And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
I think it is a hatch cover to replace the nose turret that the later versions carried. This should be a PBY-5A, the version with the retractable wheels. Military crews didn't much care for this model, as the landing gear reduced available cargo or munitions weight and internal space. There was a -6A model, but I don't recall it's details.
Normally a scout plane, at least one group used them for night attacks against Japanese forces. The "Black Cats"?, IIRC.
Every time I see a PBY image, I think of that great book by Patrick Gordon Taylor....'The Sky Beyond'! A true adventure across the wide track of the Pacific before there was GPS, LORAN or others. Mainly they shot the stars, checked wind-drift with flares or cloud movement etc; ...basically as ships-of-the-day did. Read it if you can.......... PS @ one point...also involves flying @ anchor!
Is that a radar dome on the nose where the number 866 is located?
ReplyDeleteI think it is a hatch cover to replace the nose turret that the later versions carried. This should be a PBY-5A, the version with the retractable wheels. Military crews didn't much care for this model, as the landing gear reduced available cargo or munitions weight and internal space. There was a -6A model, but I don't recall it's details.
DeleteNormally a scout plane, at least one group used them for night attacks against Japanese forces. The "Black Cats"?, IIRC.
I think the radome is that the big black object above the cockpit, the radar was added later in the war to spot surfaced submarines.
DeleteThe cover, or turret if installed, on the nose slides back so that a crew member can hook onto a mooring buoy.
Al_in_Ottawa
Big Cat!
ReplyDeleteEvery time I see a PBY image, I think of that great book by Patrick Gordon Taylor....'The Sky Beyond'! A true adventure across the wide track of the Pacific before there was GPS, LORAN or others. Mainly they shot the stars, checked wind-drift with flares or cloud movement etc; ...basically as ships-of-the-day did.
ReplyDeleteRead it if you can..........
PS @ one point...also involves flying @ anchor!
Thanks. I will.
DeleteThe HU-16Es that I flew on in the Coast Guard had a port on top so the navigator could use the sextant while flying.
Delete