I've always wondered why the Catalina was discontinued even though it seems to be very versatile aircraft, I understand that there are better aircraft for some of the roles that the Catalina filled but there has to be some niches it can fill.
Well they built over 3000 of them, i would say the production run was completed rather than halted. As to why it was pulled from service? Hard to say, it ''only''' served to 1957. From what i can read up, the bases and islands the US captured during the second world war along with the air fields constructed during the war. Made flying boats as a maritime patrol aircraft unnecessary, as the ability to land and take off from water was selected as a necessity in the first place. They were replaced by the Lockheed P2 Neptune, and then the P3 Orion at the end of the cold war. Even still, one would think that having a flying boat available. Even if not in great quantities, would be very advantageous for a Pacific fleet. With alterations making it safer to land and take off in the open ocean.
The Catalina was also used for night time bombing raids in the pacific. Painted black, the 'Black Cats', a nickname, would fly to Japanese held islands. They would cut the engines, the big wing being great for gliding, drop bombs from low altitude, glide past, restart their engines and fly off. The Japanese would be caught off guard as they wouldn't hear the planes' cut off engines. By the time they got the lights and firing AAA in random directions, the PBYs would have been gone.
uummm a good story, often repeated but not quite true. the PBY could not dive well, IE it could not get from patrol altitude to attack altitude quickly. if you tried to hard the wing would rip off. one trick was to idle and almost feather. but to dead stick in a war zone? and how did they get the props to stop wind milling? a stall? not likely
@@caroleansoldier382 uumm you do not fly do you. so what happens when you turn off the motor on an airplane? you slow down and then fall out of the sky. Look with a VNE of 175 MPH and a cruse of 125Mph. to get down quickly from cruse transport Hight to attack Hight took a long time because. VNE and cruse are so close! Turning the motors off would have made the decent slower since a wind milling prop creates more drag. simples add to all this the PBY was hardly a slippery airframe, the glide distance is bugger all. so even iff you were killing the kill switch you would have been doing so with in earshot any way.
I'm glad to see Sink the Bismarck! get some credit. It focuses mainly on the decision makers behind the scenes and the stress they were under. Obviously the men on the ground (or floating in the ocean in this case) deserve our utmost appreciation, this movie shows how hard it was even if you weren't in the action. I'd also recommend Dawn Patrol for a similar take on the subject.
In WW2 there was an interesting shift in tactics by the U Boats in 1943 (I think) when they were ordered to stand and fight air attacks rather than crash dive. They’d up gunned their close range weapons (quad 20mm cannons) but often neither plane nor sub were ever heard from again. Great doc about a Brit/Commonwealth crewed Cat that attacked a uboat in the Northern Norwegian Sea. Caught the sub cold but the D.Cs failed to drop so they had to around again and go blasted to bits by the U boats AAA. The Cat got the sub but several of the crew were hit including the captain but they struggled home. Pilot got a VC for his efforts.
The pilots name was John Cruickshank, if you search it in youtube you'll find a neat video made in 1995 with an interview of him talking about that. How that man had as many wounds as he did and land his Cat is beyond me.
The U bootes aerial defence was made exclusively in the bay of Biscay when they need to cross those waters at full speed at surface, the chase groups were so successful at their duty , they sunk many immerged U-bootes it becomes hard to escape for them. Caught in middle of ocean without enough time to dive they would defended them aswell.
At the Military Aviation Museum here in Virginia Beach Virginia, we have a restored PBY-5A that flies wonderfully. The history of the aircraft is amazing. My father on a fleet tug in the Pacific in WWII. The PBYs were often what brought them their mail.
1:10 From what I’ve read, seaplanes could rarely land in open water because the waves are usually too high for them to land without being damaged. The water has to be very calm for them to land. That’s why most seaplane bases are in bays. Also the reason why they developed amphibious versions of the PBY.
As a Brit, my main problem with the movie "U571" isn't the seizing of an Enigma machine from a U Boat by Americans as you might expect , but the PBY that spots our heroes ' lifeboat carrying US markings. Being in the Western approaches the Catalina would almost certainly have been a British Coastal Command aircraft, like the one in "Greyhound". A detail I was glad to see acknowledged in the Tom Hanks movie.
Dude this plane was used by the US Navy Black Cats and it was also Depicted in the Mission Black Cats from Call of Duty World At War and TBH that is my Favorite mission in that Game
There was a Catalina base at Crawley, I think on Swan River Western Australia during ww2. Quite a bit of amazing history in this along with submarine base at Fremantle. Always loved the Catalina. Built one when I was a kid. Great work, man. You can't just pull good videos out of your arse.
Functionality is beautiful to me.Whenever anyone says,”Good looks win wars.”,I remind it of this aircraft’s history & that its been flying since 1935.If I were to make a flying boat,this would be the aircraft.
Thank you so much for this wonderful video. My father flew PB wise in the South Pacific under World War II and I am now compiling and editing his journals and letters to put in a book. This is a great bit of aviation history. Please show more.
