TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS (PB2Y-2) Type: Ten- place long- range patrol flying boat.
Manufacturer: Consolidated Aircraft Co., San Diego, California. Total produced: 217 (USN, USCG)
Powerplants: Four 1,200-hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-78 Twin Wasp 14-cylinder, twin- row air- cooled radial engines driving three- bladed, constant- speed metal propellers outboard and four- bladed, fully reversible propellers inboard.
Armament: One .50-cal. machine gun in a nose turret, one flexible.50- cal. machine gun in a dorsal blister, one flexible .50-cal. machine gun in each waist position, one flexible .50-cal. machine gun in a ventral tunnel, and one .50-cal. machine gun in a tail turret, plus up to 8,000 lbs. of bombs, depth charges, and/or torpedoes carried in wing bays.
Performance: max. speed 255 mph; ceiling 24,100 ft.; range 4,275 mi. max.
Weights: 40,495 lbs. empty, 68,000 lbs. loaded.
Dimensions: span 115 ft., length 79 ft. 3 in., wing area 1,780 sq. ft. The Consolidated PB2Y was one of several large, four- engine flying boats (see Sikorsky PBS, above, and Martin PB2M, below) conceived to fulfill the Navy’s “Sky Dread- nought” concept, which envisaged a very long- range aircraft that not only fulfilled the traditional maritime patrol function but could also operate as a heavy bomber from widely dispersed sea bases. Originally proposed to BuAer as the company Model 29, Consolidated received a contract on July 27, 1936 to built one flying prototype under the designation XPB2Y-1. While sharing some characteristics in common with the PBY, such as folding wing floats, a cruciform tail group with a single fin and rudder, and a bow projecting in front of the nose turret, the de- sign of the XPB2Y-1, by comparison, offered a much deeper hull having fully cantilevered wings mounted directly atop the fuselage without any supporting pylon. Its higher aspect- ratio The first of the “Sky Dreadnoughts,” the XPBS-1 as delivered in
August 1937. In June 1942, after being assigned to transports duties, this aircraft was lost when it struck a log in San Francisco Bay and sank.
wing, swept from the leading edge, carried a load factor (i.e., 30 lbs. per sq. ft.) approxi- mately 30 percent higher than that of the con- temporaneous PBY-2. Except for moveable control surfaces, the entire structure was skinned in stressed aluminum. A very clean overall configuration was achieved by housing all droppable munitions in flush bays under the wings.
After a construction period of slightly less than eighteen months, the XPB2Y-1 made its first flight from San Diego on December 17, 1937. Serious problems with directional stability were immediately encountered, with the result that finlets were added to the hori- zontal stabilizers after the third flight. Further testing revealed continuing stability problems together with the need to improve the hydrody- namic characteristics of the hull planing sur- faces. The prototype returned to the factory and emerged in mid–1938 with totally redesigned empennage in which twin circular fins and rud- ders had been end- mounted to a new horizontal stabilizer that possessed about six degrees of dihedral. To enhance hull performance, the rear step had been lengthened to extend nearly halfway to the tail. The Navy accepted the XPB2Y-1 following suitability trials, but no pro- duction was ordered at that time. The aircraft was thereafter assigned to the Aircraft Scouting Force as the admiral’s “flag ship.”
In March 1939, after what amounted to a virtual redesign of the hull, BuAer authorized Consolidated to proceed with the construction of six PB2Y-2s. The hull of the -2 was deepened to such an extent that the wing was moved down to a shoulder position on the fuse-
lage. Both streamlining and hydrodynamics were improved by fairing the bow smoothly into a reshaped nose turret. Enlarged fins and rudders now resembled those of the Model 31 (see P4Y, below), and available horsepower was boosted fifteen percent by an upgrade to R-1830-78 engines. New gunner’s positions appeared as a dorsal blister behind the wing and circular win- dows on each side in the waist. In November 1940, even before the first PB2Y-2 had been accepted, Consolidated received a contract for 210 production aircraft, 177 to be delivered to the Navy as the PB2Y-3 under a revised production standard that included heavier armament, armor protection, and self- sealing fuel tanks, plus 33 similar aircraft to Great Britain as the PB2Y- 3B.
Right: An XPB2Y-1 shown in original configuration in front of
Consolidated’s plant in San Diego, California, in late 1937. Direc- tional control problems resulted in the addition of finlets and later, twin fins.
Named “Coronado” by the factory, the first PB2Y-2 was delivered to the Navy on December 31, 1940, and four more had been accepted by mid–1941. While empty weight had risen 7,500 lbs., top speed in- creased to 255 mph at 19,000 feet and normal range was nearly twice that of the PBY-5. Following delivery, the Navy used the five PB2Y-2s mainly for operational training and evaluation. The sixth PB2Y-2, modified to the new production standard, flew in December 1941 as the XPB2Y-3. However, once the war started, the Navy abandoned the Sky Dreadnought notion in favor of fast carriers using smaller aircraft to bomb targets, and as a result, virtually all of the PB2Ys were there- after converted or completed as unarmed cargo versions to be used as over- ocean transports (PB2Y-3R and -5R) or for medical evacuation (PB2Y-5H). Five PB2Y-3s and -5s were assigned to Coast Guard West Coast operations in 1944.