Consolidated PBY-5 and Catalina MkIb

Mark,

Not great quality, but they are all captioned as PBY5a's with radomes, in 1945.

Guam , April 45
Greenland, 1945
Brazilian PA-10's, 1945

Hope this helps (a bit):teapot:
 
John,
Thanks for those. This is the problem, as the first pic are Brazilian PA10's (possibly WWII), the second is a Black Cat PBY6 not a 5A, and last pic IS a WWII Greenland based 5A (hurrah!).

I wonder if there are any RAF CC radomed Catalina pics?

Cheers

Shessi
 
I wonder if there are any RAF CC radomed Catalina pics
Click to expand...

There are indeed, there's an Imperial War Museum pic of one on slipway at Saunders Roe Beaumaris works , which was the accepting works for all Catalina's bound for RAF.

Hang on, I'll be back in a jiffy with a link or two

Here you go, look no wheels!

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205126685

few more Far East boats from 205 Sqn here -------> http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=&items_per_page=10&f[0]=agentString%3ARoyal%20Air%20Force%2C%20205%20Squadron


Ttfn

Pete
 
Pete,
Again many thanks.
Sorry, I'm not being cynical, BUT as the IWM caption says the ac is at SR works, having been at the previous sqn's, including 205. Did it already have the radome fitted when at these sqn's or was is at SR to have it fitted for trials etc? Did it go back to an operational sqn?

The second link, I searched 205 Sqn, and apart from the SR works Catalina, I couldn't find any other radomed CC ac.

I found two nice paintings of Cruickshank's VC Catalina, one with radome, one without, AND one is a IIIA and one a IVA!! Where do these people get their evidence from??!!!

What with PBY6's reported as PBY6A's, PBY6's reported as PBY5/5A's, RNZAF PB2B's as CC Catalinas etc....aghhhhh! a mine field. I'm happy that USN PBY5/5A's and PBY6's all with radomes are evidenced, it's WWII CC Catalinas in service/at squadrons that I'd love to see hard evidence of.

Oh yes, and what about Leigh Light fitted CC Cats, as I believe Cruickshank's attack was at night and used a Leigh Light to illuminate the uboat?


John, yes I was interested in that. But that is also found on some CC Liberators. The centimetric radomed radar is used for searching, and the yaggi wing aerials are used for homing onto navigational radar beacons and final attack runs. Having these separate aerials on each wing allows better/more accurate signal comparison than using a single source/point radomed radar. Not all USN PBY's with radomed radar also had yaggi homing radar.

Cheers

Shessi
 
Mark,

I had also read references to the earlier ASV being retained on CC aircraft for navigation, just hadn't seen any photo evidence of both versions on the same plane before. :kilroy:

I'm of back to the Basement - it's a bit too bright up here in the daylight ...:running:
 
Shessi said:
Pete,
Again many thanks.
Sorry, I'm not being cynical, BUT as the IWM caption says the ac is at SR works, having been at the previous sqn's, including 205. Did it already have the radome fitted when at these sqn's or was is at SR to have it fitted for trials etc? Did it go back to an operational sqn?

The second link, I searched 205 Sqn, and apart from the SR works Catalina, I couldn't find any other radomed CC ac......

it's WWII CC Catalinas in service/at squadrons that I'd love to see hard evidence


Cheers

Shessi
Click to expand...

This will do then ----> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Coastal_Command,_1939-1945._C5355.jpg

and accompanying description

The crew of Consolidated Catalina Mark IV 'X' of No. 210 Squadron RAF, who made the last attack of the war on a German submarine, stand by their aircraft at Sullom Voe, Shetland. In the early hours of 7 May 1945 they depth-charged the type VIIC/41 submarine, U-320, west of Bergen, Norway. The U-boat was badly damaged and, despite an attempt at repairs by the crew, sank off the Norwegian coast on 9 May. The Catalina's crew are: front row (left to right); Flying Officer C Humphrey (navigator), Flying Officer F Weston (3rd pilot), Flight Lieutenant K Murray (captain), Flight Lieutenant W C Robertson (2nd pilot), Flight-Sergeant D Fowler (1st wireless operator/air gunner): back row (left to right); Flight-Sergeant G Swift (air gunner), Flight-Sergeant P G A Alway (Flight mechanic), Flight-Sergeant L W Rose (wireless operator/mechanic) and Flight-Sergeant I W Evans (2nd wireless operator/air gunner).
Click to expand...