The plane had no flaps so water landings were mre like crashes.. lol And it was a beast to fly too. But anyone associated with the PBY loved the daylights out of ithe flying boat
During the 50's and 60's my uncle ran Sonora Flying Service out of Columbia, CA. He had several ex-military planes used to drop fire retardant, including a PBY and a TBM.... as a little kid I used to crawl around inside them and really fell in love with the PBY...
I have mixed feelings about this aircraft. My grandmother's cousin flew Sunderland and Catalina aircraft on anti-submarine patrols over the North Atlantic with 422 RCAF squadron in 1942-43. He was transferred to RAF Killadeas in Northern Ireland for a captain's course with 131 Operational Training Unit and was killed during a training flight on 16 October 1943 when the Catalina aircraft he was in crashed (he was a passenger, not the pilot). He was 20 years old. Rest in peace, Uncle Frank.
We had three, serviceable, Cats on our tarmac in 1962 at RCAF Station Vancouver. They were only used for public events, such as strapping 4 JATO bottles to one to take off from English Bay in the middle of Vancouver.
Yes indeed a great plane this PBY Catalina. In Holland they had a flying copy, but due to lack of money the foundation had to sell it 2 years ago. Nice video Johnny!👍🧔♀
here in the Netherlands we had a flying Catalina up until about 3 years ago. You could take a trip flying in it for about 80 euro's and it would even land on water. I never flew in it, but was able to step inside of it. It is an amazing aircraft and I would have loved to come fly in it, but they sold it to an organization/museum in Texas I believe.
In Chile during the 80s, this plane was used for firefighting. I saw it many times as it landed on a nearby lagoon to load water. We used to stand on the lagoon's shore right in the landing path to see the plane skim over our heads. It was such a spectacle. We used to call it "El avión Canso" (the Canso airplane). Apparently, Canso is some Canadian codename.
My dad is a military history buff, but was also a fire fighter for the National Forest Service in the 80's. We've lived in different states since I finished school but we still send each videos on our mutual interests. He said that this was a really great trip down memory lane and instantly subscribed to your channel. Thanks man 🙂
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq Been a subscriber since the last year or so and really appreciate your content Johnny! Probably more info than you need but I work 10-12 hour shifts and always look forward to watching (or rewatching) your videos on my break. Gives me a chuckle whenever you give your disclaimer at the end that you're not an expert, because most channels aren't either and just aren't humble enough to admit it. Keep up the great work!
My granddad was an intelligence officer in an RAAF Black Cat squadron in far north Queensland, Australia from 1942-44 (he was a lawyer in civilian life). They did bombing, mine-laying, recon and rescue. His role was in debriefing/aircraft identification. When he came home on leave to Melbourne it was by train (about 2000 miles each way), even though the RAAF had a Catalina repair base fairly nearby.
Awesome video!! One of my most favorite aircraft ever built - would love to have been able to fly in one of them. Anyway, during the rescue of the crew of USS Indianapolis, the Catalina that landed against orders in the Pacific to rescue as many survivors as possible, actually ruptured/popped some rivets, thus making it non-flyable. It was supposed to be against orders/common practice to land in the open ocean because of the possibility of damage to the aircraft caused from waves, rough seas, and such. According to the book "INDIANAPOLIS" by Lynn Vincent & Sara Vladic, the damage to the Catalina was so extensive, that the crew was barely able to keep afloat by using pumps, stuffing pencils and cotton into the burst rivet holes, buckets, and by other means until additional rescue units arrived on site. The Catalina was then sunk by naval gunfire once as much of the crew(s) (ship & aircraft) were rescued as possible.
Thank you so much for some excellent additional information I don't always have the time or footage to go into these details so I really appreciate it.
Great mention of, Sink The Bismarck, there was a Catalina in, 'The Great War Of Archimedes', in the beginning, when Yamato was under attack, the crew saw a downed pilot, when a Catalina, picks the pilot up, I thought that would be impossible, with all of the combat going around, the Catalina pilots wouldn't want to be shot down. Dauntless The Battle Of Midway, also had a Catalina, though, not an actual one, but it was nice to see. I own Squadron/Signals 'In action' book on the iconic Catalina. Take care, and all the best.
"Archimedes/Yamato" is accurate in that there were 2 flying boats on station (though the pick up of down aircrew shown came VERY late in the action AFTER Yamato sank). BUT, the actual aircraft were Martin PBM "Mariners". Since the planes are CGI, the film crew likely used an existing Catalina model. (The Mariner has a gull wing).
a little fun fact is that the RAF squadron that found the Bismarck, 209, was also credited for shooting down the red baron in WW1, as seen in the squadron logo
during the rescue of the crew of the USS Indianapolis, two PBYs landed, but only one was able to pick up more than 1 survivor. The same catalina that picked up more than 1 person was too heavily damaged to take back off again, while the other had suffered less damage upon landing and was able to take off.
Don't forget the 'Black Cat' squadrons. They were ideally situated to leverage their range/loiter time to seriously impede Japanese shipping in the southwest Pacific. The ability to go from point A to point B is one thing, but to reach point B and then zig-zag between two islands all night searching for shipping is quite another. Also, the 'PT Co-op' work they did is largely forgotten. Upon spotting a Japanese supply convoy, a Cat tasked with 'co-op' duty would shadow the ships while sending a brief radio message in morse, typically the letters 'M...O', [modus operandi, one must assume], repeating the message periodically to vector the PT boats from the lagoons and inlets where they were waiting to the convoy. Once all the players were in position, I'm sure you can see the difficult position this put the convoy in.
