Wheels on Water - The Slow, Ugly, and Incredibly Successful Consolidated PBY Catalina

[Music] the consolidated pby catalina or pig boat was one of the most versatile and effective multi-role aircraft of world war ii although this flying amphibious aircraft did not sport the warface of a b-17 bomber it paved the way to victory for the united states and its allies across the pacific and every other major theater of the conflict pby catalinas were primarily used for air sea rescue operations cargo transport convoy bombing and anti-submarine warfare it's estimated that they destroyed over 40 enemy u-boats in the atlantic and pacific between 1941 and 1945 becoming the ultimate submarine hunter [Music] consolidated aircraft company ruben hollis fleet went from being an aviation enthusiast to a real pilot during world war one at 15 he attended the culver military academy where he wrote for the local newspaper then after working as a teacher and realtor fleet joined the washington national guard in 1917 he joined the aviation section of the signal corps of the us army and upon graduating he became the commanding officer of the 18th arrow squadron the following year fleet set up the first u.s air mail between new york and washington dc this was the beginning of the aerial mail service fleet was eventually awarded the distinguished service medal for his service in the aerial branch of the united states and by 1922 he left the army air service and joined gallaudet aircraft company he would then found his own company a year later by merging gallaudet and dayton wright into the consolidated aircraft corporation one of fleet's first moves was to hire aeronautical engineer isaac macklin latin and future founder of bell aircraft lawrence d bell to begin securing contracts with the army for new aircraft designs the company's first successful design came in 1924 with the pt-1 trustee a biplane trainer for the army air service and the navy profit skyrocketed for the company to the point that the us congress targeted fleet for earning excess profits on the pt-1 trainer fleet consequently provided the army with over 50 trainers for one dollar to avoid refunding his profits [Music] with this move consolidated aircraft made a name for itself during the 1920s and 1930s leading to the production of a successful series of flying boats getting ready in 1933 the u.s navy requested the douglas and consolidated aircraft companies to develop a monoplane patrol aircraft with greater range and cargo capacity than the p2y and martin p3m the navy and the armed forces of the united states feared that tensions with japan would eventually translate into an armed conflict and they wanted to be ready japan had just invaded manchuria and all of china and the american possessions in the region as well as its territorial ambitions were at risk the us needed an aircraft capable of making its way through the pacific on its own isaac latin from consolidated then decided to use the company's successful p2y sesquiplane flying boat as the foundation for his next creation the result was an all-metal design simply dubbed model 28. the model had a set of unique features that attracted the navy it included a parasol mounted wing that incorporated internal bracing to reduce the need for external struts and retractable stabilizing floats that folded upward to become wingtips in flight the two-step hull design was similar to the p2y but model 28 had a unique cruciform tail unit as opposed to a strut braced twin tail this resulted in a better aerodynamic performance [Music] model 28 was powered by two pratt whitney r183058 engines that generated over 830 horsepower each both were mounted midway on the wing leading edges armament included four 30 caliber browning m2 machine guns and a bomb load capacity of up to 2 000 pounds of bombs in addition the aircraft could be manned by a crew of seven but ten were ideal and each aircraft was estimated to cost around ninety thousand dollars the design met all of the navy's requirements and a contract was awarded to consolidated for the production of sixty aircraft the pigboat catalina [Music] in september of 1935 fleet moved the company to san diego california where testing of the prototypes took place during its maiden flight model 28 flew a record 3443-mile non-stop flight from norfolk to san diego the aircraft was then delivered to the navy for additional trials and dubbed xpby-1 after a series of minor modifications to improve its effectiveness in addition the navy requested to make it a patrol bomber one of its main tweaks involve redesigned vertical tail surfaces that resolved inconsistencies with the tail submerging during takeoffs and the pratt and whitney r183058 engines were also upgraded to the more powerful r183064 engines which provided 900 horsepower each the new version then broke a navy record when a pby made a 2 381 mile flight from panama to california in 34 hours at an average speed of 130 miles per hour the first pbys were delivered in october of 1936 and as the years went on improved versions featured more powerful engines that produced better speeds and ranges licenses were granted to england canada and the soviet union for the production of the aircraft the british began