A Project of the Coast Guard Aviation Association

Manufacturer: Consolidated

PBY San Diego

Consolidated PBY-5A / 6A “Catalina” (1941)

The first PBY obtained by the Coast Guard, V189, was purchased from the Navy in the spring of 1941. It was specially outfitted at Air Station San Francisco with a nine-lens-camera for mapping coastal regions around the country. While the arrangement worked well in the lower 48, after two mapping trips to Alaska the camera was transferred to a newer PBY-5A (PBY BuNo 08055), an amphibian, making it more versatile in the extreme environment of Alaska.

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