PBY Catalina: Consolidated's Flying Boat in WWII (Legends of Warfare: Aviation, 58)

I was able to figure out which plane my dad flew in during WW2. I truly appreciate it.

These books are always great for information and interesting to read.

Although I've long awaited a definitive doorstop-sized technical study of the PBY Catalina (like William Wolf's "Ultimate Look" series, but with better editing), this new entry in Schiffer's "Legends of Warfare" series is nonetheless a pretty solid little reference. Although it doesn't really deviate from the established "LoW" format, it boasts a higher page count than most volumes in the series, and slightly over 300 illustrations. It's divided into three main chapters, the first focusing on the flying boat variants, the second on the amphibious models with retractable landing gear, and a third on other variants, including the USAAF OA-10 and the PBN-1 Nomad used by the Soviets. It definitely feels a bit more balanced than some books in the series, with a healthy number of both wartime and modern day imagery, close-up detail shots and overall views. Virtually every variant of the Catalina is covered in some form, and a surprising number of the wartime photographs are in color. Along with the photographs, there's quite a few color side profiles, and perspective view diagrams showing the key differences of each major variant.As usual, most of the photographs are of excellent quality, and being the kind of guy who's more interested in the "nuts and bolts" of aircraft, I'm impressed by how many detail shots are included. These range from images of the landing gear, the fuselage and gun turret interiors, radar antennae, brackets for underwing bombs and torpedoes, to close-ups of the reinforcing plates which protected the fuselage from ice flying off the propeller blades, the carburetor air inakes, and a series of photos of the cut-away PBY fuselage at the National Museum of Naval Aviation.If I have any gripes, it's that 144 pages isn't really enough to adequately depict the incredibly broad range of roles PBYs carried out during the war, or in civilian use afterwards. Although there's plenty of shots of Catalinas on land, in the Aleutians, or at some distant Pacific locale, and some excellent imagery of the decidedly ungainly and unglamorous beaching process, there's not much sense of what PBYs actually DID during the war. In that sense, this is an excellent book for modelers or PBY buffs who are already familiar with the type's history. What's here is a goldmine; still, I think a two-volume treatment would have worked better.

I would give the book 5-Stars for the photos but only 3-Stars overall because the text is pretty shallow on the design development history. Only pages 1 and 8 offer any such information. Pages 2 - 7 feature several photos of the antecedents of the “PBY Catalina:” the XPY-1, XP2Y-1, P2Y-3 and XP3Y-1. After that, the collection of photos describe every conceivable detail. Most of the photos are period black and white but a few are color photos of PBYs in various air museums. The photo captions are very informative. Page 108 presents a brief tabulation of dimensions, gross weights, service ceilings, patrol range, and number built of the various models. Somewhat strangely , I thought, the tabulation does not include engine horsepower.

Is it a boat or is it a plane? How about both?Did you know that at one time both passenger and cargo aircraft mostly landed on water before there were huge mega-airports?Sounds frightening and challenging.PBY Catalina Consolidated Flying Boat OF WWII, part of Legends Of Warfare Aviation by David Doyle and publisher Schiffer Publishing, takes a close look at the versatile aircraft that could both land on land and water.It had too. Whether transporting troops, supplies, weapons, or surveying enemy strongholds and performing rescue missions the Catalina was designed to take off and land where most other aircraft could not.Rugged, dependable and made to perform various tasks the PBY Catalina was the workhorse of the U.S. military.The book provides a visual tour of the aircraft from stem to stern examining the cockpit, instrumentation, weapon stations, cargo areas and other vital locations throughout the aircraft.Discover how the aircraft design came about and how it was constructed, tested and flown."God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." — Psalm 46:1

This volume, like all the volumes in this series, is illustrated with many well-selected and equally well-printed photographs of the chosen subject. Images show the Catalina in development, in detail, at war and also include some nicely preserved examples. If you like the PBY Catalina flying boats this book should appeal to you whether you are an aviation buff, a model builder or simply interested in military history. Recommended.