10 Facts About PBY Catalina

1.

PBY Catalina was originally designed to be a patrol bomber, an aircraft with a long operational range intended to locate and attack enemy transport ships at sea in order to disrupt enemy supply lines.

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2.

The PBY Catalina served with distinction and played a prominent and invaluable role in the war against Japan.

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3.

PBY Catalina airmen called their aircraft the "Cat" on combat missions and "Dumbo" in air-sea rescue service.

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4.

PBY Catalina performed one of the first offensive operations against the Japanese by the US.

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5.

An Australian PBY Catalina named "Frigate Bird II", an ex RAAF aircraft, registered VH-ASA, made the first trans-Pacific flight across the South Pacific between Australia and Chile in 1951 by Gordon Taylor, making numerous stops at islands along the way for refueling, meals, and overnight sleep of its crew, flown from Sydney to Quintero in Chile after making initial landfall at Valparaiso via Tahiti and Easter Island.

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6.

The last Catalina in U S service was a PBY-6A operating with a Naval Reserve squadron, which was retired from use on 3 January 1957.

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7.

The PBY Catalina subsequently equipped the world's smaller armed services into the late 1960s in fairly substantial numbers.

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8.

In 1948, a transport squadron was formed and equipped with PBY Catalina-5As converted to the role of amphibious transports.

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9.

Today, the last Brazilian PBY Catalina is displayed at the Airspace Museum in Rio de Janeiro.

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10.

PBY Catalina Affair is the name given to a Cold War incident in which a Swedish Air Force PBY Catalina was shot down by Soviet fighters over the Baltic Sea in June 1952 while investigating the disappearance of a Swedish Douglas DC-3 .

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