CLASS: Search and Rescue / Reconnaissance
YEAR OF DESIGN: 1935
CREW: 10
LENGTH: 63 feet 10 inches
WINGSPAN: 104 feet 6 inches
MAX AIRSPEED: 196 MPH
CEILING: 15,530 feet
TYPICAL ARMAMENT
2 x 7.7 mm Nose-Mounted Machine Guns
1 x 7.7 mm Rear-Turret Machine Gun
2 x 12.7 mm Machine Guns (One in Each Turret)
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4,250-lb bomb capacity.
[Anti-Submarine Patrol Activity]
3,000 lbs. of
depth charges or small impact bombs
1 x 1,250-pound torpedo in undercarriage
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The Consolidated PBY Catalina was tasked with a great many
tasks for the Carrier Fleet, from Search and Rescue of downed pilots to
ferrying passengers from ship-to-shore and vice versa to anti-submarine
operations to its most common (and possibly most vital) role of reconnaissance
plane.
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Although the floatplanes were vulnerable to attack to most
every enemy plane, they touted several qualities other planes lacked. That
included a hefty crew of 10, including two pilots, a flight engineer, a
navigator, separate radar and radio operators, two waist-gunners, a top-gunner,
and tail-gunner, With a range of over 2,250 miles (New York to Los Angeles) and
the ability to land in water, the Catalina was the workhorse of the air fleet.
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