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Holiday 2018
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boatingonthehudson.com
Larry standing on the very tall tail section of a PB4Y-2 Privateer
on Eniwetok while he was fixing an antenna connection.
PBY Catalina
Let’s see what Jim Winchester’s 2012 AIRCRAFT OF
WORLD WAR II has to say about the PBY. For starters,
the first prototype flew March 28, 1935, and in October
made a non-stop 3,500-mile flight from Coco Solo (???)
to San Francisco. “Here was aviation at its essence.
The high-wing, twin engine Catalina was not speedy,
not flashy, not graceful, but it was more practical than
anyone realized” . “It was old whenWorldWar II began.
It was slow and could be uncomfortable, but...rarely has
an aircraft proved so useful to so many people. A deadly
adversary to an enemy submarine or warship...[and an]
angel of mercy which achieved thousands of rescues...
throughout the war.” It ”revolutionized long-range
patrol in the US Navy”.
With a basic crew of eight, a range of over 3,000 miles,
and a maximum speed of 175 m.p.h., Catalinas could
stay aloft for up to 24 hours!!! But, “The Catalina was so
slow that critics joked its navigator needed a calendar
rather than a stopwatch.” Catalinas were either pure
flying boats, or, amphibians, flying from land or sea.
They were also produced in Canada and Russia, where
over a 1000 were manufactured!!! “Black Cats” hunted
Japanese ships at night, and a British Catalina spotted
the German battleship Bismarck.
WOW!!!
3,305 Catalinas were built, and there are (at this
writing) 21 airworthy survivors: eight in the US,
four in Canada, and one or two in New Zealand, the
Netherlands, Australia, the UK, Chile, France, and
Greece.
PB4Y2-1
The PB4Y-1 was the Navy’s version of the B-24
Liberator
(“Let’s Talk About the B-24 Liberator”,
(Boating on the Hudson and Beyond, Holiday issue,
2017))
, and the PB4Y-2 was the Navy Privateer. When
Larry said “PB4Y2-1” he meant BOTH the -1 and the
-2...
Larry
I visited Larry on July 29th, and we talked airplanes,
World War II, and, Verplanck for two hours or so.
I’d made a short list of WW II questions, but Larry
had already written much of his life’s story, and, an
amazing one-page-plus document summarizing his
WW II military experience.
Here’s a summary of the one-pager, pretty much
exactly as written:
Larry graduated from Hendrick Hudson High
School, Class of 1943, then went to work in a
defense factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
When he turned 17 in October 1943 he enlisted
in the Navy in New Haven, then took a train
home to Verplanck to get permission from his
father.
He went to Sampson, New York for boot
training and “5 weeks and 3 haircuts” later was
sent to Jacksonville, Florida, where he trained
as an Aviation Radioman, Air Gunner, and