Consolidated PBY Catalina with the RAF

In 1933 Consolidated of Buffalo was in competition with Douglas of Santa Monica to supply the United States Navy with its first cantilever-monoplane flying boat. Though the Douglas aircraft was good, its rival, designed by Isaac M. Laddon, was to prove a classic. It would be manufactured in greater numbers than any flying boat before or since. Theoriginal Catalina featured two 825 hp Twin Wasps mounted close together on a wide clean wing, on the tips of which were retractable stabilising floats. The p