PBY5 or higher Catalina

[Helldiver]

For wartime PBY's and other aircraft look at this site.
http://uscgaviationhistory.aoptero.org/history02.html
You'll see the OS2U2s at Salem when I was hanging around there.
The USCG was born about 500 feet from where I'm sitting. They still maintain a base there.
Although I joined the Navy, I've always had admiration for the "Coasties". They're the unsung heroes of our armed forces.

[srgalahad]

Say Helldiver would you happen to know were i could get my hands on a pic of the USCG Cat showing her paint and scheme. Might give a WW2 uscg paint a try.

No photo but here's a bit to whet your appetite...
"Prior to the USA entering the Second World War, the second production PBY-5, Bu2290, was transferred by the US Navy to the US Coast Guard, with which it adopted the serial V189. Initially flown in a high visibility livery of overall aluminium but with yellow-orange upper wing surfaces and red and white vertically striped rudder topped with blue, it later adopted a more sober grey scheme when in wartime use up in Alaska. It remained in service until at least 1943, when it was stationed in the San Francisco area, and it was the predecessor for many more wartime and post-war USCG Catalinas."

http://www.catalina.org.uk/catalina-history

The "clipper bow" was a postwar modification to give the crew better forward/downward visibility (esp. for the firefighters) as the turret blocked a lot and the structure removed saved about 200# IIRC. Most current Cats probably wouldn't be modded back to the original to keep it simple for the current owners/crews. I think you'll find there were at least two STC's for the mod (one was a bit more lumpy that the others).

Rob

[wombat666]

'Glide Bombers', very different to 'Dive Bombers'.
The barge busters were pretty efficient, 4x.5 Brownings mounted through the bomb aimers postition did a number on most things they hit.
The 'No Bow Turret' configuration was mostly post WW.II, the original cupola was replaced mid war by a proper power operated (made by Ryan IIRC?) twin .30 cal turret.

[naravac]

Has the alphasim catalina got a clickable VC ie throttles and sounds