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Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina Black Cats w Depth Charges by Uncle T

My take on the iconic Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina.

It's an approximation, not a 1:1 replica!
(I am well aware that there are many rough looking areas, so no need to point out to me what I already know. And if you don't like it, feel free not to tell me since it benefits neither of us in any way. Just don't use it if that's the case.)

The Consolidated Aircraft PBY-5A Catalina (PB=Patrol Bomber Y=US Navy Manufacturer's code) flying boat and amphibious aircraft was one of the most widely used seaplanes in WW2, with around 3,300 planes built. During WW2, the PBY was used in anti-submarine warfare, patrol bombing, convoy escort, search and rescue missions (especially air-sea rescue), and cargo transport, and it served in nearly all operational theatres of the war.

This Black Cats (see below) version of the plane has a crew of 10: pilot, co-pilot, bow turret gunner, flight engineer, radio operator, navigator, radar operator, two waist gunners and ventral gunner. It's armed with 3 x .30 cal (7.62 mm) machine guns (two in nose turret, one in ventral hatch at tail) and 2 x .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns (one in each waist blister).
It also carries 6 x 650 lb Mk 49 depth charges under the wings.

Alt controls to fly.
W/S: Variable throttle.
S: Ground brakes.
A/D: Ground steering/Yaw.
Up/Down arrows: Pitch.
Left/Right arrows: Roll.
X/Disable steering: Landing gear. (Since I had to use two actuators on each gear to make them fold away properly they are a bit floppy. I also had to use the old large hinge actuators since the new small ones are just too weak to hold any weight even if I double them and make them out of Tungsten. But the gear is stable enough to star and land with.)
Hold X/Invert steering: Retractabe wing floats.
L/Headlights: Landing lights.
B/Beacon: Water take-off boosters. *
Fire action 1-6/Num 1-6: Depth charges. These will explode 2 seconds after hitting the surface at about 15-30 metres depth(?). They will also explode on impact if dropped on land or directly onto a target from 100+ meters.

* The top-mounted engines and the severe drag of the water makes the plane dip forward when you rev up the engines, and in combination with the rather extreme water resistance this makes it impossible to take off with just the regular engines and propellers. I experimented with water propellers like on my other float planes but it didn't work so I had to resort to thrusters. Not my first choice but at least it works.
To start from the water surface follow these steps:
- Retract landing gear.
- Start engines and rev up to max revs.
- As soon as the plane starts moving press B to engage boosters to gain more speed and to counter the pulling down of the nose by the propellers.
- Maximum pitch up.
- As soon as you take off turn off boosters.
- You can actually take off without the propellers moving since they provide mainly down-force on the nose, preventing take-off. But it breaks the immersion a bit. :)

Landing on water is... possible at very low speeds but the plane will most likely flip over on its nose and then maybe slowly fall back to its correct position again.

From Wikipedia about Black Cats:
During the Guadalcanal campaign, some U.S. Navy PBY:s were painted matte black and sent on night bombing, torpedoing, and strafing missions against Japanese supply vessels and warships. These PBYs were later called "Black Cats". Subsequently, special squadrons of Black Cats were formed, commencing in December 1942 with VP-12, with an additional thirteen squadrons coming into service thereafter. Flying slowly at night, dipping to ship mast height, the Black Cats bombed, strafed, and torpedoed all kinds of Japanese vessels, sinking or damaging thousands of tons of shipping. The Black Cats also performed bombing, strafing and harassment regarding land based Japanese installations, as well as conducting reconnaissance and search and rescue operations.

Feel free to edit, but if you reupload publically in any way please acknowledge the original creation and creator.

Have fun!