PBY Catalina in service with the US Navy in the Pacific Part 2
After May 1942, the red disk from the star on the case was removed, as were all other markings of this color, to avoid confusion with the Japanese Hinomaru.
PBY-5 flying boats and PBY-5A amphibious aircraft were the "silent heroes" of the war with Japan. They bombed and torpedoed, conducted artillery fire, conducted reconnaissance, laid mines, rescued survivors and hunted for submarines. They remained in service until the very end of the war.
South Pacific debut
The American Navy launched its first offensive operations in early 1942, before the Japanese had completed their conquest of the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. To this end, as of January 16, six PBY VP-23s were temporarily stationed on Guangzhou Atoll, halfway between Hawaii and the Fiji Islands. From there, they carried out long-range patrols, looking for threats to the aircraft carriers Enterprise and Yorktown, which on February 1, 1942 made raids on the Marshall Islands and the Gilbert Islands. A few days later, VP-14s delivered from Hawaii established a base in Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, from there to guard the approaches to Australia from the east.
The carrier battle in the Coral Sea in May 1942, although it prevented the Japanese from capturing Port Moresby (the Allied foothold in New Guinea) by landing from the sea, did not discourage them from further offensive operations in the area. In the same operation, they captured Tulagi, the capital of the British Protectorate of the Solomon Islands, a vast archipelago northeast of Australia. On Tulagi and the offshore islets of Gavutu and Tanambogo, they captured a seaplane base where they deployed H6K (Mavis) flying boats and A6M2-N (Rufe) float fighters from Yokusuka and Yokohama Kokutai. Since there was not enough space for the airport, the island opposite was chosen for its construction, the largest (and soon the most famous) in the entire archipelago - Guadalcanal.
Catalina during a practice drop of a Mk XIII torpedo. This basic American aviation torpedo was initially very unreliable, which was proved, for example, by the Battle of Midway. It did not follow the course and its speed was too low, from 30 to 33 knots (for comparison, the Japanese "long lance" accelerated to 50 knots). For this reason, ships attacked by PBYs repeatedly evaded torpedoes aimed at them.
Their actions were observed by the crews of US Navy patrol squadrons stationed in New Caledonia, on the Fiji Islands and located less than 1000 km south of Guadalcanal, on the island of Espiritu Santo. VP-14 joined VP-71 in May, and VP-11 and VP-23 in July. In these exotic locations, often without military infrastructure, they were supported by tenders from Tangier, Curtiss and McFarland (motherships). In June and July, the Catalans operating from there bombed the Tulagi base several times at night. All of these PBY-5 equipped squadrons belonged to PatWing 1 or PatWing 2 permanently stationed at Pearl Harbor. During this period, only two other Patrol Wings participated in the war with Japan - PatWing 4 in the Aleutian Islands and PatWing 10, after the defeat in the Philippines, reduced to one squadron (VP-101), which patrolled the west coast of Australia. from Perth.
When the Japanese airport on Guadalcanal was almost ready, the Marines captured it on August 7, 1942, landing both there and at Tulagi at the same time. On the same day, a VP-23 unit of nine PBYs, supported by the Mackinac tender, established a base at Takataka Bay on Malaita Island, north of the landing site, to watch for Japanese ships. They arrived depressingly quickly and sank three American heavy cruisers and one Australian heavy cruiser at the Battle of Savo Island on the night of 8/9 August. Makino's tender and VP-23 detachment hastily retreated to Espiritu Santo. On Guadalcanal, captured by the Marines on August 12, Henderson Field was named. That same day, the first aircraft, a PBY-5A amphibious aircraft (belonging to Vice Admiral McCain, commander of the South Pacific Air Force), landed there, brought in supplies and received some soldiers in need of hospitalization the next morning. It was the first air evacuation of the wounded from the battlefield in World War II.
On August 20, the Mackinac tender moved into Graciosa Bay on Nendo, the largest of the Santa Cruz Islands, from where the Catalina was 300 km closer to the Marines on Guadalcanal. The Americans knew that the enemy, despite the pogrom at the Battle of Midway, still had a powerful fleet and would soon come to try to recapture Guadalcanal. A fierce ground battle for the island was already underway - on August 21, the Marines fought a bloody, but victorious battle for them on the Tenaru River. The Catalinas patrolled the ocean day after day until, on August 23, one of them collided with a Japanese convoy of army transports and destroyers. Aircraft sent to attack from the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, however, did not find their target, as the enemy changed course under cover of bad weather. On the same day, one of the crews of VP-23 attacked with bombs - boldly, although inaccurately - the heavy cruiser Furutaka. Vice Adm. Fletcher, who had commanded the US Navy in the coming battle, was now waiting for the Catalini to locate their most important enemy, the carriers Kido Butai.