Such a shame they lost a PBY filming that movie. You don't hear much about them being used in the Atlantic Theater of Operations, but they served a crucial role in the Pacific.
I grew up in the 1970s and my dad, a WW2 USMC vet knew a lot of veterans. One was a PBY pilot in the Solomons. His squadron would conduct nite attacks on Japanese shipping. He gave me some photos back then. Amazing plane. They were all over in California back then flying tours even
Although not widely publicised the pilot of the Cat that found the Bismarck was a US pilot flying with the RAF. He was not one of the many volunteers but a serving US officer. This was a closely guarded secret until recently as the US at that point was still neutral. Roosevelt wanted personnel to gain experience as he sought to aid the Allies in every way short of declaring war.
My late grandfather was one of the U.S. Navy aviators stationed in Brazil on U-Boat patrol in the early years of WW2. Also, you showed a scene from the movie "Always" (1989) where a PBY water bomber is replenishing its tanks and heading straight for two fishermen. I saw that movie when it was in theaters and said something to him about that scene. He was surprised PBY's were being used in that capacity as the plane was "so small."
My dad was a crew member in pathfinder helicopter, and did some forest fire fighting. His company was hired to create the fires we see in Always, and he constantly brings it up to me because of how proud he is of it. I’m currently in pilot school and have landed multiple times at the airport that Always was filmed. To make it better, there is a PBY that is being worked on at the airport that I am taking flying lessons at. It’s fun to look at.
One of my great-uncles was a pilot on a black cat during the war. He died before I got to know him, but his service was a point of pride in the family.
One of my favorite fun facts. Is that there is a Catalina in Dayton Ohio Aircraft museum right next to the boxcar. And that Catalina has lift rafts instead of bombs on it to show how many missions it flew. So instead of boasting about how many lives they might ended with bombs. It boasts about how many life's it has saved. I just find that fact a bit cute and wholesome.
I remember in the game "Heroes of the Pacific" there was a mission where you would fly a Catalina around the pacific taking photos of Japanese naval fleets, destroying supplies ships and resecuring downed piolets.
The Catalina is one of the under-appreciated but highly important aircraft of WW2. By the way, did you know that the British Catalina that spotted the German Battleship Bismarck had a US Navy officer aboard? He was there to help train the British crew in the aircraft and was on an operational mission even though the US was not yet at war with Germany.
Another great video, Johnny! May I add some comments. It was called a Canso in RCAF service, A VC was won by a Canadian, David Hornell, RCAF, for sinking a U boat and another Canadian, Leonard Birchall RCAF warned Ceylon of an imminent attack by the Japanese.
The opening scene (the very first image!) inds the original "South Pacific" takes place in a Cat deliveing Lt. Cable to an island in the South Pacific. The remake starts with;, as aI recall a Widgeon.
The Catalina is a true dream plane for me to get to fly! I'd give anything to be in the cockpit of one some day. Edit: The role it has played as a Warrior & Life Saver through out it's years of service will always have my respect!
The Catalina wasn't destroyed in the accident during the filming of uss Indianapolis men of courage, it's undergoing restoration right now in my friends hanger in iowa
There was also sea plane tender ships that could refuel, rearm,and repair the pby.My father served on one in the pacific.His ship was the USS Pocomoke.
Interesting omission to this list of PYB's on film, is 1973's "Steelyard Blues" with Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Peter Boyle. I suppose it's an understandable miss, as it's quite the oddball movie. Set in the 70's "a bunch of misfits" restore a scrapyard Catalina to be a flying hippy bus. Does have a lot of PBY content though.
IF I remember my reading correctly, the PBY was able to extend its patrol/recon range considerably by the simple trick of turning OFF one motor, saving a lot of fuel by doing so. This was, in fact, a part of the basic design.
Got a video suggestion - Rearguards/Last Stand. There's always war movies that portray famous rearguard actions or from novels turned into film. Some are well known as The Alamo and 300 or others less well known as Samuel Fuller's Fixed Bayonets.
The PBY Catalina and the P-40 Warhawk are the unsung heroes of World War 2. They held the line against both Japan and Germany until more modernized planes could be produced and even then still pulled some great feats, like the Catalina Black Cats.
Another great video! One thought on your videos about vehicles and aircraft. Why not add some information whether there are any originals left in working order? You mentioned the Catalina wrecked but it made me think how many are left flying or in this case still in service? Mark Felton has a couple of videos about WWII vehicles still in service today!
I honestly tried to find that number for the Catalina but no luck. I know there are a lot in private collection. I'll try to dig a little deeper in future videos because that's information I personally also find interesting.
there was going to be a jet version of the PBY catilina, it was the P6M seamaster, when the XP6M test aircraft was used,it was found that the engine was mounted too close to the fuselage and would scorch it if the afterburners we're used, the first prototype (XP-1) disinigrated at 5000 feet, the XP-2 also crashed. after the P6M-1 was found that it had unreliable engines (J71), the P6M-2 was bulit, it had a refueling probe, and the more reliable J75 engine. by the summer of 59' the program was cancelled. PS : this is all from wikipedia. i just typed it all, sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes, or if any of it's wrong.
