The most underrated Allied aircraft of WW2 | PBY Catalina

the Catalina has many claims to fame it was a Catalina that spotted the bismar and it was also a Catalina that spotted Japanese troop transports and then the carrier Fleet sailing towards Midway proving a turning point in the Pacific War Catalina's range far and wide out into the Atlantic and north towards the Arctic Circle protecting convoys and sinking submarines in the UK there are few multi-engine military aircraft still flying and even fewer that boast a water time service record like this Catalina I am privileged to be a part owner and pilot of this unsung hero of the second World War I Jeff boiling and I'm standing in front of a Catalina flying boat owned by Catalina aircraft limited operated by plane sailing air displays limited and supported by the Catalina Society the Catalina was developed in the early 30s with a prototype flying for the first time in March 1935 it was in bads for its time and was designed to patrol and defend if necessary the USA's long coastlines and down to the Panama Canal Zone the aircraft has a distinctive shape attractive to some ugly to others looking at the Fus you can see the distinct Marine shape including the step underneath the hole on water the nose wheel would be retracted the main Wheels would be in the side of the fuse large and the water at rest would come up just under M pickup the 104t wing is mounted on a pylon supported by four struts this is greater than the 102t wingspan of a Lancaster bomber or the 103 ft of the B17 but not as great as the 113 ft of the Sunderland flying baat unlike the suland the Catalina has wing tip FL boats these are retracted during flight and lowered for landing and take off on water of all the aircraft I fly this is the only one where I can change its wingspan in flight this pile on Mount of wing configuration means the engines are high up to minimize water damage during any waterw it was armed with a number of3 and5 caliber machine guns and under the wings that could carry depth charges Torpedoes acoustic mines or conventional bombs but it was a completely different type of of flying see with a cat that used to be about 3' 6 or 4 feet in the water and that had to be lifted up for the whole the plane it took quite a bit of of doing you'd have to pull the throttle right back so as you're lifting the plane up all the torrent once you started planing you would lift your floats up and they'd become part of the wing it give you that extra bit of lift that you needed to get out of a place like Lake Co these are the modern perspect blisters that are great for sightseeing but in Wartime days the crew for the pure flying boats would come out in a launch and board through the wartime blister two crewman would stay here toand the 50 caliber machine guns and the rest of the crew would move forward in the pylon where that window is the engineer would sit so as he could monitor the engines as well as the engine controls in front of him the rest of the crew would move forward and in the forward compartment you would have the radio operator on this side and the navigator on the far side finally the two pilots would go into the cockpit and the last Airman would Mount the nose to observe what's happening and man the machine gun that's there having flown this aircraft for a number of years I know from experience it is a Hands-On aircraft as it's not stable and can wander easily during the war they had a sper autopilot which in fact kept the wings level this was removed along with the blisters and armaments when the aircraft was demilitarized these days it's flown with a minimum crew of three two pilots and a crew chief One Pilot will fly the aircraft while the other deals with radios and navigation the crew chief prepares the aircraft ensures the gear and floats operate correctly its best quality was probably range being able to go over 2,000 nautical miles we hear of commercial longrange flights today but actually a Catalina holds the record in terms of duration during the war There were 271 flights between per and Western Australia and Salon Sri Lanka as we now know it and they were known as the double Sunrise flights as they were over 24 hours long in fact the longest was over 31 hours on the other hand its weakness was it was slow and not well defended which made it vulnerable to attack unlike the Sunland flying boats they're very very clumsy things when they're not in the air they're not responsible like a a boat is I mean they won't go backwards and they're very very fragile compared with the a land airplane they fine in the air but uh they lost a great number of them at Moorings I mean in a gale like we had the other day they'd have lost every one in the country unless they can Beach them quickly now these aircraft go by various names pby p meant Patrol B meant bomber and why was the code given to Consolidated since C had already been allocated to Curtis Catalina well that's the name of the island of San Diego where Consolidated had their main Factory the pb1 through the pb5 were pure flying boats while the PB 5A and