Consolidated PBY Catalina - In The Movies

A brief overview of the Consolidated PBY Catalina as seen on film

Greyhound 2020
USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage 2016
L’odyssee 2016
Below 2002
U-571 - 2000
Always 1989
Das Boot 1981
Midway 1976
Tora! Tora! Tora! 1970
The Guns of Navarone 1961
Sink The Bismarck! 1960
Flying Leathernecks 1951

Games:
Call of Duty: World at War
War Thunder

#ww2 #aircraft

[irohaboat]

The Catalina was also used for night time bombing raids in the pacific. Painted black, the 'Black Cats', a nickname, would fly to Japanese held islands. They would cut the engines, the big wing being great for gliding, drop bombs from low altitude, glide past, restart their engines and fly off.
The Japanese would be caught off guard as they wouldn't hear the planes' cut off engines. By the time they got the lights and firing AAA in random directions, the PBYs would have been gone.

[itsrockyiv]

I've always wondered why the Catalina was discontinued even though it seems to be very versatile aircraft, I understand that there are better aircraft for some of the roles that the Catalina filled but there has to be some niches it can fill.

[someguy]

I'm glad to see Sink the Bismarck! get some credit. It focuses mainly on the decision makers behind the scenes and the stress they were under. Obviously the men on the ground (or floating in the ocean in this case) deserve our utmost appreciation, this movie shows how hard it was even if you weren't in the action. I'd also recommend Dawn Patrol for a similar take on the subject.

[Kruppt]

i always like the Jaws monologue where Quinn says a one of those rescues planes "big fat PBY"

[geordiedog]

In WW2 there was an interesting shift in tactics by the U Boats in 1943 (I think) when they were ordered to stand and fight air attacks rather than crash dive. They’d up gunned their close range weapons (quad 20mm cannons) but often neither plane nor sub were ever heard from again. Great doc about a Brit/Commonwealth crewed Cat that attacked a uboat in the Northern Norwegian Sea. Caught the sub cold but the D.Cs failed to drop so they had to around again and go blasted to bits by the U boats AAA. The Cat got the sub but several of the crew were hit including the captain but they struggled home. Pilot got a VC for his efforts.

[gtdcoder]

1:10 From what I’ve read, seaplanes could rarely land in open water because the waves are usually too high for them to land without being damaged. The water has to be very calm for them to land. That’s why most seaplane bases are in bays. Also the reason why they developed amphibious versions of the PBY.

[markkover]

At the Military Aviation Museum here in Virginia Beach Virginia, we have a restored PBY-5A that flies wonderfully. The history of the aircraft is amazing.

My father on a fleet tug in the Pacific in WWII. The PBYs were often what brought them their mail.

[billsilver]

As a Brit, my main problem with the movie "U571" isn't the seizing of an Enigma machine from a U Boat by Americans as you might expect, but the PBY that spots our heroes ' lifeboat carrying US markings. Being in the Western approaches the Catalina would almost certainly have been a British Coastal Command aircraft, like the one in "Greyhound". A detail I was glad to see acknowledged in the Tom Hanks movie.

[OtherWorldExplorers]

Frickin LOVE the Catalina.
I'm infected by too much bias to see anything wrong with it.
Rose tinted welding goggles are a go!

[geordiedog]

I had a Black Cat model of one when I was a kid. Loved it. Great planes.

[smeagollumartin]

I finally got to see one of these beauties fly in 2020 and I was only disappointed it didn't hang around for longer.

[emmanuelperez]

Dude this plane was used by the US Navy Black Cats and it was also Depicted in the Mission Black Cats from Call of Duty World At War and TBH that is my Favorite mission in that Game

[Samtzu]

During the 50's and 60's my uncle ran Sonora Flying Service out of Columbia, CA. He had several ex-military planes used to drop fire retardant, including a PBY and a TBM.... as a little kid I used to crawl around inside them and really fell in love with the PBY...

[bigiron]

I loveee you Catalina. The luxury yacht conversions after the war are also an interesting footnote.

[christianhamiltonskinner]

Ample 'Black Cats' from World at War representation. Well done

[carlorrman]

There was a Catalina base at Crawley, I think on Swan River Western Australia during ww2. Quite a bit of amazing history in this along with submarine base at Fremantle. Always loved the Catalina. Built one when I was a kid. Great work, man. You can't just pull good videos out of your arse.

[mathewkelly]

One of the pieces of equipment that helped the allies win ww2, unglamorous but tough and reliable .

[risingsun]

Catalinas were designed and built here in San Diego where I live. The airport has a large mural depicting Catalinas forming the letters SAN.

[anti-Russia-sigma]

Functionality is beautiful to me.Whenever anyone says, ”Good looks win wars.”, I remind it of this aircraft’s history & that its been flying since 1935.If I were to make a flying boat, this would be the aircraft.

[frankpolly]

here in the Netherlands we had a flying Catalina up until about 3 years ago. You could take a trip flying in it for about 80 euro's and it would even land on water. I never flew in it, but was able to step inside of it. It is an amazing aircraft and I would have loved to come fly in it, but they sold it to an organization/museum in Texas I believe.