Flying the PBY

[Coldshooter]

This link to a restored PBY Catalina. Love those yellow wings
Consolidated PBY on Vimeo

 

[MOONDAWG]

Great video, thanks for sharing!

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I know an old Navy PBY flyer here in town.
During the Aleutian invasion he was scouting out in front of the fleet.
One of his guys sees a torpedo wake.
It's headed for the command ship, the USS Pennslyvania. He in radio contact with the might Penn so he punches the button and tells them about the torpedo.
The Penn makes an evasive turn and the escorts go after the sub.
I think he spent most of the rest of the war in a warmer climate, down in the South Pacific.

 

[Raider]

Super video. I love those old planes.

Charlie

 

[Cpo1944]

My Uncle was an enlisted pilot who flew the PBY he hated it> Said it was like driving a truck with no power steering. He did lots of night patrols and complained about very inaccurate altimeters . While landing on the water at night- with no points of reference- he didn`t know how high he was, so they would smack down pretty hard. A crewman would scamper around the bilges with a flashlight and a box of number 2 pencils to plug up the rivets that had popped out .
He never had any interest in aviation after the war.

 

[therevjay]

My stepdad had a huge box of WWII aviation magazines, that I used to read. This was about 1952 so they were still pretty currant. (kinda sorta) I loved the articles & pictures about Spitfires, Mustangs, B-17s, B-25s etc. But no plane to my way of thinking was as attractive and just all round cool as the PBY.

Thanks for the link. I really enjoyed it.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Most all the WWII large planes handled like trucks.
The Navy and Allies got tremendous results from the Catalina.
Who found the Bismarck? Catalina
Who discovered the Japanese fleet heading for Midway? Catalina
Then there the Black Cats. These were Catalina's painted black that flew night intruder missions and sunk one Japanese ship after another.
This from a big lumbering slow airplane groaning through the air.
It's not the weapon you have, it's always how you use the weapon.

 

[4506517]

I always think I should have been born a long time ago.

Videos like that just convince me.

 

[rwsmith]

Fantastic! Educational!

Love those! Had no idea what an unorthodox setup they had. When my wife lived in Key West, watching these was a favorite pastime.


HELP! Is anybody having trouble getting sound on this vid. I listened to it once just fine and now my computer plays no sound only when playing this vid. Wah!

 

[Old 44 Guy]

I worked with a guy that flew them during the Korea Conflict. The range of the PBY was phenominal. A normal mission was 16 or 18 hours.

 

[yaktamer]

My Uncle was an enlisted pilot who flew the PBY he hated it> Said it was like driving a truck with no power steering. He did lots of night patrols and complained about very inaccurate altimeters . While landing on the water at night- with no points of reference- he didn`t know how high he was, so they would smack down pretty hard. A crewman would scamper around the bilges with a flashlight and a box of number 2 pencils to plug up the rivets that had popped out .
He never had any interest in aviation after the war.

My old man used to occasionally ride as an observer on PBY's patrolling the approaches to the Panama Canal in '42-'43. After one particularly hard landing the hull split and began to flood. The pilot gunned the engines and ran the plane up onto the beach of some little deserted island. They spent a week there until the Navy could get a boat out with repair gear and to tow them back into the water.

 

[FPrice]

Neat video, thanks for sharing it.

And a quick firearm cameo. If you look at the Navigator (?) right at the 3:00 mark he is wearing a .45 in a shoulder rig.