Although designed in the mid-1930s and in squadron service several years prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, the PBY Catalina proved its soundness in combat throughout the four years that World War II raged across the Pacific. Deadly in its primary role as a submarine hunter, the PBY was the scourge of the Imperial Japanese Navy's submarine force. Its amphibious traits also made the aircraft well suited to air-sea rescue, and thousands of Allied airmen were saved from a watery grave by PBY crews.
Using personal interviews, war diaries and combat reports combined with original Japanese...
Although designed in the mid-1930s and in squadron service several years prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, the PBY Catalina proved its soundness in...