Tragically referred to as "The pig boat", personally, I don't think there is a plane more beautiful. A friend, who volunteers at a local air museum, let me walk through their PBY on a slow day. It was rather cramped for my 6'3, 330 lbs frame, but, still very cool!
the cats also flew The Double Sunrise service was formed in 1943 to re-establish the Australia-England air link that had been cut due to the fall of Singapore in 1942. The service initially operated from its base in Nedlands, Western Australia near Perth,[1] to the Royal Air Force base at Lake Koggala near Galle in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). It was later extended to Karachi in British India (now part of Pakistan), which was the terminus for the BOAC service from England. The name of the service was derived from the crew and passengers observing two sunrises on each flight.
"Always", one of my favorite airplane movies and I'll forever remember it as Audrey Hepburn's last movie. The original, "A Man Named Joe", is one of the few P-38 movies, for when you get to the Lightning 🤓
4:23 that’s a surprise seeing myself on a UA-cam video, but brings back some great memories flying off the Essex and Suffolk coast. In close formation with a camera helicopter filming the bottle throwing scene in the film below. An experience I will never forget and all done 2000ft up without a safety harness I don’t think health and safety would let you do that nowadays 😄
I heard recently that a company in Florida who refurbishes old PBYs back into flying condition are going to start manufacturing new PBYs as there is enough of a demand to do so. It’s going to take a few years, not too shabby fir a 90+ year old aircraft design.
I think the RAF Catalina that spotted the Bismarck was actually flown by an American. if i remember correctly, he was an instructor and helping pilots on conversion training to newly delivered Catalinas. seems he couldn't resist actually flying operational flight... this was months before USA entered ww2
“Take out those fucking PT boats!”
Zeros!
Dang you beat me too it😀
what the fuck are those merchant ships doing with that much firepower?
@@RetroRadianceLight Must be some precious cargo
they're carrying.
@@Nexussusnex we got flak fire all around TAKE OUT THOSE FUCKING PT BOATS
I've always wondered why the Catalina was discontinued even though it seems to be very versatile aircraft, I understand that there are better aircraft for some of the roles that the Catalina filled but there has to be some niches it can fill.
Because Jet engines were starting to appear then the helicopters started to appear. Also some companies even built naval versions of heavier planes.
Some countries, with low budget to make newer planes still use WW2 planes, some retrofitted with turboprop engines.
@@Rrgr5 The PBY Catalina is still in service. Mostly found a role in aerial firefighting through it left military service in 1957
Still used by Aussie Cadets
Well they built over 3000 of them, i would say the production run was completed rather than halted. As to why it was pulled from service? Hard to say, it ''only''' served to 1957. From what i can read up, the bases and islands the US captured during the second world war along with the air fields constructed during the war. Made flying boats as a maritime patrol aircraft unnecessary, as the ability to land and take off from water was selected as a necessity in the first place. They were replaced by the Lockheed P2 Neptune, and then the P3 Orion at the end of the cold war.
Even still, one would think that having a flying boat available. Even if not in great quantities, would be very advantageous for a Pacific fleet. With alterations making it safer to land and take off in the open ocean.
The Catalina was also used for night time bombing raids in the pacific. Painted black, the 'Black Cats', a nickname, would fly to Japanese held islands. They would cut the engines, the big wing being great for gliding, drop bombs from low altitude, glide past, restart their engines and fly off.
The Japanese would be caught off guard as they wouldn't hear the planes' cut off engines. By the time they got the lights and firing AAA in random directions, the PBYs would have been gone.
uummm a good story, often repeated but not quite true. the PBY could not dive well, IE it could not get from patrol altitude to attack altitude quickly. if you tried to hard the wing would rip off. one trick was to idle and almost feather. but to dead stick in a war zone? and how did they get the props to stop wind milling? a stall? not likely
@@deanwilliams4365 ?? He said glide not dive
@@caroleansoldier382 uumm you do not fly do you. so what happens when you turn off the motor on an airplane? you slow down and then fall out of the sky. Look with a VNE of 175 MPH and a cruse of 125Mph. to get down quickly from cruse transport Hight to attack Hight took a long time because. VNE and cruse are so close! Turning the motors off would have made the decent slower since a wind milling prop creates more drag. simples
add to all this the PBY was hardly a slippery airframe, the glide distance is bugger all. so even iff you were killing the kill switch you would have been doing so with in earshot any way.
They did a 588th night witches
@@TheeNikuwa they did, but they were not flying PBYs !!!
I'm glad to see Sink the Bismarck! get some credit. It focuses mainly on the decision makers behind the scenes and the stress they were under. Obviously the men on the ground (or floating in the ocean in this case) deserve our utmost appreciation, this movie shows how hard it was even if you weren't in the action. I'd also recommend Dawn Patrol for a similar take on the subject.