calling it the pby catalina while the canadians named it the kanso americans mockingly named it the pig boat as 1941 approached consolidated aircraft also became san diego's largest employer with over 25 000 active workers a number that increased to more than 40 000 after the attack on pearl harbor and as the u.s participation in the war became inevitable fleet left the company and became president roosevelt's private consultant [Music] operational history more than 3 300 pby catalinas were built during world war ii they were primarily used for patrol bombing cargo transport convoy escort and especially for anti-submarine warfare and search and rescue missions pby served in every front but they truly shone in the pacific theater against the japanese the most used version was the pby 5a it featured two 30 caliber machine guns in the bow turret 150 caliber browning mg in each waste blister one 30 caliber mg in the ventral tunnel and four thousand pounds worth of ordnance including death charges torpedoes and bombs although they were slow at only 179 miles per hour pby's compensated with their versatility specially fitted dumbo pbys excelled at rescuing thousands of downed airmen and sailors scattered throughout the atlantic and pacific and when there was no more room inside to fit sailors the pby would stay afloat like a lifeboat instead of taking off the crewmen would then tie sailors to the wings and any part of the ship until more rescue ships arrived this way the wounded men were protected from shark attacks in the middle of the ocean combat pbys were called cats by their crew they scored the first pby enemy aircraft kill on december 10 1941 when the japanese attacked the cavite navy yard in the philippines [Music] meanwhile patrol squadron 101 composed of six catalinas was the first american unit to conduct a defensive against the japanese when they bombed jojo island to disrupt supply lines royal air force catalinas flying from northern ireland also spotted the german battleship bismarck some 800 miles near the french port of brest on may 26 1941 because of the sighting the british admiralty dispatched a task force of more than 20 ships to hunt down the so-called hunter of the seven seas the catalinas were also responsible for spotting the japanese enemy fleet prior to the battle of midway on june 4th 1942 the us navy pbys were painted in matte black for night operations against the japanese during the american campaign of guadalcanal they conducted night torpedoing bombing and strafing operations against imperial navy warships and supply ships pbys were so effective at these disruption operations on the tokyo express that special squadrons called black cats were created equipped with radar and magnetic anomaly detection or mad equipment and flying in pitch black darkness the black cats bombed hundreds of enemy vessels and destroyed japanese installations scattered in the pacific until they surrender in 1945 ultimately the pbys paved the way for the navy into the sea of japan and japanese soil such as iwo jima and okinawa the royal australian air force also used its own catalinas as nighthunters they dropped mines in japanese-infested waters and shipping routes to inflict as much damage as possible in their supply lines in cooperation with the u.s submarines the australian catalinas lured enemy ships into deep waters where they became easy prey american and australian pbys also use terror bombs which contain scrap metal glass bottles with razor blades and other materials that produce high pitched sounds to disturb japanese garrisons and keep them awake at night all of these operations made it difficult for the japanese to stay focused on the american offensive in the philippines submarine hunter [Music] the consolidated aircraft is credited for almost two-thirds of all submarines sunk by the americans during world war ii pbys were the most used aircraft for anti-submarine warfare in the atlantic and the pacific two british victoria crosses were awarded to royal air force catalina pilots for singing german u-boats flying officer john crookshank of the raf and canadian lieutenant david hornell it has also been reported that 25 out of the 60 submarines sunk by the u.s navy during the war went down under bombs from pbys in addition another 13 were destroyed by pb4 wise the navy version of the b-24 liberator a brazilian catalina is also credited with sinking a u-boat that was lurking in brazilian waters the pby catalina kanso or black cat became history's most used military amphibious boat and can be appreciated in several aviation museums around the world thank you for watching my video please like and subscribe to our duck documentaries channels for more historical content about u.s history and let us know in the comments below what you think about the multiple combat roles of the catalinas during world war ii [Music]

Channel: Dark Skies

Views: 294,526

Rating: 4.9623899 out of 5

Keywords: aviation, airplanes, aircraft, air force, history, documentary, history channel, documentary channel, dark docs, dark skies, seaplane, ww2, wwii, pby catalina, flying boat, world war 2

Id: NNr46jO1eRo

Length: 10min 37sec (637 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 22 2021