The next morning (August 24), six VP-23 PBYs were sent over 1000 km northwest of the Santa Cruz Islands, escaping from 306 to 348 degrees. All six crews reported combat contact. Vice Admiral Kondo led with him, divided into several teams, two aircraft carriers of the fleet (Shokaku and Zuikaku), one light aircraft carrier (Ryujo), three battleships, 12 heavy and three light cruisers, 30 destroyers and others. seaplane tender.
Lieutenant Leo Riester and his crew were intercepted by three Mitsubishi F1M2 (Pete) seaplanes from the Chitose Tender. Co-pilot, Ens. Robert Wilcox. The most important report was presented by Ens. Gale Burke reporting the presence of an aircraft carrier. It was Ryujo, seen 350 km north of Malaita Island. A pair of Zero fighters on duty set off in pursuit of Catalina Burkeya. He defended himself so skillfully that the only trace of an hour-long battle that ended in a flight into the clouds was a dozen or so shots into the PBY's hull.
Fletcher feared a repeat of the Battle of the Coral Sea when the Americans sank a light aircraft carrier (Shoho) but were counterattacked by Shōkaku and Zuikaku. He was right - Vice Admiral. Kondo gave him Ryujo almost as a "bait". Nevertheless, Fletcher sent his pilots to attack and sank the Ryujo, but the Enterprise, hit three times by a Japanese counterattack, almost collapsed to the bottom. This clash went down in history as the Battle of the Eastern Solomon Islands. The Japanese, mistakenly believing that they had defeated both American aircraft carriers, withdrew their priceless Shokaku and Zuikaku to the north.
Rear Admiral Tanaka, commander of a 1900-man convoy, advanced on Guadalcanal, believing the enemy had been defeated. On the night of August 24-25, Ens followed the Japanese transports and their escorts. William Corbett of VP-23. In the morning, Marine SBD dive bombers stationed on the island flew to their designated location, 240 km north of Guadalcanal. They badly damaged the light cruiser Jintsu, on which Tanaka almost died. In addition, the transport ship "Kinryu Maru" was hit, carrying 500 elite marines (Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai). The destroyer Mutsuki rushed to the rescue. As he stopped the side of the sinking transport ship to receive its crew and soldiers, a B-17 took off from Espiritu Santo, which sank the immobilized destroyer with several bombs. The rest of Tanaka's convoy withdrew without bringing a single soldier to the island.
The fight for the foothold
In the first week of September, two more Catalin squadrons, VP-91 and VP-72 (the latter partially equipped with amphibious PBY-5A), arrived in the South Pacific from Hawaii and began operations from Espiritu Santo, freeing VP. -fourteen. Commanding squadrons from Pearl Harbor over 14 km was tiring, so PatWing 6000 moved to New Caledonia in the middle of the month. In addition, PatWing 1 provided a VP-2 unit (24 PBY-3As) that flew to Espiritu Santo from Midway.
Off the Solomon Islands, the enemy also conducted long-range aerial reconnaissance, and sometimes both sides ran into each other. One such encounter occurred on September 5, 1942. Approximately 540 km northeast of Guadalcanal, Lieutenant C. Francis Riley of VP-23 and his crew surprised and shot down a Kawanishi H6K (Mavis) four-engine flying boat in a climb attack. Just a day later, another H6K from the Toko Kokutai, commanded by boatswain Takahashi Shinsuke, collided with Lieutenant (Second Lieutenant) Charles Willis of VP-11. When he caught up with him, both crews, flying side by side, opened fire. The match was won by the Japanese. Their Mavis flew away without serious damage, while the Catalina was wrecked and sank. However, such encounters usually ended with the escape of Mavis, who, although larger and heavier than the Catalins, were faster than them.
There were many more dangerous ABY opponents in the Solomon area - 11/11 Lt. Carlton Clark of VP-1 ran into the Kunikawa Maru tender, which, escorted by the destroyer Murasame, was looking for a new seaplane base. Two of the six Kunikawa Maru F2M23 float biplanes (Pete) on board overtook and shot down the Catalina. All eight crew members were captured, but two of them did not survive. Three days later, Lieutenant (junior) Baxter Moore of VP-12 discovered the Kido Butai ships, but moments after reporting this, he exclaimed, “We're on fire! We're falling!" He was shot down by the pilots of six Zeros raised from the deck of the Shokaku; Moore died with the entire crew. Even the floating bases of Catalin took the fight. At dawn on September 31, the submarine I-31 surfaced in Graciosa Bay on Nendo Island and opened fire with a deck gun on the Mackinac and Ballard tenders at anchor. However, when Makino pulled up anchor and went to meet him, I-XNUMX slipped away.
