Second World War aviation art prints of the Catalina aircraft. Our collection of prints and original paintings of the Catalina aircraft of World War Two.
Built by the Consolidated Aircraft Company and designed by Isaax M Ladden. the Catalina first flew on the 28th march 1935. and first flew with the US Navy in October 1936. In 1935 the cost of each Catalina was $90,000 and just over 4,000 were built. The Catalina was used in various maritime roles. but it was designed initially as a maritime patrol bomber. Its long range was intended to seek out enemy transport and supply ships. but was eventually used in many roles including Convoy escort,, anti submarine warfare and search and rescue. In its role as a search and rescue aircraft it probably is best remembered for many thousands of aircrews shot down in the Pacific and less extend in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The Catalina was the most successful flying boat of the war and even served in a military role until the early 1980's some are still used today in aerial firefighting.
By Dawns Light by Ivan Berryman.
The Consolidated Model 28 PBY Catalina was so successful in its definitive form that it went on to become the most extensively built flying boat of all time. Here, a 210 Squadron Catalina Mk IVA from RAF Sullom Voe, Shetland, has located two weary downed aircrew, drained but grateful after a long night in the North Atlantic swell.
Item Code : B0031
By Dawns Light by Ivan Berryman. - Editions Available
On February 15, 1944, a force of B-24s, B-25s and A-20s hammered the heavily defended Japanese base at Kavieng. Several aircraft, however, were forced to ditch; three downed B-25 crews from 345th Bomb Group floating helplessly in life-rafts within a thousand yards of the beach, and the Japanese troops were in no mood to take prisoners. Their only chance of survival was the air-sea rescue PBY Catalina. Nicolas Trudgians dramatic reconstruction depicts Lt. Commander Nathan Gordons PBY Catalina making its final take-off, the intense enemy gunfire from the shore making his mission seemingly impossible. But the young pilot got all 25 men aboard safely home, and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for what is one of the bravest actions of the war in the Pacific.
Item Code : DHM2024
Flight Out of Hell by Nicolas Trudgian. - Editions Available
D for Donald of 270 squadron, Royal Air Force, out of Freetown, West Africa operating in the Atlantic Ocean. It was during routine operation search that D for Donald surprised U515 on the surface and immediately attacked the submarine. U515 in putting up stiff resistance blew a large hole in the hull of D for Donald and the magazine of the starboard side 0.5 twin Browning was hit and the subsequent shrapnel wounded both blister gunners. U515 escaped but was sunk by an American naval hunter group a year later. D for Donald limped back to base and managed to make the beach before it would sink completely.
Item Code : DHM0849
Catalina Attack by John Wynne Hopkins. - Editions Available
On February 15, 1944, flying his Navy PBY Catalina on air-sea rescue duty, Lt. Nathan Gordon received an urgent call. Several 345th BG B25s were down following a major attack on Kavieng, and crews were in the water just offshore. Under intense gunfire, Gordon made no fewer than four perilous water landings to pick up survivors, returning to make an emergency landing at Cape Gloucester with 25 people aboard, an just 10 gallons of fuel in his tanks. Gordon was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Item Code : DHM2021
Black Cat Rescue by Nicolas Trudgian. - Editions Available
The Consolidated PBY Catalina, the sea going flying workhorse of the US Navy during WW II, is with no doubt the most successful flying boat ever produced. Produced for more than ten years, it was built in greater numbers (3,300) than any other flying boat in history. In the early days of aviation flying boats made a lot of sense because of the relatively limited number of prepared airfields. Any estuary, river, or lake could become an airfield for an aircraft designed as a flying boat. Consolidated Aircraft got into the flying boat business rather late in the game. In 1928 the company won a bid to produce a prototype of a new high-wing monoplane flying boat for the Navy which would utilize aluminum in its fabrication. The XPY prototype was successfully flown in early 1929, but the Glen L. Martin Co., one of the pioneers in flying boat production, won the production contract. Not deterred by this setback, Consolidated utilized the expertise it had developed on this project to introduce.........
RAF Catalinas of 210 Squadron over the West Coast of Scotland in 1944. The Consolidated Catalina PBY-5 proved invaluable to the RAF in its efforts to defend the vital convoys from the threat of enemy submarines, particularly during the Battle of the Atlantic.
