been reading a Neat Book About PBY Catalinas

[Cirrus N210MS]

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/544688_4457743695322_1396769120_n.jpg

[PeteHam]

Thanks for the find. :applause:

Stephen Coonts is one of my favorite authors.

Pete.

[Cirrus N210MS]

This is a really amazing book has alot of details and stuff in it so read slow! dont over do it lol :jump: Enjoy reading the book detail by detail

[Jagdflieger]

I shall look for that one. Steven Coonts is one of my favorite authors.

[hawkeye52]

The artwork on the cover is incorrect. PBYs in WW II did not have the red bar in the national insignia. The placement is also incorrect. Not absolutely positive, but I believe there was no machine gun in that type of nose "turret"



Geeeze, dontcha just love nit-pickers like me? :icon_eek:

- H52

[TARPSBird]

Do a search for "PBY Black Cat photos" and you'll definitely see pics of the eyeball-type bow turret with a gun (or guns) mounted. As for the book cover... There, I fixed it! :salute:

[hawkeye52]

Nice work, Tarps.

How about those depth bombs shackled to the hull? Methinks them to be artistic license.

- H52

[wombat666]

My late father flew 'Cats' with the RAAF throughout the Pacific from 1941 into 1946.
Among his more interesting missions were 24 hour flights as far a field as Indochina (Viet Nam) and 'hairy' mining operations into Truk Lagoon, finishing with POW evacuations well into 1946.
The bow eyeball turrets (made by Ryan or Fletcher????) carried 2x30 cal Brownings, the original flat topped version initially (in RAAF service) was armed with a .303 Vickers K gun, replaced very swiftly by a single .30 cal Browning.
The depth bombs???
Artistic licence indeed, without JATO any Catalina would need several miles to attempt flight, especially with extra charges added to the under wing load.
I know from Dad's log book that they used around 7+ miles to get airborne carrying 2 standard torpedos and several more miles to reach their operational altitude!!

The very best of the Catalina publications I've read would be 'In The Hands of Fate', written by Dwight R Messimer, published by Naval Institute Press, and tells the story of Patrol Wing Ten, December 8th to May 11th, 1941.
It is better than any fiction could ever be.
Of course, 'Catalina Chronicle - A History of RAAF Operations' by David Vincent is a bit dry but is interesting from my point of view, while 'Flying Cats' by David Hendrie gives an overall view of all operators during WW2.