Lest we forget.
i always like the Jaws monologue where Quinn says a one of those rescues planes "big fat PBY"
In WW2 there was an interesting shift in tactics by the U Boats in 1943 (I think) when they were ordered to stand and fight air attacks rather than crash dive. They’d up gunned their close range weapons (quad 20mm cannons) but often neither plane nor sub were ever heard from again. Great doc about a Brit/Commonwealth crewed Cat that attacked a uboat in the Northern Norwegian Sea. Caught the sub cold but the D.Cs failed to drop so they had to around again and go blasted to bits by the U boats AAA. The Cat got the sub but several of the crew were hit including the captain but they struggled home. Pilot got a VC for his efforts.
The pilots name was John Cruickshank, if you search it in youtube you'll find a neat video made in 1995 with an interview of him talking about that. How that man had as many wounds as he did and land his Cat is beyond me.
@@natejones902 That’s the one. Amazing story. I’m surprised the plane was big enough to fit that man’s balls in it.
The U bootes aerial defence was made exclusively in the bay of Biscay when they need to cross those waters at full speed at surface, the chase groups were so successful at their duty , they sunk many immerged U-bootes it becomes hard to escape for them.
Caught in middle of ocean without enough time to dive they would defended them aswell.
Frickin LOVE the Catalina.
I'm infected by too much bias to see anything wrong with it.
Rose tinted welding goggles are a go!
She's beautiful and a life saver. I wasn't going to say anything negative about it.
At the Military Aviation Museum here in Virginia Beach Virginia, we have a restored PBY-5A that flies wonderfully. The history of the aircraft is amazing.
My father on a fleet tug in the Pacific in WWII. The PBYs were often what brought them their mail.
1:10 From what I’ve read, seaplanes could rarely land in open water because the waves are usually too high for them to land without being damaged. The water has to be very calm for them to land. That’s why most seaplane bases are in bays. Also the reason why they developed amphibious versions of the PBY.
Yes that's right. Certainly not the norm to land in open water without good reason such as during the rescue of the survivors of the Indianapolis.
I had a Black Cat model of one when I was a kid. Loved it. Great planes.
I had the same model when I was a kid. It had a picture of a cat, having just dropped a bomb on a transport ship, on the front of the box it came in.
As a Brit, my main problem with the movie "U571" isn't the seizing of an Enigma machine from a U Boat by Americans as you might expect , but the PBY that spots our heroes ' lifeboat carrying US markings. Being in the Western approaches the Catalina would almost certainly have been a British Coastal Command aircraft, like the one in "Greyhound". A detail I was glad to see acknowledged in the Tom Hanks movie.
I finally got to see one of these beauties fly in 2020 and I was only disappointed it didn't hang around for longer.
Dude this plane was used by the US Navy Black Cats and it was also Depicted in the Mission Black Cats from Call of Duty World At War and TBH that is my Favorite mission in that Game
There was a Catalina base at Crawley, I think on Swan River Western Australia during ww2. Quite a bit of amazing history in this along with submarine base at Fremantle. Always loved the Catalina. Built one when I was a kid. Great work, man. You can't just pull good videos out of your arse.
Functionality is beautiful to me.Whenever anyone says,”Good looks win wars.”,I remind it of this aircraft’s history & that its been flying since 1935.If I were to make a flying boat,this would be the aircraft.
Thank you so much for this wonderful video. My father flew PB wise in the South Pacific under World War II and I am now compiling and editing his journals and letters to put in a book. This is a great bit of aviation history. Please show more.
One of the pieces of equipment that helped the allies win ww2 , unglamorous but tough and reliable .
The plane had no flaps so water landings were mre like crashes.. lol And it was a beast to fly too. But anyone associated with the PBY loved the daylights out of ithe flying boat
Catalinas were designed and built here in San Diego where I live. The airport has a large mural depicting Catalinas forming the letters SAN.
During the 50's and 60's my uncle ran Sonora Flying Service out of Columbia, CA. He had several ex-military planes used to drop fire retardant, including a PBY and a TBM.... as a little kid I used to crawl around inside them and really fell in love with the PBY...
Ample 'Black Cats' from World at War representation. Well done
I loveee you Catalina. The luxury yacht conversions after the war are also an interesting footnote.
I have mixed feelings about this aircraft. My grandmother's cousin flew Sunderland and Catalina aircraft on anti-submarine patrols over the North Atlantic with 422 RCAF squadron in 1942-43. He was transferred to RAF Killadeas in Northern Ireland for a captain's course with 131 Operational Training Unit and was killed during a training flight on 16 October 1943 when the Catalina aircraft he was in crashed (he was a passenger, not the pilot). He was 20 years old. Rest in peace, Uncle Frank.
We had three, serviceable, Cats on our tarmac in 1962 at RCAF Station Vancouver. They were only used for public events, such as strapping 4 JATO bottles to one to take off from English Bay in the middle of Vancouver.
Yes indeed a great plane this PBY Catalina. In Holland they had a flying copy, but due to lack of money the foundation had to sell it 2 years ago. Nice video Johnny!👍🧔♀
here in the Netherlands we had a flying Catalina up until about 3 years ago. You could take a trip flying in it for about 80 euro's and it would even land on water. I never flew in it, but was able to step inside of it. It is an amazing aircraft and I would have loved to come fly in it, but they sold it to an organization/museum in Texas I believe.
