iscover
TAA operated a small Catalina fleet for Sunbird operations in New Guinea. Their first Catalina was VH-WWC which sank at Daru after hitting a submerged object in April of 1962. This aircraft was then duly replaced by VH-SBV which remained in the Sunbird fleet till January 1966. It is now preserved at Auckland, New Zealand.
In Australian Service – Catalina
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The Consolidated Catalina
Part Twelve in a Series Examining the Airliners That Established Civil Aviation in Australia
The Catalina has the distinction of having been produced in greater numbers than any other flying boat. Its classic lines and excellent performance enabled it to make a valuable contribution over several decades. In the illustrious company of many other significant aeronautical developments of the 1930s, the Catalina was the first monoplane flying boat to enter large-scale production and can trace its ancestry to the 1920s. The Bureau of AeronauUcs which controlled all aspects of U.S. naval aviation, advised Interested manufacturers of a requirement for a parasol monoplane flying boat powered by two engines and with a 100ft wing span. A contract was awarded to the Consolidated Aircraft Company of Buffalo, New York on 28 February 1928 for the construction of a prototype designated the XPY-1. Limited production of 19 aircraft, as the P3M, was carried out by the Glenn L. Martin Company of Baltimore which had outbid Consolidated for the production contract.
Consolidated set out to further improve the design and came up with the XP2Y-1 In accordance With a Navy contract awarded on 26 May 1931. The main difference was a small stub wing located beneath the main upper wing to carry the stabilising pontoons. Other Improvements followed and by the time production had ceased a total ot 47 had left the Consolidated factory. They were retired from operational service during 1941 and were transferred to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola.
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