Roles in World War II The PBY was the most numerous aircraft of its kind, with around 3,300 examples built. During World War II PBYs were used in
antisubmarine warfare, patrol bombing,
convoy escort,
search and rescue missions (especially
air-sea rescue), and
cargo transport. The type operated in nearly all operational theatres of World War II. The Catalina served with distinction and played a prominent and invaluable role in the war against Japan. These patrol aircraft shared combat roles with land-based patrol bombers, while the very-long-range
Consolidated LB-30 Liberator and the
Consolidated Coronado were pressed into service to increase the all-important logistical strategic air lift capability in the vast Pacific theater. The pairings allowed the Catalina to take on the role of eyes of the fleets at longer ranges than the
floatplane scouts. Several different flying boats were adopted by the Navy, but the PBY was the most widely used and produced. Although the Catalina was slow,
Allied forces used the aircraft in a wide variety of roles for which it was never intended. PBYs are remembered for their rescue role, in which they saved the lives of hundreds of aircrew downed over water. Catalina airmen called their aircraft the "Cat" on combat missions and "
Dumbo" in air-sea rescue service. The Catalina scored the U.S. Navy's first credited air-to-air "kill" of a Japanese airplane in the Pacific War. On 10 December 1941, the Japanese attacked the
Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines. Numerous U.S. ships and submarines were damaged or destroyed by bombs and bomb fragments. While flying to safety during the raid on Cavite, Lieutenant Harmon T. Utter's PBY was attacked by three Japanese
Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero carrier fighters. Chief Boatswain Earl D. Payne, Utter's bow gunner, shot down one, thus scoring the U.S. Navy's first kill. Utter, as a commander, later co-ordinated the carrier air strikes that led to the destruction of the Japanese battleship
Yamato. The Catalina performed one of the first offensive operations against the Japanese by the U.S. On 27 December 1941, six Catalinas of
Patrol Squadron 101 bombed Japanese shipping at
Jolo Island against heavy fighter opposition, with four Catalinas lost.) and in the same year RCAF Flight Lieutenant
David Hornell received the decoration posthumously for the sinking of
U-1225. Their aircraft was damaged in the fight before it sank the U-boat, and Hornell (with two other crew) died from exposure. Catalinas destroyed 40 U-boats, but not without losses of their own. A Brazilian Catalina attacked and sank
U-199 in Brazilian waters on 31 July 1943. Later, the aircraft was baptized as
Arará, in memory of the merchant ship of that name, which was sunk by another U-boat.
Maritime patrol over the
Aleutian Islands, 1943 In their role as patrol aircraft, Catalinas participated in some of the most notable naval engagements of World War II. The aircraft's
parasol wing and large waist blisters provided excellent visibility, and combined with its long range and endurance, made it well suited for the task. An
RAF Coastal Command Catalina flying from
Castle Archdale Flying boat base,
Lower Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, located the German battleship
Bismarck on 26 May 1941, some northwest of
Brest.
Bismarck was attempting to evade Royal Navy forces as she sought to join other
Kriegsmarine forces in Brest. This sighting eventually led to the destruction of the German battleship. On 7 December 1941, before the
Japanese amphibious landings on Kota Bharu, Malaya, their invasion force was approached by a Catalina flying boat of
No. 205 Squadron RAF. The aircraft was shot down by five
Nakajima Ki-27 fighters before it could radio its report to air headquarters in Singapore. Flying Officer Patrick Bedell, commanding the Catalina, and his seven crew members became the first Allied casualties in the war with Japan. Patrol Wing 10 of the
U.S. Asiatic Fleet had 44 Catalinas under its command, but lost 41 within 90 days. Patrol Wing 10 also lost its main
seaplane tender,
USS Langley, to Japanese aircraft during the
Dutch East Indies Campaign, while she was transporting 32
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter planes. A flight of Catalinas spotted the Japanese fleet approaching
Midway Island, beginning the
Battle of Midway. aboard a Consolidated Catalina before being shot down and captured by the Japanese near Ceylon A RCAF Canso flown by Squadron Leader
L.J. Birchall foiled
Japanese plans to destroy the Royal Navy's Indian Ocean fleet on 4 April 1942, when it detected the Japanese carrier fleet approaching Ceylon.
Night attack and naval interdiction During the Battle of Midway, four U.S. Navy PBYs of Patrol Squadrons 24 and 51 made a night torpedo attack on the Japanese fleet on the night of 3–4 June 1942, scoring one hit, which damaged the fleet oiler
Akebono Maru, the only successful American torpedo attack in the entire battle. During the
Guadalcanal campaign, some U.S. Navy PBYs were painted matte black and sent on night bombing, torpedoing, and strafing missions against Japanese supply vessels and warships, including conducting interdiction raids on the
Tokyo Express. These PBYs were later called "Black Cats". Subsequently, special squadrons of Black Cats were formed, commencing in December 1942 with
VP-12, with an additional 13 squadrons coming into service thereafter. Flying slowly at night, dipping to ship-mast height, the Black Cats bombed, strafed, and torpedoed all kinds of Japanese vessels, sinking or damaging thousands of tons of shipping. The Black Cats also performed bombing, strafing, and harassment regarding land-based Japanese installations, as well as conducting reconnaissance and search and rescue operations. The Black Cat squadrons continued to be active into 1944, with the
PB4Y-2 beginning to come in service in greater numbers and replacing the PBYs, the last Black Cat squadrons returning to the U.S. in early 1945. The
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) also
operated Catalinas as night raiders, with four squadrons Nos.