In Chile during the 80s, this plane was used for firefighting. I saw it many times as it landed on a nearby lagoon to load water. We used to stand on the lagoon's shore right in the landing path to see the plane skim over our heads. It was such a spectacle.
We used to call it "El avión Canso" (the Canso airplane). Apparently, Canso is some Canadian codename.
Canso was the name given to Canadian production PBYs. Minor differences in details but essentially the same aircraft as the Consolidated built ones.
@@markfryer9880 Thanks for the info.
My dad is a military history buff, but was also a fire fighter for the National Forest Service in the 80's. We've lived in different states since I finished school but we still send each videos on our mutual interests. He said that this was a really great trip down memory lane and instantly subscribed to your channel. Thanks man 🙂
Fantastic. Love hearing this. I made this channel to honor my own dad and his love for war and history movies.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq Been a subscriber since the last year or so and really appreciate your content Johnny! Probably more info than you need but I work 10-12 hour shifts and always look forward to watching (or rewatching) your videos on my break. Gives me a chuckle whenever you give your disclaimer at the end that you're not an expert, because most channels aren't either and just aren't humble enough to admit it. Keep up the great work!
That was awesome man! The mission in World At War is a must have. That’s one of the best COD missions in my opinion, a classic.
One of the first models I built as a kid was a 1/72 Catalina molded in blue, a Monogram kit I think. I've always loved the way they look.
Lumbering but beautiful
My granddad was an intelligence officer in an RAAF Black Cat squadron in far north Queensland, Australia from 1942-44 (he was a lawyer in civilian life). They did bombing, mine-laying, recon and rescue. His role was in debriefing/aircraft identification. When he came home on leave to Melbourne it was by train (about 2000 miles each way), even though the RAAF had a Catalina repair base fairly nearby.
Awesome video!! One of my most favorite aircraft ever built - would love to have been able to fly in one of them. Anyway, during the rescue of the crew of USS Indianapolis, the Catalina that landed against orders in the Pacific to rescue as many survivors as possible, actually ruptured/popped some rivets, thus making it non-flyable. It was supposed to be against orders/common practice to land in the open ocean because of the possibility of damage to the aircraft caused from waves, rough seas, and such. According to the book "INDIANAPOLIS" by Lynn Vincent & Sara Vladic, the damage to the Catalina was so extensive, that the crew was barely able to keep afloat by using pumps, stuffing pencils and cotton into the burst rivet holes, buckets, and by other means until additional rescue units arrived on site. The Catalina was then sunk by naval gunfire once as much of the crew(s) (ship & aircraft) were rescued as possible.
Thank you so much for some excellent additional information I don't always have the time or footage to go into these details so I really appreciate it.
Great mention of, Sink The Bismarck, there was a Catalina in, 'The Great War Of Archimedes', in the beginning, when Yamato was under attack, the crew saw a downed pilot, when a Catalina, picks the pilot up, I thought that would be impossible, with all of the combat going around, the Catalina pilots wouldn't want to be shot down.
Dauntless The Battle Of Midway, also had a Catalina, though, not an actual one, but it was nice to see.
I own Squadron/Signals 'In action' book on the iconic Catalina.
Take care, and all the best.
"Archimedes/Yamato" is accurate in that there were 2 flying boats on station (though the pick up of down aircrew shown came VERY late in the action AFTER Yamato sank). BUT, the actual aircraft were Martin PBM "Mariners". Since the planes are CGI, the film crew likely used an existing Catalina model. (The Mariner has a gull wing).
Big thrill - I taxied in a PBY AIR TANKER when I worked as a TANKER operator for the USPS.
The RAAF had Catalina squadrons too. Five squadrons and another 8 flights for communications, air-sea rescue and training.
a little fun fact is that the RAF squadron that found the Bismarck, 209, was also credited for shooting down the red baron in WW1, as seen in the squadron logo
Catalinas can also be converted to amazing flying yachts. It has been done by at least one private owner.
I have loved this aircraft since building the model kit of Jacques Cousteau's.
during the rescue of the crew of the USS Indianapolis, two PBYs landed, but only one was able to pick up more than 1 survivor. The same catalina that picked up more than 1 person was too heavily damaged to take back off again, while the other had suffered less damage upon landing and was able to take off.
US- and Brazilian-operated Catalinas hunting Uboats in the South Atlantic are portrayed in the book THE SECRET HORIZON by Jack Mason.
You forgot the one scene from "The Wackiest Ship in the Army." Best war movie ever made :P
Lol shoot. I always miss a few 🙏🙂
The other miss was the Disney tv cartoon Tail Spin.
