Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “Consolidated PBY Catalina: America’s Unsung World War II Hero?” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/consolidated-pby-catalina-flying-boat/.
Consolidated PBY Catalina: America’s Unsung World War II Hero?
- Thread starter Mike H.
- Start date
Recusant
Hellcat
My dad was a combat crew member on PBYs. He joined the navy in December of 1944 at the age of 17. He was the radio operator and flew out of bases in Florida patroling the the Carribbean looking for German U boats. One of the items that he brought back after the war is something that I treasure today. He got this on one of the many stops at Guantanamo Bay to refuel. The story goes that he was sent out from the base with a pocket full of money to purchase a wheel barrow full of these to take back to Flordia I guess to sell to other thirsty sailors:
Warrior9(Ret)
Elite
If I remember correctly, they had charter flights using Catalina PBY’s that were purchased from the military from Balboa to Catalina Island just off the coast of Newport Beach California. They were for going to the casino on Avalon bay.
As a kid I used to watch them go out in the morning. I wanted to go on one by my parents said kids weren’t allowed. They would go and us kids stayed with our aunt.
As a kid I used to watch them go out in the morning. I wanted to go on one by my parents said kids weren’t allowed. They would go and us kids stayed with our aunt.
Uninformed? Yes. But, I would still imagine that less than 1% of Americans today could tell you what a flying boat is - much less what the PBY was. Most folks are pretty ignorant about history.
