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Holiday 2018
37
boatingonthehudson.com
by
Ralph J. Ferrusi
and
Larry Keefe
ON JUNE 12, 2018
I RECEIVED AN E-MAIL
FROM LARRY KEEFE,
W
ho
, like me, has had a lifelong interest in airplanes, and trained and flew as an
Aviation Radioman from 1944 to 1946 as part of a 10-man crew in the USA and in the Pacific.
He flew in the PBY Catalina, the PB4Y-2 Privateer—the Navy version of the AAF’s B-24
Liberator—and also mentioned the “PB4Y2-1” (I’ll explain this ‘un later). He flew 10-14
hour patrols, and approximately 700 hours total. He attached a link to some photos. Wow!!!
As I said in
“I’ve Always Wanted To Fly A Flying Box Car”
(Boating on the Hudson
and Beyond, June 2018, Pages 44-48)
“...fighter planes are glamorous, bombers do what has
to be done to win wars, but if it wasn’t for the unsung workhorse transport planes, back there
behind the scenes, none of the bullets, bombs, or beans get flown to where they have to be”.
World War II “flying boat” patrol planes and patrol bombers were also pretty much behind
the scenes. But, these also not-so-glamorous, long-ranging planes saved thousands of
downed aviators and thousands of sailors, and, sank a lot of enemy submarines and ships,
both in the Atlantic and Pacific.