Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina

arne vd burg
Very nice Catalina Jan
James you are a lucky basterd 😛

Thomas Bischoff
What a nice Cat! The Dutch colours and markings look good.

Jan Voorbij
Here is some information about this a/c:

The Y-38 was the first of 78 Catalina's that were delivered to the Marine Luchtvaart Dienst (MLD). The first batch were of the flying boat version PBY-5, soon to be followed by the amphibian version PBY-5A. Catalinas were in Dutch service from 1941 to 1959. The Y-48 was mainly used for reconnaissance missions as "eyes of the fleet" and rescue work and patrolled together with Catalinas from the RAF and the US Navy, that were temporarely stationed in the Dutch East Indies to anticipate the Japanese advance. On Februari 9 1942, when evacuating Europeans from Ketapang, Borneo, it was atacked by Japanese Zeroes while still in the water and damaged. The passengers and crew jumped in the water where one of the pilots was killed by a caiman. The Y-38 managed to get airborne and tried to reach its base near Surabaya on Java. However, it had to make an emergency landing not far from its base, but sank after being rammed by a motorboat from an American destroyer.

Martien Lourens
Hollands glorie. A beauty, Jan

Erik Leijdens
The most elegant aircraft "we" have used in our army. Beautiful model Jan 👍

Jan Voorbij
Thank you guys. A very elegant aircraft indeed! That is why I didn't want to use the beaching gear and scratched my own stand so the clean lines would not be disturbed and that its true nature as a flying boat would be clear. BTW, did you know that after the fall of the Netherland East Indies "our"Cats were deployed from Australia, Ceylon and South Africa, doing recce, transport work and U-boat hunting?

arne vd burg
No i did not Jan, Thx for sharing.

Soeren R.
Wonderful PBY! 🙂