Consolidated Catalina
maritime patrol and rescue aircraft. The Catalina served with the Royal
Air Force and is shown in these aviation art prints, published by Cranston
Fine Arts.
The Consolidated Model 28 PBY Catalina was so successful in its definitive
form that it went on to become the most extensively built flying boat of
all time. Here, a 210 Squadron Catalina Mk IVA from RAF Sullem Voe,
Shetland, has located two weary downed aircrew, drained but grateful after
a long night in the North Atlantic swell.
CATALINA ATTACK BY JOHN WYNNE HOPKINS
D for Donald of 270 squadron, Royal Air Force, out of Freetown, West Africa
operating in the Atlantic Ocean. It was during routine operation search that D
for Donald surprised U515 on the surface and immediately attacked the submarine.
U515 in putting up stiff resistance blew a large hole in the hull of D for
Donald and the magazine of the starboard side 0.5 twin Browning was hit and the
subsequent shrapnel wounded both blister gunners. U515 escaped but was sunk by
an American naval hunter group a year later. D for Donald limped back to base
and managed to make the beach before it would sink completely.
On the Prowl by Timothy OBrien.
Royal Air Force catalina over flys a Royal Navy Cruiser of Gibraltar while on patrol.
Item Code : TO0002
On the Prowl by Timothy OBrien. - Editions Available
Jimmy Doolittles attack on Japan with B-25s launched from the USS Hornet was a blow to Japanese morale, and it gave Admiral Yamamoto the leverage he needed to push for a grandiose plan to inflict a decisive military blow to American forces in the Pacific. Yamamotos grand scheme would have several elements. A huge fleet would be sent to Midway Island to lure American carrier forces into combat. The force would include seven battleships, ten aircraft carriers, some two dozen cruisers and more than seventy destroyers. A separate strikeforce would be sent to the Aleutians under the command of Vice Admiral Hosogaya Moshiro. The plan was for the the northern force to strike first and divert American carrier forces northward away from Midways air support forces where they could be dispatched by Yamamotos overwhelming force. Fortunately for the US Navy a highly skilled group of cryptographers had broken portions of the Japanese Navys secret code. The Americans sent a bogus message to trick th.........
The Consolidated Model 28 PBY Catalina was so successful in its definitive form that it went on to become the most extensively built flying boat of all time. Here, a 210 Squadron Catalina Mk IVA from RAF Sullom Voe, Shetland, has located two weary downed aircrew, drained but grateful after a long night in the North Atlantic swell.
Item Code : B0031
By Dawns Light by Ivan Berryman. - Editions Available
D for Donald of 270 squadron, Royal Air Force, out of Freetown, West Africa operating in the Atlantic Ocean. It was during routine operation search that D for Donald surprised U515 on the surface and immediately attacked the submarine. U515 in putting up stiff resistance blew a large hole in the hull of D for Donald and the magazine of the starboard side 0.5 twin Browning was hit and the subsequent shrapnel wounded both blister gunners. U515 escaped but was sunk by an American naval hunter group a year later. D for Donald limped back to base and managed to make the beach before it would sink completely.
Item Code : DHM0849
Catalina Attack by John Wynne Hopkins. - Editions Available
On February 15, 1944, a force of B-24s, B-25s and A-20s hammered the heavily defended Japanese base at Kavieng. Several aircraft, however, were forced to ditch; three downed B-25 crews from 345th Bomb Group floating helplessly in life-rafts within a thousand yards of the beach, and the Japanese troops were in no mood to take prisoners. Their only chance of survival was the air-sea rescue PBY Catalina. Nicolas Trudgians dramatic reconstruction depicts Lt. Commander Nathan Gordons PBY Catalina making its final take-off, the intense enemy gunfire from the shore making his mission seemingly impossible. But the young pilot got all 25 men aboard safely home, and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for what is one of the bravest actions of the war in the Pacific.
Item Code : DHM2024
Flight Out of Hell by Nicolas Trudgian. - Editions Available
On February 15, 1944, flying his Navy PBY Catalina on air-sea rescue duty, Lt. Nathan Gordon received an urgent call. Several 345th BG B25s were down following a major attack on Kavieng, and crews were in the water just offshore. Under intense gunfire, Gordon made no fewer than four perilous water landings to pick up survivors, returning to make an emergency landing at Cape Gloucester with 25 people aboard, an just 10 gallons of fuel in his tanks. Gordon was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Item Code : DHM2021
Black Cat Rescue by Nicolas Trudgian. - Editions Available
RAF Catalinas of 210 Squadron over the West Coast of Scotland in 1944. The Consolidated Catalina PBY-5 proved invaluable to the RAF in its efforts to defend the vital convoys from the threat of enemy submarines, particularly during the Battle of the Atlantic.
Item Code : DHM2483
Heading for the Convoys by Stephen Brown. - Editions Available
The Consolidated PBY Catalina, the sea going flying workhorse of the US Navy during WW II, is with no doubt the most successful flying boat ever produced. Produced for more than ten years, it was built in greater numbers (3,300) than any other flying boat in history. In the early days of aviation flying boats made a lot of sense because of the relatively limited number of prepared airfields. Any estuary, river, or lake could become an airfield for an aircraft designed as a flying boat. Consolidated Aircraft got into the flying boat business rather late in the game. In 1928 the company won a bid to produce a prototype of a new high-wing monoplane flying boat for the Navy which would utilize aluminum in its fabrication. The XPY prototype was successfully flown in early 1929, but the Glen L. Martin Co., one of the pioneers in flying boat production, won the production contract. Not deterred by this setback, Consolidated utilized the expertise it had developed on this project to introduce.........
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