On
August 26 2013, Melanie and I toured the inside of this Consolidated PBY-5A Canso (PBY-5 is the
Catalina) while it was on display at the Erie International Airport. It was on tour by a crew from Canada, which
is appropriate since it was this particular airplane was manufactured in Canada in 1944 by the
Vickers company. World War II ended
before it could ever see combat reconnaissance duty. The PBY-5A has a wingspan of 104 feet 0 inches and is powered by
a pair of 1200 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 Twin Wasp radial engines. Top speed is 179 mph. It sported six
.303 Vickers machine guns and could carry up to 2000 pounds of bombs and depth charges. Hopefully, these photos will
be of use to scale model researchers.
See Jim Wander's amazing Guillows PBY-5A model.

Consolidated PBY-5A Canso Specifications

PBY-5A Canso Instrument Panel (pilot side)

PBY-5A Canso Throttles

PBY-5A Canso Inside Fuselage Looking Rearward

Melanie with PBY-5A Canso Crew Chief
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PBY-5A Canso Radio Rack

PBY-5A Canso Instrument Panel (co-pilot side)

PBY-5A Canso View from Observation Porthole

PBY-5A Canso Inside Fuselage Looking Forward

Melanie, Philip, and Sally with PBY-5 Catalina at Frederick, Maryland air show
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Posted October 5, 2014
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