11,
20,
42, and
43 laying mines from 23 April 1943 until July 1945 in the southwest Pacific deep in Japanese-held waters, bottling up ports and shipping routes and forcing ships into deeper waters to become targets for U.S. submarines; they tied up the major strategic ports such as
Balikpapan, which shipped 80% of Japanese oil supplies. In late 1944, their mining missions sometimes exceeded 20 hours in duration and were carried out from as low as in the dark. Operations included trapping the Japanese fleet in
Manila Bay in assistance of General
Douglas MacArthur's landing at
Mindoro in the Philippines. RAAF Catalinas also operated out of
Jinamoc in the Leyte Gulf, and mined ports on the Chinese coast from
Hong Kong to as far north as
Wenzhou. Both USN and RAAF Catalinas regularly mounted nuisance night-bombing raids on Japanese bases, with the RAAF claiming the slogan "The First and the Furthest". Targets of these raids included a major base at
Rabaul. RAAF aircrews, like their U.S. Navy counterparts, employed "terror bombs", ranging from scrap metal and rocks to empty beer bottles with razor blades inserted into the necks, to produce high-pitched screams as they fell, keeping Japanese soldiers awake and scrambling for cover. There was a Catalina base on
Drimmie Head on the
Gove Peninsula in the Northern Territory.
Search and rescue Catalinas were employed by every branch of the U.S. military as rescue aircraft. A PBY piloted by
LCDR Adrian Marks (USN) rescued 56 sailors in high seas from the
heavy cruiser after the ship was sunk during World War II. With no more room inside, the crew tied sailors to the wings. The aircraft could not fly in this state; instead, it acted as a lifeboat, protecting the sailors from exposure and the risk of
shark attack, until rescue ships arrived. Catalinas continued to function in the search-and-rescue role for decades after the end of the war.
Early commercial use Catalina aircraft en route from
Suva to
Sydney in January 1949 Catalinas were also used for commercial air travel. For example,
Qantas Empire Airways flew commercial passengers from
Suva,
Fiji, to
Sydney, a journey of , which in 1949 took two days. The longest commercial flights (in terms of time aloft) ever made in aviation history were the Qantas flights flown weekly from 29 June 1943 through July 1945 over the Indian Ocean, dubbed the Double Sunrise. Qantas offered nonstop service between
Perth and
Colombo, a distance of . As the Catalina typically cruised at , this took 28 to 32 hours and was called the "flight of the double sunrise", since the passengers saw two sunrises during their nonstop journey. The flight was made in radio silence because of the possibility of Japanese attack and had a maximum payload of or three passengers plus of military and
diplomatic mail.
Post-World War II employment , arrives at the Seaplane Base,
NAS Whidbey Island,
Oak Harbor, Washington, 18 September 2009 An Australian PBY 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 Sir
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. One of six ordered by the RAAF was used as part of the air route across the Pacific from Sydney to Valparaiso, is in the collection of the
Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney. With the end of the war, all of the flying-boat versions of the Catalina were quickly retired from the U.S. Navy, but the amphibious versions remained in service for some years. 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. Oceanographer
Jacques-Yves Cousteau used a PBY-6A (N101CS) to support his diving expeditions. His second son,
Philippe, was killed in an accident in this aircraft that occurred on the Tagus River near Lisbon. The Catalina nosed over during a high-speed taxi run undertaken to check the hull for leakage following a water landing. The aircraft turned upside down, causing the fuselage to break behind the cockpit. The wing separated from the fuselage and the left engine broke off, penetrating the captain's side of the cockpit. Air-race champion, stunt pilot, and airline operator
Paul Mantz converted an unknown number of surplus Catalinas to flying yachts at his Orange County California hangar in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Steward-Davis converted several Catalinas to their
Super Catalina standard (later known as
Super Cat), which replaced the usual
Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines with
Wright R-2600 Cyclone 14 engines of . A larger, squared-off rudder was installed to compensate for the increased yaw which the more powerful engines could generate. The Super Catalina also had extra cabin windows and other alterations.
China Airlines, the official airline of the
Republic of China (
Taiwan), was founded with two Catalina amphibians.
Possible revival In July 2023, a company called Catalina Aircraft, current holder of the type certificates for the Catalina, announced an intent to build the Catalina II, a new aircraft on the basic design principles of the original Catalina, but using turboprop engines and other modern aviation tools. Deliveries were projected to commence by 2029. The company has spun up a facility in
Vero Beach, Florida for the aircraft manufacturing.
Catalina affair The Catalina Affair is the name given to a
Cold War incident in which a
Swedish Air Force search-and-rescue/maritime patrol Catalina (Swedish designation "TP 47") was shot down by Soviet
MiG 15 fighters over the
Baltic Sea in June 1952 while investigating the disappearance of a Swedish
Douglas DC-3 (later found to have been shot down by Soviet MiG-15s while on a
signals intelligence mission; it was found in 2003 and raised 2004–2005). == Variants ==