Don't forget the 'Black Cat' squadrons. They were ideally situated to leverage their range/loiter time to seriously impede Japanese shipping in the southwest Pacific. The ability to go from point A to point B is one thing, but to reach point B and then zig-zag between two islands all night searching for shipping is quite another. Also, the 'PT Co-op' work they did is largely forgotten. Upon spotting a Japanese supply convoy, a Cat tasked with 'co-op' duty would shadow the ships while sending a brief radio message in morse, typically the letters 'M...O', [modus operandi, one must assume], repeating the message periodically to vector the PT boats from the lagoons and inlets where they were waiting to the convoy. Once all the players were in position, I'm sure you can see the difficult position this put the convoy in.
- - - - -
Just long enough to give the PT boats something to lock on to?
Such a shame they lost a PBY filming that movie. You don't hear much about them being used in the Atlantic Theater of Operations, but they served a crucial role in the Pacific.
Every time I see a PBY Catalina I think of Jacque Cousteau. Loved watching his documentaries.
One of my favourite seaplanes along with the Short Sunderland
I grew up in the 1970s and my dad, a WW2 USMC vet knew a lot of veterans. One was a PBY pilot in the Solomons. His squadron would conduct nite attacks on Japanese shipping. He gave me some photos back then. Amazing plane. They were all over in California back then flying tours even
He must have been a Black Cat member
Although not widely publicised the pilot of the Cat that found the Bismarck was a US pilot flying with the RAF. He was not one of the many volunteers but a serving US officer. This was a closely guarded secret until recently as the US at that point was still neutral. Roosevelt wanted personnel to gain experience as he sought to aid the Allies in every way short of declaring war.
My late grandfather was one of the U.S. Navy aviators stationed in Brazil on U-Boat patrol in the early years of WW2. Also, you showed a scene from the movie "Always" (1989) where a PBY water bomber is replenishing its tanks and heading straight for two fishermen. I saw that movie when it was in theaters and said something to him about that scene. He was surprised PBY's were being used in that capacity as the plane was "so small."
My dad was a crew member in pathfinder helicopter, and did some forest fire fighting. His company was hired to create the fires we see in Always, and he constantly brings it up to me because of how proud he is of it. I’m currently in pilot school and have landed multiple times at the airport that Always was filmed. To make it better, there is a PBY that is being worked on at the airport that I am taking flying lessons at. It’s fun to look at.
One of my great-uncles was a pilot on a black cat during the war. He died before I got to know him, but his service was a point of pride in the family.
One of my favorite fun facts. Is that there is a Catalina in Dayton Ohio Aircraft museum right next to the boxcar. And that Catalina has lift rafts instead of bombs on it to show how many missions it flew. So instead of boasting about how many lives they might ended with bombs. It boasts about how many life's it has saved. I just find that fact a bit cute and wholesome.
I remember in the game "Heroes of the Pacific" there was a mission where you would fly a Catalina around the pacific taking photos of Japanese naval fleets, destroying supplies ships and resecuring downed piolets.
1:03 I will never forget the song from that COD 5 “black cats” level. 🎶dum dum dum dun dum dun🎶 such a classic
Here's a high five from Brazil!!
Right on man!
The Catalina is one of the under-appreciated but highly important aircraft of WW2. By the way, did you know that the British Catalina that spotted the German Battleship Bismarck had a US Navy officer aboard? He was there to help train the British crew in the aircraft and was on an operational mission even though the US was not yet at war with Germany.
That's absolutely right. They didn't admit to it until America entered the war.
One of the coolest planes of the war.
Another great video, Johnny! May I add some comments. It was called a Canso in RCAF service, A VC was won by a Canadian, David Hornell, RCAF, for sinking a U boat and another Canadian, Leonard Birchall RCAF warned Ceylon of an imminent attack by the Japanese.
Yes thanks for adding that! I was limited in the clips I could find so I didn't get to make this video as long as I would have liked to.
Very cool plane, a flying home and beacon of hope that saved many stranded sailors and pilots.
Irving Katz, a member of our family, was a navigator in a PBY flying the Pacific during WW2.
The opening scene (the very first image!) inds the original "South Pacific" takes place in a Cat deliveing Lt. Cable to an island in the South Pacific. The remake starts with;, as aI recall a Widgeon.
The Catalina is a true dream plane for me to get to fly! I'd give anything to be in the cockpit of one some day.
Edit: The role it has played as a Warrior & Life Saver through out it's years of service will always have my respect!
I love just how much you use CoD World at Wars mission. Such an iconic level.
"TAKE OUT THOSE D**N P.T. BOATS!!!" Is something I will always remember.
What a firepower of the Black Cat PBY a twin auto cannon and twin M2s
2 side M2 machine and a button tail end machine gun
This video makes me love the plane even more than I already did !
The Catalina wasn't destroyed in the accident during the filming of uss Indianapolis men of courage, it's undergoing restoration right now in my friends hanger in iowa
What a lady. A queen of the air and sea.
There was also sea plane tender ships that could refuel, rearm,and repair the pby.My father served on one in the pacific.His ship was the USS Pocomoke.
One of the most underrated aircraft of WW2.
Interesting omission to this list of PYB's on film, is 1973's "Steelyard Blues" with Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Peter Boyle. I suppose it's an understandable miss, as it's quite the oddball movie. Set in the 70's "a bunch of misfits" restore a scrapyard Catalina to be a flying hippy bus. Does have a lot of PBY content though.
