Catalina Israel 1

The Consolidated Catalina entered service with the U S Navy in 1936 and saw service throughout WW2 with the U.S.N. RAF, RCAF, and RAAF.  It was used for anti-submarine warfare, air-sea rescue, and night bomber.

The Catalina PBY-5 was a pure flying boat and the PBY-5A had undercarriage which allowed land operations.  The other major version - the PBY-6A had a larger tail and was equipped with radar.

The Catalina had a crew of 10 and was armed with 3 x 7.62mm machine guns, 2 x 12.7mm machine guns, and 4,000lb of bombs, torpedoes, or depth charges.

This example is a Catalina PBY-5A of 69 Squadron Israeli Defence Force 1952.