In addition to reconnaissance tasks, Catalina also conducted operations against Japanese submarines, which at that time was a serious problem for the US Navy - at the turn of August and September 1942, one aircraft carrier (Saratoga) was damaged, and the other (Wosp) sunk. The first notable success against them was achieved by the ABY after the night of October 6, 1942. In the Strait of Irreplaceable, separating Tulagi from Malaita, lieutenant. Willard King and his crew surprised the I-22 (the so-called Type C submarine cruiser) and sent it to the bottom with four depth charges.
In the meantime, the Japanese, using the Rabaul airports, launched a campaign of massive raids on Guadalcanal, repelled by a handful of US Navy, US Marines, and US Air Force aircraft. The large formations of A6M Zero (Zeke) fighters that flew almost daily along the Solomon Islands chain posed a deadly threat to the PBY. On October 14-15, three Catalins - Lieutenant (junior) Melvin Butler, Lieutenant (junior) Dayton Polan and Lieutenant (junior) Gordon Cinder - all from VP-91, who joined the squadron in mid-September, were deployed to Espiritu Santo.
On the night of 14/15 October, six Japanese transporters landed at Tassafaronga on the north coast of Guadalcanal and began to unload 4500 troops, along with tanks, artillery, and all their equipment. The Americans threw everything at their disposal to attack them - including the personal Catalina named "Blue Goose" (amphibian PBY5-A) of General Geiger, commander of the 1st Marine Air Wing. The general had flown in the day before and carried two torpedoes under the wings of Catalina for the Avengers stationed on the island. When it turned out that none of them was in good order, the general's adjutant and pilot major. Jack Cram promised to launch the attack himself. On the afternoon of 15 October, he joined an expedition of several Dauntlesss, Airacobra and Wildcat fighters. Krum, who had never dropped a torpedo before, received only a few tips on how to do it before the flight. He himself recalled:
My entire team boarded the Catalina and we took off, heading for Savo Island, where I climbed to 6000 feet [approx. 1800 m], then I began a long flight with a dive at a gentle angle. I aimed at the transports, so focused on what I was going to do next that I forgot to keep track of our speed. When the car began to shake and the wings folded like a seagull in flight, I looked at the speedometer and thought we were gone. We were traveling at 240 knots per hour [445 km/h] - at least 60 knots [110 km/h] more than the safe speed for PBY.
Although I equalized the score a little, we were still flying so fast that we passed the destroyers' cordon before they had a chance to react. The next moment my target was right in front of me. I dropped the first torpedo, waited a few seconds, and pulled the trigger cable, releasing the second. Then I made a wide circle to the left, heading towards Henderson Field. Behind us, one of the torpedoes hit the transport ship. The second one missed.
Most likely May. Krum shot down Sasako Maru, which caught fire and ran aground. Two Tainan Kokutai Zero fighters pursued the Blue Goose to Henderson Field, where they were driven off by the Wildcats. Upon his return, Krum reported to the general that his Catalina had 175 rounds. Geiger presented him for the Navy Cross.
During this period, the Catalinas began night raids (violations). The actions of the enemy were an inspiration. Ens. Jack Coley of VP-11 recalled:
On the night of October 18, we explored Japanese positions west of Cape Cruz for two hours. There was a huge moon in the sky, perfect for the sole purpose of harassing the Yaps. They did the same to us almost every night, shooting at us, bombing us and generally making our life miserable, but no one did that to them.
I asked the commander if I could try and he reluctantly agreed. The Japanese were completely unprepared for this. Unlike our Marines, who were in complete blackout, the enemy was camped around the fires. We used to fly over their heads and shoot at all guns. Then we pulled out parachute flares, set them to maximum delay and dropped them from 1500 feet [approx. 500 m]. They fell to the ground, illuminating everything around them.
We saw piles of boxes in the middle of a group of coconut trees, and when we opened fire on them, a fire broke out. In addition to two 500-pound bombs, one under each wing, we took another dozen 100-pound [45 kg] bombs laid out on bunks. We had a big guy in the crew who could stand at the rear hatch with such a bomb, and when we shouted to him: “Are you ready? Drop it!" He just threw them out.
