A company called Catalina Aircraft has announced plans to re-launch the world-famous Consolidated PBY Catalina amphibious aircraft, which first flew 88 years ago. It'll be updated with modern engines, materials and equipment.
Florida-based Catalina, which holds type certificates for the PBY-5A Catalina with both US and Canadian civil aviation regulators, plans to disclose the reboot on 25 July at the AirVenture Oshkosh air show in Wisconsin.
“Interest in the rebirth of this legendary amphibian has been extraordinary,” says Lawrence Reece, president of Catalina. “The capabilities this modernised iconic platform offers, being capable of performing so many unique missions, and in a variety of market segments, speaks to the heritage of the Catalina product line.”
The company is calling the updated flying boat the Next-Generation Amphibious Aircraft (NGAA) Catalina II. Reece says the new-production model will feature modern engines and avionics that will give the craft “capabilities no other amphibian can provide today”.
Pricing has not been disclosed, nor has the company confirmed orders. However, the firm anticipates beginning deliveries in 2029.
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PBYs played a critical role during World War II, helping disrupt German U-boat operations in the Atlantic and locating the Japanese naval fleet steaming toward the Midway islands – a discovery preceding what proved among the most-decisive battles in the Pacific theatre.
Several airlines also operated Catalina flying boats, including Pan American World Airways and Australian carrier Qantas, which used the type from 1943 to 1945 to operate weekly nonstop flights between Perth and Colombo in Sri Lanka. At an average speed of 110kt (203km/h), those 3,592nm (5,652 km) flights took up to 32h, making them the longest-duration commercial routes at the time, according to the Catalina Preservation Society.
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The company says NGAA Catalina IIs will be capable of operating from oceans, rivers and lakes, and from tarmac, dirt and grass runways.
The civilian variant will have maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 14,515kg (32,000lb), with capacity for 34 passengers or 5,443kg of cargo. The military version will have an expanded MTOW of 18,143kg.
The US military has expressed interest in water-capable aircraft in recent months ... Such projects are geared toward helping the Pentagon prepare for potential conflicts in the Indo-Pacific region – where vast swaths of open ocean and small, lightly developed islands present substantial challenges to military planners.
There's more at the link.
The new variant will use turboprop engines, rather than the reciprocating engines of the earlier model. That should give it greater speed, although the long, thick wing may prevent any major increase. As for the avionics, well, things have come an awful long way since the classic "six-pack" of analog instruments that became standard prior to World War II. I wonder what the old Black Cat pilots of World War II would say to a modern "glass panel" cockpit?
Here's a documentary on the original Catalina.
I hope Catalina Aircraft's plans work out. It'd be great to see an old warhorse in new, updated guise.
Peter
19 comments:
That is great news. My Dad told me that one of his college room mates was one of the observers on the domed side viewports, searching for enemy action and persons who were 'in the water' in the Japanese theater in the Pacific.
You do realize that that the acronym for this plane could be pronounced as a very racist slur.
Awesome news, Peter, and I've just sent a message through to the director of another Catalina doco which I had a small role in.
Those Qantas 32 hour flights were referred to as the "double sunrise" flight and were super top secret. You could never tell anyone what you were doing, you'd be heckled by other people where you live for being fit enough yet not helping in the war effort (even receiving chicken feathers) and after the war your efforts still weren't recognised.
Oh, not only did you take off on those flights with too much fuel on board to abort and land, you'd have to maintain flight under radio silence until a designated time when you'd turn the wireless back on. And you'd still hear the Japanese saying "we know you're up there".
The YouTube channel for the doco "Return of the Catalina" is at https://www.youtube.com/@ReturnoftheCatalina
The site for the doco, for those who are interested, is at http://www.returnofthecatalina.com/
Highly recommended if I may say so. It's a hoot of a story.
No
I'd wager nobody else sees it earlier.
Beaner49 You do realize that your screen name is a very racist slur.
Which makes it a great filter. Anyone who pronounces it that way is an idiot or a terrible person, and you shouldn't associate with them. Likewise, anyone who freaks out about how the people who made the acronym were cryptoracists who "knew what they were doing" is also someone you should not associate with.
My father served in WWII Pacific in USN as land based mechanic during the "island hopping" campaign.
His CO really worked to get the ground crew aboard Catalinas every money in order to accrue some extra "flight time" pay. Not exactly kosher but rather harmless since the planes were on routine patrol stations anyway.
Dad liked the extra cash but hated flying in the Catalina
Must be the right time in history for new old amphibians?
https://theaviationgeekclub.com/australian-company-to-restart-production-of-the-iconic-albatross-flying-boat-with-the-improved-g-111t-variant/
A shame that the "documentary" makers include footage of nuke boomers in their discussion of sub-killing Catalinas ... really lame.
On the other hand, about the time the original Top Gun premiered in 1986, I happened to be driving past Reagan National just as a PBY dressed in prewar livery took off from there ... what a magnificent sight! I wish Catalina Aircraft all success, and I'd volunteer to help checkride one of their new birds!
In WWII they'd have PBY's orbiting at designated locations along the return route of long distance over-water missions to recover air crew that couldn't make it home due to fuel exhaustion or battle damage.
I have a couple of mission maps my Dad kept with these locations marked, along with the call-up radio frequency. They'd also have subs on station closer to the Japanese islands for the same purpose.
This system was so effective that by the end of the war, if you had to ditch, they'd recover you. This is what gave the pilots the confidence to set off on 8 hour over-water missions in single engine fighters.
Don in Oregon
Way cool. Though wish they'd do the Mariner instead. But the Catalina got all the good press.
There's also AAI in Australia that's making a modern Grumman Albatross. Newer materials, turboprops and electronics.
CDR Salamander will be pleased.
I hope they make it happen. WestPac is a big place for folks flying over it and when the shooting starts having something like these around will help pilot moral.
Beans, wasn't the Mariner the amphibian that had internal fuel leakage problems?
IIRC, a number were lost due to it becoming a self-generating fuel/air bomb.
Or rather than inventing the wheel, we buy the ShinMaywa US-2, a large Japanese short takeoff and landing amphibious aircraft that has been in production for 20 years, has the bugs worked out, etc. Their production line is still running.
All good news.
Classics should never die.
Just look at the DC3/C47, started out in the 30's, and it's still going strong, with old recip and turbo prop engines. As for the fat wings, air foil design has also come a long way.
As thinking about that.
Both Japan and China have modern, experienced flying boat designs; we're way behind the times there.
The US Navy needs to buy some to learn from and a seaplane tender to practice with.
If the Navy requires 100-MPH seaplanes to do anything ever again, we'll have much bigger problems.
As I recall, a US Navy pilot was training a British pilot on the PBY when they sighted the Bismark making its run for home. The Royal Navy was able to close in for the kill.
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