The PBY Catalina’s Offensive Utility and Its Transformation into Black Cats and MAD Cats

Abstract

By the Second World War the US Navy had slated the pby Catalina to function as its long-range patrol seaplane and considered it for a bombing role. The first months of the war, however, revealed the pby to be too antiquated and slow to be a viable offensive weapon and thus minimized its utility. Relegated to conducting patrols and rescue operations, pby crews looked to the aircraft itself and experimented with technical and operational changes in reaction to fighting the Japanese in the South Pacific and the U-boat threat in the Atlantic. With the blessing of Navy’s command structure, crews made physical adjustments, added the latest technologies, incorporated supporting armaments, and designed new operational methods on an ad hoc basis for their respective circumstances and opponent. This experimentation and innovation resulted in the enhancement of the pby’s offensive utility as an attack weapon, and its transformation into the Black Cats and mad Cats.