the PB 6A were the amphibian versions this particular aircraft was constructed in 1943 under contract by Canadian vickas at Caville in kbec and operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1943 to 1961 as such it was called a canzo another name but the one used for Canadian built and operated catalinas its military career with the Royal Canadian Air Force included wartime operations with nine BR Squadron and a post-war spell with the famous 413 Tusa Squadron which had operated Catalina flying boats with distinction with the Royal Air Force in Scotland and the Indian Ocean during World War II day and night these offensive patrols are flown a sighting has been made Periscope lethal bulk rising from the sea the pilot is informed the Navigator notes the aircraft's location and the wireless operator transmits a sighting report the aircraft loses altitude comparing to attack Closer Closer stand by now the [Music] attack the most effective single strategem in the winning of the battle of the Atlantic there were other flying boat used during the war namely the short sundelin PBM Mariner Grumman goose and supermarine walrus to name the main types the gers and walrus had limited range and were small so best suited for close in ASC rescue work the Sunland had good range and was also well defended hence the name the flying porcupine as of bristle wood machine guns however it was the Catalina that was the most produced and widely used and the Catal was interesting because it was a very flat bottomed boat and if you had a rough sea you couldn't land it in a normal gentle while you had to store it from about 20 ft up when you had a rough day you would practice this and you'd get the thing into the fully store position about 20 ft above the waves the tail right down and then suddenly we just flop into the sea and stop dead and uh the engineer then had to get out and go around make sure you hadn't burst any rivet or anything like that there were two VCS won by Catalina pilots during the war the first Was Won by flight Lieutenant David Hornell a Canadian flying out of Wick in Scotland the action involved the sinking of a submarine during the attack the Catalan was badly shot up Hornell managed to land the aircraft in the sea unfortunately there was only one dingy and therefore the crew had to take turns in the dingi and Hornell despite being rest resued succumb to his hypothermia soon afterwards but the other VC was one by John crook shank he was flying a Catalina out of su BAU in the shetlands a submarine was spotted they went into attack but on the first pass the dep Chargers did not release so crook shank brought the aircraft back around and came in for a second attack of course by this stage the submarine crew were well prepared and provided withering anti-aircraft fire crook shank suffered 76 wounds and the Navigator was killed despite this they released the depth charges sank the submarine but that wasn't the end of the story they had another 5 hours to fly to get back to solm vau C shank was taken to the Sick Bay because of his injuries and refused morphine and after 5 hours returned to the cockpit to assist in landing the aircraft but this action he was awarded a VC he is the last surviving World War II VC holder alive post war most of the fewer flying boats were disposed of the amphibian versions had a better fate being more versatile there are approximately 12 catalinas still air worthy worldwide so being privately owned we are very pleased to be based at the Imperial War Museum duckford after this Catalina left the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1961 it had a number of careers first it worked as a water bomber in North North America as well as in France after that it embarked on another career undertaking aerial safaris in Africa alas that did not take off and so it was put up for sale and Catalina aircraft limited bought her in 2002 the new color scheme of white with US Army Air Force markings has been done to represent an acirc rescue Catalina of the fifth emergency rescue Squadron that was lost during a rescue in 1945 photos of its loss exist as do photos of the aircraft and crew these photos show it had nose art and not unusual for us operated aircraft consequently this Catalina carries that artwork missp pickup which given its duties seem very appropriate of course to keep this aircraft flying requires funds and some of that comes from displaying at air shows as well as selling products from the Catalina Society store or its online shop the fact that this aircraft after Sil flying is a tribute to those who initially designed and built her credit should be given to Arthur Gibson John Watson Paul Warren Wilson who had the foresight to preserve a Catalina nearly 40 years ago this aircraft is an important part of the aerial military history of the UK and other nations long may she continue to fly so please join the Catalina Society

Channel: Imperial War Museums

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Id: 6kjqEU_up4A

Length: 11min 57sec (717 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 19 2024