Item Code : DHM2483
Heading for the Convoys by Stephen Brown. - Editions Available
Jimmy Doolittles attack on Japan with B-25s launched from the USS Hornet was a blow to Japanese morale, and it gave Admiral Yamamoto the leverage he needed to push for a grandiose plan to inflict a decisive military blow to American forces in the Pacific. Yamamotos grand scheme would have several elements. A huge fleet would be sent to Midway Island to lure American carrier forces into combat. The force would include seven battleships, ten aircraft carriers, some two dozen cruisers and more than seventy destroyers. A separate strikeforce would be sent to the Aleutians under the command of Vice Admiral Hosogaya Moshiro. The plan was for the the northern force to strike first and divert American carrier forces northward away from Midways air support forces where they could be dispatched by Yamamotos overwhelming force. Fortunately for the US Navy a highly skilled group of cryptographers had broken portions of the Japanese Navys secret code. The Americans sent a bogus message to trick th.........
Alex Morrison was a member of the crew of Catalina D for Donald of 270 Squadron. The squadron was based for most of the war at Freetown, West Africa. He was a member of the crew when his aircraft launched a surprise attack on u-boat U-515.
Cole Windham was born in West Columbia, South Carolina on April 29, 1912. At the age of six Cole remembers standing on a brick wall in front of his home and watching a platoon of WW1 soldiers marching toward him. As they came abreast he saluted, and the platoon leader returned the salute. It was a vivid memory that lasted a life time. His family moved to Gastonia, North Carolina in the early 1920s. Cole finished high school there, and was awarded a full academic scholarship to attend Davidson College. Following his graduation in 1936, Cole joined the Navy as an aviation cadet. After earning his wings, Cole's first assignment was with VP-19 flying P2Y-3s out of Seattle, Washington and Sitka, Alaska. In 1939 he was reassigned to VP-33 flying PBYs out of Panama. When war broke out in Europe in 1939, President Rooselvelt, fearing for the safety of American shipping in neutral waters, organized "The Neutrality Patrol." Cole was sent with a detachment of aircraft to Key West, Florida. There he remained busy, flying every day, and reporting the positions and information on all shipping in the area. In 1940 he was transferred to VP-71 flying the PBY-5. This squadron operated from British Guyana to Iceland. Cole flew a number of antisubmarine patrols around lend lease convoys carrying supplies to England and Russia. He also flew survey flights out of Guyana to recommend a location for a search and rescue seaplane base. In May of 1941 eleven aircraft in Cole's squadron were enlisted in the search for the German Battleship Bismarck. In an unsuccessful flight of more than seventeen hours in duration, Cole experienced some very difficult weather conditions which required constant instrument flying. The aircraft were only able to return safely by radioing their ship for a bearing. Under the conditions, it was remarkable that all eleven aircraft and crews made it back safely. With America's entry into the War in December of 1941, Cole was assigned to Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii. There he would fly long 700 mile patrols to protect the islands from any additional attacks. He was then transferred to the Coral Sea to fly patrols for the U.S fleet prior to the Battle of the Coral Sea. Upon return to Hawaii in 1942, Cole was transferred back to the States and given Staff Duty with the Amphibious Forces. At war's end in 1946, he returned to civilian life, and joined Pan American Airways as a pilot. Following a successful career in commercial aviation, Cole has settled down in Asheville, North Carolina with his bride of fifty years. He enjoys telling his treasured "sea stories" to his two daughters, three grandchildren and great grandson.
Joined the RAF in April 1943 from Edinburgh University Air Squadron and trained as a pilot in Rhodesia. In August 1944 he was posted to Diego Suarez to fly Catalina flying boats on anti-submarine patrols. He converted to Sunderlands at Mombassa on 209 Sqdn. and 57 MU also on Sunderlands until 1953. This included the Berlin airlift in 1948, flying from the river in Hamburg to Havel Lake, and flew in an anti-shipping role in Burma. At the end o fthe war in the Far East he flew form Hong Kong and Singapore until returning to the UK in Spetember 1946. He continued on 201 Sqd. Flying Boats until 1953. Thereafter he was mainly employed on V.I.P. duties flying from Malta, Northolt, Fontainebleau, Bovingdon and White Waltham. He flew 173 ops and 1800 hours on Sunderlands and 1800 hours on Devons out of a total of 6250 flying hours. The last fiver years of his service was as an Air Traffic Controller at R.A.F. Benson and RAF Abingdon.