and maybe this ----> https://static.suite.io/article_images/orig/47bba4eb-ce80-492c-8302-8f1a26d93e87.jpg

and this one ----> http://sunderland1944.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/201catalina.jpg
has a Leigh Light under Stb'd wing

Incidentally, Saro works processed 399 Catalina's, and installed radar before they went to squadron service.


ttfn

Pete



Ps Some nice then and now photo's of Castle Archdale and approach charts @1943 too ---> http://sunderland1944.tripod.com/id2.html
 
Thanks Pete,
That's more like it.
A couple of good ref pics. Great pic of the 210 Sqn ac and crew, with radome.

The SR works pic is a Catalina MkIVb of March '44 (marked on the original photo. A little early for a radomed ac, I think?, but it could be there being fitted with radome radar for trials). Again, it says it is at the SR works after having been at squadrons, so there's nothing to say that this went onto another squadron...unless someone knows better??

What I have found out is that the tall tailed CC Catalina's are actually PB2B-2's supplied to the RAF as non-amphibian MkVI's, with the tall tail and radome of the PBY6A (which were amphibian)...phew!

Folks, please take a look at this Flickr feed, some fantastic PBY/Catalina pics, including a lot with radomes.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/16323132386/in/photostream/

The Norwegian squadrons based in Scotland seem to have had a lot of the late Catalina's with radomes.

Lots of 'food for thought', thank you.

Cheers

Shessi

p.s Like the Castle Archdale info, interesting stuff.
 
UncleTgt said:
Great find. What a strange beast, it even still has the underwing aerial pylons for the earlier ASV radar:dizzy: - never seen that anywhere else.
Click to expand...

There are a number of photos in the In Action booklet of US Navy Cats with both the radomes and the underwing "yagi" antennae, just like in the photo of the UK plane. I have no idea whether they actually had both kinds of radar installed, or if the radome was added as an upgrade at a conversion facility and they just didn't bother to remove the yagi antennae. My guess is that the PBY was so slow, and so draggy, that there was little to gain by removing them, so in the press of wartime urgency they just didn't bother.

OK, reading later posts I see that an explanation has been offered, and that there was indeed a reason to keep both radar systems. There is nothing like modeling, whether in wood, plastic or digital bits, to teach the little details of an airplane! I've built several Catalinas in plastic, and painted the virtual Catalinas by Mike Stone and AlphaSims many times, but I'm still finding out new things right here in this forum.
 
Mick, can you pls direct me to the repaints you did for Mike Stone's PBY? I still have his plane and would like to kick it up a bit with some new paint.
 
TARPSBird said:
Mick, can you pls direct me to the repaints you did for Mike Stone's PBY? I still have his plane and would like to kick it up a bit with some new paint.
Click to expand...

Check here to find them on FlightSim.com:

http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?searchid=33621212

There are four paints listed, but one is an upgrade/fix for another, so really there are three. I think that's all I did for the Stone model. I only did a few that I needed for my GW3 and FS54 sims, since so many others painted that plane in so many colors and markings.

I'm sure they're in the library here too, but I've never had much luck finding anything in the SOH library.
 
The Catalina was (and is) one of my all time favorite aircraft, even though my dad (US NAVY WWII South Pacific vet) said they flew like an elephant. I was wondering it it would be possible to take one of the model files and modify it with bombs on the wings for the Black Cat model? If so thet would be way cool and very much appreciated.
 
wbuchart said:
The Catalina was (and is) one of my all time favorite aircraft, even though my dad (US NAVY WWII South Pacific vet) said they flew like an elephant. I was wondering it it would be possible to take one of the model files and modify it with bombs on the wings for the Black Cat model? If so thet would be way cool and very much appreciated.
Click to expand...
I think Shessi's already got you covered, see his post from Feb. 5, #20 in this thread. :encouragement:
 
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