Consolidated | ||||||||||||||||||||||
OA-10 Catalina
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Photo:
Robert Deering 10/18/2012 National Museum of the USAF Wright-Patterson AFB (FFO) Dayton, Ohio |
||||||||||||||||||||||
The OA-10 was the
U.S. Army Air Forces' version of the PBY
series flown extensively by the U.S. Navy
during World War II. It was a twin-engine,
parasol-mounted monoplane equipped with a
flying boat hull, retractable tricycle
landing gear and retractable wing-tip
floats. The OA-10 operated primarily for
air-sea rescue work ("DUMBO" missions) with
the USAAF's Emergency Rescue Squadrons
throughout WWII and for several years
thereafter. During the war, OA-10 crews
rescued hundreds of downed fliers. The prototype Catalina first flew on March 28, 1935, and the production version was built in both seaplane and amphibian versions. The Consolidated Aircraft Corp., along with Canadian Vickers Ltd. and the Naval Aircraft Factory, produced nearly 2,500 Catalinas; of these, the USAAF received approximately 380. The Brazilian Air Force was one of several Allied nations that received Catalinas during the war. It operated this Catalina in a variety of roles in the Amazon Basin until 1981. Flown to the museum in 1984, it was restored and painted as an OA-10A assigned to the 2nd Emergency Rescue Squadron in the Pacific Theater during WWII. |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
VARIANTS:
|