Made his first attempt at becoming a pilot by joining the waiting list for Pilots of Manchester Auxiliary Squadron. He joined the RAF as a clerk in 1940 and remustered Aircrew in May 1941 and by June was on his way to the US Naval Air Service Station, Pensacola, Florida as a member of the first group of students under the TOWER scheme. On his first day solo in October 1941 he crashed and woke up in hospital with a headache and scratched eyebrows. Eleven days later he was flying again and finally gained his wings in May 1942 on Catalinas. Returning to the UK he spent some time flying 'Oxfords' before being posted to 131 OTU, Loch erne, N. Ireland. In January 1943 he passed out as an aircraft Commander and joined 210 Sqdn at Pembroke Dock in February. He spent the next ten months (some 700 flying hours) flying over the Bay of Biscay on Anti-Sub operations including Leigh Leight operations, some convoy and naval co-operation. In January 1944, 210 Sqd. disbanded and he returned for a short spell to 131 OTU before being seconded to BOAC in April 1944. With BOAC he flew on the civil version of the Sunderland and 'c' class flying boats thence landplanes - Arginaut, Comet, Britannias (102 and 312) and VC10s retiring in 1973 to a ground job as Flight Crew Executive until May 1976.
Joined the RAFVR in December 1940 and trained as a pilot-cadet with the US Navy at Pensacola, Florida. After further Coastal Command training in the UK, he joined 10 OTU (detachment) at St Eval, Cornwall. The tour was completed, as a Whitley co-pilot, on U-boat patrols over the Bay of Biscay, between December 1942 and March 1943. After training for command on the Catalina, he joined 210 Sqdn at Sullom Voe, Shetland from June 1943 to October 1944. In October 1943, with all landing areas closed with fog, his Catalina, out of fuel, ditched in the Atlantic, west of the Shetlands. It had remained airborne for 22 hours and then survived, on the water, for a further 18 hours before the crew were rescued. The pigeon which had carried the SOS message to base, later received the 'Dicken Medal' (Animal VC) for flying over 60 miles, in fog, in nine hours! In May 1944, U-boat 394 was attacked in northern waters, without success. On 18th July 1944, U-boat 742 was sunk 180 miles west of the Lofoten Islands, off Norway. The Catalina was badly holed but managed to return to base, 500 miles in six and a quarter hours, on the port engine. F/Lt John Cruickshank had sunk U-361 on the previous day, from the same Arctic U-boat Flotilla. F/Lt Vaughan instructed on Catalinas in Northern Ireland and was then posted to India, yo join Catalina 240 Sqdn in Madras, and then until VJ Day with Liberator Sqdn 357 in Ceylon. He left the RAF in 1946 having flown Halifax 7, at Linton and Cranwell. He joined BOAC and captained many types of aircraft for 29 years before retiring in 1975.
A WOP/AG on Hampdens with 49 Sqn, where he completed 33 Ops. He completed the 2 thousand bomber raids to Cologne and Essen. He then went out to SEAC with 205 Sqn where he completed a full tour of 1000 hours on Operations in a Catalina hunting Japanese submarines.
Lt. (jg) Nathan Gordon made four stall landings in his Black Cat PBY in rough waters of Kavieng Harbor to collect ditched survivors of the strike. Coming under intense enemy fire, he and his crew located and picked up 15 Army fliers shot down during the attack. His actions on this day earned him the Medal of Honor. Born in 1916, Nathan Gordon enlisted in 1941, training in Florida until February 1942, joining VP-34 flying PBY Catalinas. In June 1943 the squadron was posted to Hawaii, and subsequently flew missions over Midway and Tarawa, before moving to Australia on anti-shipping raids, then to Samarai Island, where the squadron acquired the nickname Black Cats. It was from here that Nathan Gordon completed the daring rescue mission for which he received the Medal of Honor. Sadly Nathan Gordon died on 9th September 2008.
Paul Kommer joined the R.NI.N. in August 1940 as Teerling Onderofficier Mieger. In December 1941 he was Korporaal Mieger, flying the Dornier 24 as co-pilot on the Chance Encounter operation, one of his 50 war time combat patrols. After the eventual capitulation of the Netherlands East ladies, he became a prisoner of war and was sent to work in the coal mines in Japan. When war was over he had somehow survived, but he weighed just 94lbs, nearly half of his normal body weight. After the war he flew PBYs with the R.NI.N. and later became an instructor.
