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 cantilevermonoplane 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