All the movies with PBYs always had a dramatic moment of pilot reaching for the throttles. "We're going in" then reaches up.
Catalina's a nice name, cool looking plane too
There's an air worthy Catalina in New Zealand and it has the registration code ZK-PBY, nice touch 🙂🙂
IF I remember my reading correctly, the PBY was able to extend its patrol/recon range considerably by the simple trick of turning OFF one motor, saving a lot of fuel by doing so. This was, in fact, a part of the basic design.
The PBY Catalina is my favorite World War 2 plane with the Grumann F6F Hellcat and B-29
Bo Time Gaming representing. I love watching his War Thunder content.
Got a video suggestion - Rearguards/Last Stand.
There's always war movies that portray famous rearguard actions or from novels turned into film.
Some are well known as The Alamo and 300 or others less well known as Samuel Fuller's Fixed Bayonets.
The PBY Catalina and the P-40 Warhawk are the unsung heroes of World War 2. They held the line against both Japan and Germany until more modernized planes could be produced and even then still pulled some great feats, like the Catalina Black Cats.
F4F Wildcat too.
Another great video! One thought on your videos about vehicles and aircraft. Why not add some information whether there are any originals left in working order? You mentioned the Catalina wrecked but it made me think how many are left flying or in this case still in service? Mark Felton has a couple of videos about WWII vehicles still in service today!
I honestly tried to find that number for the Catalina but no luck. I know there are a lot in private collection. I'll try to dig a little deeper in future videos because that's information I personally also find interesting.
PBY and B24 Liberator is my Favorite WW2 Bomber
The French marine explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau also used a PBY Catalina flying boat when working on his documentaries in the 60s / 70s.
Unfortunately, his son was killed when this Cat was lost.
There used to be one at Manchester Airport .It was rebuilt by Dan Air apprentices ,I often wondered what happened to it ,
What game ? 1:09
Call of duty world at war
there was going to be a jet version of the PBY catilina, it was the P6M seamaster, when the XP6M test aircraft was used,it was found that the engine was mounted too close to the fuselage and would scorch it if the afterburners we're used, the first prototype (XP-1) disinigrated at 5000 feet, the XP-2 also crashed.
after the P6M-1 was found that it had unreliable engines (J71),
the P6M-2 was bulit, it had a refueling probe, and the more reliable J75 engine. by the summer of 59' the program was cancelled.
PS : this is all from wikipedia. i just typed it all, sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes, or if any of it's wrong.
It's all good man I really appreciate you adding this info!
Tragically referred to as "The pig boat", personally, I don't think there is a plane more beautiful. A friend, who volunteers at a local air museum, let me walk through their PBY on a slow day. It was rather cramped for my 6'3, 330 lbs frame, but, still very cool!
If she's a big she's a beautiful pig!
the cats also flew The Double Sunrise service was formed in 1943 to re-establish the Australia-England air link that had been cut due to the fall of Singapore in 1942. The service initially operated from its base in Nedlands, Western Australia near Perth,[1] to the Royal Air Force base at Lake Koggala near Galle in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). It was later extended to Karachi in British India (now part of Pakistan), which was the terminus for the BOAC service from England. The name of the service was derived from the crew and passengers observing two sunrises on each flight.
Way cool 😎 wish it was longer. Great plane
"Always", one of my favorite airplane movies and I'll forever remember it as Audrey Hepburn's last movie.
The original, "A Man Named Joe", is one of the few P-38 movies, for when you get to the Lightning 🤓
Just remembered, for P-38, "Von Ryan's Express", with Frank Sinatra, opens with Ryan's (FS) crippled Lightning.
Plus, one of the "Iron Eagle" movies
The 'Cat' - a true classic
4:23 that’s a surprise seeing myself on a UA-cam video, but brings back some great memories flying off the Essex and Suffolk coast. In close formation with a camera helicopter filming the bottle throwing scene in the film below. An experience I will never forget and all done 2000ft up without a safety harness I don’t think health and safety would let you do that nowadays 😄
That's you? You lucky dog! What a fun gig!
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq I certainly do count myself extremely lucky to have done that. I wish I could go back and do it all again.
Glad you added War Thunder footage.
They have got one of these at raf cosford. If anyone goes it has a lot of what I would call rare airplanes.
Nice
PBY range of 4,000 kilometsrs equates to 2,500 miles. Now I can relate
I heard recently that a company in Florida who refurbishes old PBYs back into flying condition are going to start manufacturing new PBYs as there is enough of a demand to do so. It’s going to take a few years, not too shabby fir a 90+ year old aircraft design.
They are one tough plane and i will be very happy to be having a squadron full of them water rescue mission and fire patrol calls as well
I think the RAF Catalina that spotted the Bismarck was actually flown by an American. if i remember correctly, he was an instructor and helping pilots on conversion training to newly delivered Catalinas. seems he couldn't resist actually flying operational flight... this was months before USA entered ww2
"It's the fuckin Catalina Patrol Bomber!"
I always loved that plane
Great work!
My maths teacher was a navigator in a pby' off the west coast of England during WW2.
My sophomore year history teacher flew on of these during WWII.