I am sure that many will agree that it is about time we had a good reference book to the Catalina. This aircraft played important roles throughout WWII and many years afterwards, especially its abilities as a search and rescue aircraft before helicopters took over that role. Early in WWII, its patrol abilities were paramount in several major events including the disovery of the Bismark in the Atlantic and the Japanese fleet during Midway.

Designed as a patrol bomber in the days when these aircraft had to be water-borne, the PBY came from a line of similar aircraft types designed by Consolidated. Unlike many European flying boats, these designs were pretty much all metal, which gave the planes a ruggedness not available to other nations.

The airframe and systems were constantly upgraded through the years and one of the biggest innovations in the line was the inclusion of landing gear. This not only allowed the aircraft to use fixed runways, but also the lowered landing gear made it easier to beach the plane at those facilities that did not have a runway.

Typical of the series, this edition is basically a photo book with the majority of the story of the plane being encompassed in the photo captions. Each section of the book covers the predecessors of the Catalina and then goes through the several variants produced during the war. Despite the aircraft continuing post war, there is not that much on the later years and even less on those which were used by civilians and other nations after hostilities. I can imagine this would be due to a lack of space, but would make for a nice addition to an enlarged and revised edition.

Throughout its 80 pages are superlative period photos, including quite a few of the interior of the aircraft. There are some in full color and scattered throughout the book are large full color profiles covering all of the versions.

It all makes for another superb product and a book that you simply have to have in your reference files.

December 2013

Thanks to Squadron Products for the review book. Get yours at this link.

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