The Museum's PBY-5 was built in October of 1943 and served in a variety of locations around the Atlantic during World War II and with the Coast Guard after the war. Leaving government service in 1956, it then had a long and colorful civilian career, including stints as a fuel tanker in Alaska. It was eventually seized by the U.S. Government for drug smuggling. It was purchased by the Museum in England in 2001.
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Consolidated PBY-5A
Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was a U.S. flying boat, and later an amphibious aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s, produced by Consolidated Aircraft. During World War II, PBYs were used in anti-submarine warfare, patrol bombing, convoy escorts, search and rescue missions (especially air-sea rescue), and cargo transport.