CONSOLIDATED PBY-5A
Scale: 1/72
Brand: ACADEMY
Item # 12487

Was kit #2137.

The earlier PBY-2 and PBY-5 Catalina flying boats were faster and
more attractive to look at, but it was the Black Cat Squadrons
that wrote some of the most interesting chapters in the history
of the War in the Pacific.

Their search and attack capability was the perfect answer to the
Japanese tactics of moving men and supplies at night by ship or
barge to re-supply their out-of the-way garrisons in the western
Pacific.

The early RADAR installed on the PBY-5A Catalinas was crude and
very limited, but it worked well enough that the Black Cats were
able to sink over 10,000 tons and seriously damage another 24,000
tons of Japanese merchant shipping in their night attacks.

Because of its amphibian landing gear, the PBY-5A had the
advantage of operating from island landing strips or seaplane
tenders, but this came at a price. Because of the added weight of
retractable landing gear, the PBY-5A was slower and couldn't fly
as high as the earlier pure seaplane versions.

Fully engraved panel lines & rivet detail.
Highly detailed cockpit interior & waist gunner's compartment.
Optional position landing gear & wing-tip floats.
Realistic P.V.C. tires included.