PBY Catalina US Navy World War I The airframe

The airframe

flew nonstop with 50 passengers from Paine Field in Washington State to Cape Town

The spacecraft reentered the atmosphere with its protective heat shield facing forward

and Grumman contracted with General Motors to build the Bearcat under license

B-2 Stealth Bomber airplane model

PBY Catalina US Navy World War I The airframeConsolidated PBY Catalina airplane model. A total of approximately 4000 Catalinas were built between 1936 and 1945. Because of their worldwide popularity, there was scarcely a maritime battle in WW II in which they were not involved. The PBY had its vulnerabilities: it was slow, with a maximum speed of 179 mph, and with no crew armor or self sealing tanks, it was highly vulnerable to anti aircraft attack. However, it was these weaknesses, coincident