Consolidated PBY Catalina - an American flying patrol boat built in 1935 at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation aircraft factory.
In October 1933, on behalf of the U.S. Navy, construction of a twin-engine flying patrol boat began under the supervision of Maj. Rubens Hallis Flett. The first flight of the prototype "Model 28" took place on March 21, 1935. The aircraft performed excellently, unfortunately, it had too poor performance. Accordingly, the 825hp Pratt & Whitnej engines were changed to 850hp and the aircraft was flown in October 1935. After test flights and corrections made, the machine was put into series production. The first serial PBY-1 flying boat "rolled off the line" in 1936 and 60 copies were produced. Subsequent versions of the PBY-2, PBY-3, PBY-4 were followed in 1939 by the production of the PBY-5 model, in which engines of 1200 hp each were installed. A total of 1175 copies of this version were produced.
In 1939, the PBY-4 version was converted into a prototype amphibious aircraft designated XPBY-5A, which, in addition to additional floats, was equipped with a triple-pod retractable undercarriage with a front wheel.
Several units of the PBY-3 were sold to the Soviet Union, which also acquired a license to build it and began production by assembling Soviet Mikulin M-26 or Shoemaker ASz-621 engines with 900 to 1,000 horsepower. According to various sources, between 150 and 1,000 GST flying boats were built in the USSR.
Catalina during World War II was used for reconnaissance, anti-ship and rescue. It served in aviation units of the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the Dutch East Indies. Some of the successes of these aircraft include tracking down the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941 (which enabled its subsequent sinking), on June 3, 1942 they detected an approaching invasion team of the Japanese fleet in the Midway area, or in July 1943 they repelled two Focke-Wulf Fw 200 bombers from the ship Port Fairy. Of course, there were many more of these successes.
PBY Catalina aircraft were used until the 1970s in US naval rescue units.
Want to learn more about this aircraft ? See HERE.
Plastic model to be glued together by Academy. Contains no paint or glue.
Specifications:
- Manufacturer: Academy
- Scale: 1/72
- Part Number: 12487
For more information and photos, visit the manufacturer's website (link in the tab above).
A bit of history about the PBY Catalina on the video:
And, what does the restored Catalina look like ?