Consolidated-Vultee

Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1943 as a result of a merger between Consolidated Aircraft Corporation and Vultee Aircraft Corporation, but the company can be traced to 1923 when Dayton Wright Company merged with Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation to form Consolidated. Consolidated-Vultee eventually shortened its name to Convair. In 1954, Convair became part of General Dynamics.
Consolidated-Vultee PBY "Catalina"
1935

Flying boat/amphibious aircraft, crew 6-9

Description: PBY is a twin-engine high-wing monoplane. The fuselage is rectangular with a two-step hull and a rounded tail fin. High-set unswept wings are mounted on a single pylon above the fuselage. Two nacelles extend forward from the wings, each nacelle containing a 14-cylinder radial engine with a three-blade propeller. Floats near the wingtips retract outwards. Tailplane is rounded. Landing gear (present only on amphibious PBY-5 and later) with nose wheel is retractable. When retracted, wheels of the main landing gear can be clearly seen on either side of the fuselage just above the waterline. First PBY prototype XP-3Y-1 was test-flown on March 28, 1935. The aircraft went in production in 1936 and over 3290 were built in the following modifications: PBY-1 - first production version for USMC, 60 built; PBY-2 - improved PBY-1, built since May of 1937; PBY-3 - more powerful R-1830-60 engines; PBY-4 - even more powerful R-1830-72 engines, first flown in May of 1938; XPBY-5 - amphibious prototype, test-flown in 1939; PBY-5 - pre-production amphibious version, with more powerful engines, first flown on September 18,1940; PBY-5A - production version of PBY-5, 143 built by 1941; PBN-1 "Nomad" - redezigned hull with improved hydrodynamics; PBY-6A - development of "Nomad", introduced in 1944. In 1939-1940, 27 PBY were acquired by USSR where they became known as GST (Gydro Samolyot Transportny - transport flying boat). In 1941, Great Britain built 11 licensed PBY-5A 700. A number of PBY were serving in Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands.


Data for PBY-5A:
  • Wingspan: 30.5 m
  • Length: 19.5 m
  • Height: 8.3 m
  • Wing area: 130.0 sq. m
  • Engines: 2xPratt & Whitney R-1830 "Twin Wasp", 1180 hp each
  • Empty weight: 9485 kg
  • Takeoff weight: 16066 kg
  • Max. speed: 275 km/h
  • Climb rate: 2.7 m/s
  • Ceiling: 4500 m
  • Range: 4100 km
  • Armament: 5x7.7 mm machine guns, 1800 kg of bombs