Black Cat PBY

PBY Catalina on night patrol. ‘Black Cats’ embarked on night raids from 1943, attacking Japanese shipping, harassing outposts and conducting electronic surveillance.

Equipped with radar altimeters and sea search radars, they were able to locate and attack targets at wave top height. Flying at only about 140 mph, the PBYs were easy pickings if they were spotted by enemy night fighters - leading many crews to experiment with a varied assortment of exhaust stack configurations and flame diffusers to avoid detection of the pale blue flames from their engine exhaust.

The Black Cats conducted extremely long range combat patrols, often performing maintenance operations by day using stored fuel and spare parts delivered by submarine. Performing repair and replenishment in remote inlets, reefs and archipelagos far from allied lines, these crews were the unsung heroes of the pacific air war, taking the fight to Imperial Japan when few other air assets were available.