PBY-Catalina Blue
The Consolidated PBY Catalina — the long-range amphibious patrol bomber that hunted submarines and rescued downed airmen in every theater of WWII — captured as a twin-engine RC scale model in blue Navy livery.
About
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was the U.S. Navy's primary long-range patrol bomber of World War II. Designed by Isaac Machlin "Mac" Laddon at the Consolidated Aircraft plant in San Diego, the XP3Y-1 prototype made its first flight on March 28, 1935. The type entered Navy service in 1936 and went on to become one of the most-produced flying boats ever built — total Catalina production reached approximately 3,300 airframes across all variants, including license-built versions in the Soviet Union (as the GST) and Canada.
The PBY's defining capabilities were range and amphibious flexibility. Powered by twin Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radials, the Catalina could fly twenty-hour ocean-search missions — extraordinary endurance that made it the workhorse of long-range maritime patrol, anti-submarine warfare, and air-sea rescue. PBYs spotted the German battleship Bismarck during the famous May 1941 chase, hunted U-boats across the Atlantic, conducted "Black Cat" night-attack missions in the Pacific, and pulled hundreds of downed airmen out of the open ocean.
This RC variant carries Navy blue livery — typical of mid-war and late-war PBY paint schemes used for anti-submarine work. The unmistakable Catalina silhouette — high parasol wing, twin engines, deep boat-hull fuselage with retractable wingtip floats — is one of the most-modeled WWII flying-boat subjects in modern RC scale flying.
In the simulator
A demanding twin-engine flying-boat scale subject. Substantial inertia, twin-engine throttle coordination, and the kind of unhurried pattern that suits a long-range maritime patrol aircraft. A natural sibling of the PBY-Catalina (Scale Models pack) — same airframe, different liveries.
