The Catalina and the Walrus

 

The Consolidated Catalina was one of the ugly ducklings of World War II. The other was the Supermarine Walrus, which was as far in design from a Spitfire as you could get.

I passed Duxford today and their Catalina was sitting there in all it's glory. What a sight!

In common with several other successful aircraft of the WW2, the Catalina was thought to be obselete before the war started. But like the Fairey Swordfish, it had that characteristic of being fully run in before the war started.

Catalinas did everything that a naval flying-boat bomber could do. The RAF used them for patrol, to sink U-boats and also to keep these submerged so they couldn't recharge their batteries. The Americans used them as dive-bombers, mine layers and perhaps most spectacularly as matt black-painted Black Cats, which searched out Japanese shipping by radar in the dark and then sunk them. Not bad for a slow aircarft flying at under 180 mph. Mosquitos did 380!

As an aside here, the US have found that the slow A-10s are ideal in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to support ground troups. Speed isn't always everything.

You must not forget the Supermarine Walrus, designed like the Spitfire by R. J. Mitchell. Nicknamed the Shagbat or Steam Pigeon, it was without doubt the ugliest aircraft ever built. (The many pilots who it rescued from the sea, think it is the most beautiful!) Like later variants of the Catalina it was an amphibian capable of landing on land or water. It could also be catapult-launched from a destroyer and then recovered after landing in the sea. It primary use was as reconnaiscence for the Navy.

But what does this uncommon pair have in common?

They both had the capability of landing on the sea and picking up pilots or others who had ditched and were the supreme air-sea rescue aircraft of their day. Remember that helicopters were not feaible for this role before the early 1950s.

So where are the air-sea rescue successors to the Catalina and the Walrus?