Description
Title: Catalina Chronicle – A History of RAAF Wartime Operations
Author: Vincent, David
Condition: Very Good Plus – Signed by the author, with some foxing to first couple of pages.
Edition: 1st Edition
Publication Date: 1978
ISBN: 0959605207
Cover: Hard Cover without Dust Jacket – 125 pages
Comments: A great account of RAAF Catalina Flying Boat Operations during World War 2. Limited edition of 1000 copies.
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. PBYs served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other nations. In the United States Army Air Forces and later in the United States Air Force their designation was OA-10. A Canadian-built PBY would be familiarly called a Canso.
During World War II, PBYs were used in anti-submarine warfare, patrol bombing, convoy escorts, search and rescue missions (especially air-sea rescue), and cargo transport. The PBY was the most successful aircraft of its kind; no other flying boat was produced in greater numbers. The last active military PBYs were not retired from service until the 1980s. Even today, over 70 years after its first flight, the aircraft continues to fly as an airtanker in aerial firefighting operations all over the world.
The initialism of “P.B.Y.” was determined in accordance with the U.S. Navy aircraft designation system of 1922; PB representing “Patrol Bomber” and Y being the code used for the aircraft’s manufacturer, Consolidated Aircraft.
PBYs were the most extensively used ASW aircraft in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters of the Second World War.
Includes Honour Roll.
