A waist gunner scans the sky for enemy aircraft through the blister window. A single .50 caliber machine gun in each blister was standard equipment on all Black Cats. (U.S. Navy)
(Source: "Black Cat Raiders of WWII" by Richard C. Knott)
A waist gunner scans the sky for enemy aircraft through the blister window. A single .50
caliber machine gun in each blister was standard equipment on all Black Cats. (U.S. Navy)
(Source: "Black Cat Raiders of WWII" by
Richard C. Knott)
View of the left and right blister guns on a PBY. Armor plating on guns was sometimes
removed in the field. (Not a Black Cat PBY, judging from the paint job.)
(from the archives of the San Diego Aerospace Museum)
Ready to deal punishment to the enemy, a Black Cat is seen with four .50-caliber machine
guns in the nose (instead of the usual one or two in the turret), and bombs under the
wings. (U.S. Navy)
(Source: "Walk
Around PBY Catalina" by Squadron/Signal Publications,
and Airpower magazine, November 1994)
Lahodney's guns. Four fixed .50-caliber machine guns bolted to the keel proved lethal to
enemy barges and other vessels. (Captain W. J. Lahodney collection)
(Source: "Black Cat Raiders of WWII" by
Richard C. Knott)
While this is not a photo of a Black Cat PBY, it does show the location of the wing bomb
mounts. Here we see two 500-pound bombs being loaded on the port wing of a Catalina during
the Battle of Midway in June of 1942.
(Source: "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of
Aviation, Volume 6")
Closeup of above scene, from a different angle. Midway Island, June 6, 1942.
(Source: National Archives)
A bomb loading assembly line on a Black Cat at a jungle base presages another mission by
the "Fly-by-Night" squadron.
(from the archives of the San Diego Aerospace Museum)
Black Cat crews were frequently experimenting with new weapons setups, trying to find the
best way to do the maximum amount of damage. The unusual field installation shown above is
a pair of fixed 20mm cannons mounted in the bow of a PBY-5A, during April of 1944. (Dave
Lucabaugh)
Note removal of the two 30cal. machine guns from the eyeball turret above.
(Source: "Walk
Around PBY Catalina" by Squadron/Signal Publications,
and Airpower magazine, November 1994)
Late PBY-5As were equipped with the twin .30 caliber eyeball bow turret. #B64 is a
Black Cat from VP-54, with gear down and in the process of going back off of its launching
ramp. Note the latewar radar installation above the cockpit. (F.C. Dickey)
(Source: "PBY Catalina in Action" by
Squadron/Signal Publications)
View of the interior fuselage showing the single .50 caliber at the tunnel gun position (a
hatch that opened in the PBY's keel). The cushion provided some padding for the kneeling
gunner, though this uncomfortable position was rarely used in combat.
(from the archives of the San Diego Aerospace Museum)
Bottom view of the PBY's tunnel gun, with another PBY in the background.
(source: Airpower magazine, November 1994)
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