lack of engine power.
Both Consolidated and Douglas submitted new designs: the Navy liked both, but chose Consolidated’s XP3Y-1 because it was cheaper—an important consideration in the cash-strapped 1930s. The design utilized a number of performance-enhancing ideas—a high, large wing, lack of external bracing, and wing floats that retracted upwards to form wingtips. Soon after the XP3Y-1 first flew in March 1935, Consolidated was asked change the design to a more multirole design other than simple maritime patrol, resulting in a redesignation to XPBY-1 in 1936, when it entered service.
The PBY, which acquired the nickname “P-Boat,” soon became a popular and beloved aircraft in the USN patrol squadrons assigned it. While it was slow and lacking in creature comforts, it was reliable, had decent defensive armament, and phenomenal range. Catalinas were soon involved in World War II, even before the Pearl Harbor attack: it was a RAF Catalina that found the German battleship Bismarck, leading to that ship’s eventual demise. In the Atlantic, the PBY was a deadly opponent to the German U-boat, with no less than 50 German submarines being sunk by RAF, Royal Canadian Navy, US Navy, and Brazilian Air Force Catalinas.
At Pearl Harbor, most of the PBY-3s and 4s at the base were destroyed in the attack—the Japanese struck the seaplane bases even before hitting Battleship Row—but those that survived were among the first American aircraft to get in the air in an attempt to find the Japanese fleet. PBYs would be instrumental in the Battle of Midway that turned the tide, while the Guadalcanal Campaign saw them employed in every role imaginable: scout aircraft, search and rescue, night antishipping attack (the famous “Black Cats”), and even emergency torpedo bomber. PBY crews soon gained a reputation for courage, flying into heavily defended areas without hesitation—the PBY pilot community has the distinction of not only including a Medal of Honor, but two Victoria Crosses, Britain’s highest award for valor. The US Army Air Force acquired a number and designated them OA-10s, using them for search and rescue aircraft.
So necessary was the PBY that two factories were devoted to producing them in the United States (Consolidated and Naval Aircraft Factory), a third in Canada (Canadian Vickers, whose PBYs were known as “Cansos”), and finally in the Soviet Union, where it was built as the GST. 29 nations flew the PBY or its variants during World War II and afterwards, and the type would enjoy a long postwar career, with the last not leaving military service until the early 1980s. The official number of Catalinas built exceed 4000, but that is a conservative estimate, since the Soviet Union did not keep official production numbers. Even after being retired from military service, the availability of spare parts and the reliability of the aircraft meant that many could be kept flyable; 82 aircraft are known to survive.
This "P-Boat" is a PBY-5A, BuNo 48406, delivered to the US Navy on the last day of 1943. It would see combat, flying from Johnston Island in the Pacific, patrolling the Gilbert and Marshall Islands and keeping an eye on the bypassed Japanese garrisons there. It was transferred to the US Coast Guard after the war and flew with the USCG until 1956. After it was retired, it was purchased by Catalina Ltd., a clearing house of sorts: Catalina Ltd. owned 15 PBYs, which could be leased out as needed.
By 1978, 48406 was in bad shape, with heavy corrosion and deterioration of its fabric surfaces. In 1986, it was donated to the San Diego Air and Space Museum, which restored 48406 to its wartime appearance, and it went on display in 1988, painted in midwar tricolor camouflage. The PBY's wingspan is so wide that I couldn't get it into the entire frame!
