Flying Catalinas (ePub)
The Consoldiated PBY Catalina in WWII
Imprint: Pen & Sword Aviation
File Size: 32.7 MB (.epub)
Pages: 256
Illustrations: 100 B&W Integrated Images
ISBN: 9781783036332
Published: 30th July 2021
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was probably the most versatile and successful flying boat/amphibian ever built, serving not just with the US Army Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard during the Second World War, but also with the air forces of Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with the Danes, Free French and Norwegians as well as Brazil, Chile, Indonesia and elsewhere. With a remarkable lifting capacity and endurance, this long-range twin-engine aircraft could absorb a great deal of punishment and still return home after flights lasting an entire day and covering thousands of miles. It was employed as a maritime reconnaissance aircraft, as a bomber and torpedo-bomber, as an anti-submarine weapon, as a mine-layer, as a special operations machine and as a search and rescue craft by day and night. It ferried stores, mail and people – many of them sick and injured – across all the world’s oceans and is rightly held in the deepest respect by all who had anything to do with them, flying or being flown.
In this book, Andrew Hendrie tells the whole amazing story of the ‘Flying Cats’, of their exploits and achievements, of the heroism of many of their crews and the problems they had to endure.
With numerous photographs as well as appendices listing technical data and individual aircraft histories, this is the definitive history of the Catalina and its operations world-wide.
"...an excellent work for anyone interested in the Catalina’s international service."
Air Power History, Spring 2022
This very detailed book by Andrew Hendrie provides an important point of reference for the role of the Catalina during World War Two, across the globe, in various theatres of conflict, which explains the planes famous achievements and exploits, as well as the individual stories of the crews who flew them. It serves as a very useful point of reference, or indeed a 'stand alone' read...
Jon Sandison
Andrew Henries book leaves an important legacy for the story of this aircraft.
: "...an in-depth, extensively researched study of this extraordinary flying boat/amphibian..."
Midwest Book Review
Read the review here
Flying Catalinas: The Consoldiated PBY Catalina in WWII is an in-depth, extensively researched study of this extraordinary flying boat/amphibian, used not only by the US Army Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard during World War II, but also by the air forces of a multitude of other Allied powers - Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and more. A wealth of vintage black-and-white photographs enhance the chapters about Catalinas deployed in a vast array of different locations, with detailed historical records of the outcome. A wealth of appendices and an index round out this superb reference and resource highly recommended for personal and public library Aviation and Military History collections.
Midwest Book Review
Read the full review [link=
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/lbw/nov_21.htm#Aviation]here[/link]
Pen and Sword have re-printed Flying Catalinas in hardback with a brand new cover. This is great news for anyone who didn't buy it the first time around. It is simply great that the book has been republished – congratulations to the publisher.
The Catalina News – The Catalina Society
The late Andrew Hendrie wrote the book for first publication in 1988, having logged over seventy flights in Sunderlands during WWII and then begun a second tour in Wellingtons, the author began writing books about maritime flying operations in 1980. He died in 2004 and this new edition of his work provides a fitting tribute to his experience and work.
Firetrench Reviews
The author has told the Catalina story comprehensively and the text is very ably supported by some fine photographs embedded within the text. There are also drawings and maps, with appendices proving a wealth of further information. This is a very informative book that reads well and covers an exceptional aircraft that has previously received much less coverage than it deserved. It is sad that the author will never see the first rate job that the publishers have done in this new edition of his carefully researched work.
About Andrew Hendrie
After completing a tour of operations on Lockheed Hudsons during the Second World War, ANDREW HENDRIE logged flights on over seventy Sunderlands, largely air tests of machines delivered by the Short’s factories at Belfast and Windermere. He then began a second tour on Vickers Wellingtons.
Post-war, Andrew joined the RAFVR. After 1980 he began researching and writing books about maritime flying operations. His first title, Seek and Strike: The Lockheed Hudson in World War II, was published in 1983. Andrew passed away in 2004.
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