Catalina Aviation Art Prints and Original Paintings



Aviation Art Prints .com Home Page
Order Helpline (UK) : 01436 820269

You currently have no items in your basket

Join us on Facebook!

Payment Options Display
Buy with confidence and security!
Publishing historical art since 1985

Follow us on Twitter!
Don't Miss Any Special Deals - Sign Up To Our Newsletter!
Aircraft
Search
Squadron
Search
Artist
Search
Signature
Search
Air Force
Search

Product Search         
Click Here For Full Artist Print Indexes Aviation History Archive
ALWAYS GREAT OFFERS :
20% FURTHER PRICE REDUCTIONS ON HUNDREDS OF LIMITED EDITION ART PRINTS
BUY ONE GET ONE HALF PRICE ON THOUSANDS OF PAINTINGS AND PRINTS
FOR MORE OFFERS SIGN UP TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER

Catalina Aviation Prints


The Aircraft That Found the Bismarck by Ivan Berryman.


The Aircraft That Found the Bismarck by Ivan Berryman.
8 editions.
£2.70 - £1100.00

Sinking of U-Boat 347 by Tim Fisher.


Sinking of U-Boat 347 by Tim Fisher.
3 of 4 editions available.
£22.00 - £300.00

Black Cat Rescue by Nicolas Trudgian.


Black Cat Rescue by Nicolas Trudgian.
4 editions.
All 4 editions feature an additional signature.
£65.00 - £100.00


Catalina Crescendo by Ivan Berryman.


Catalina Crescendo by Ivan Berryman.
2 editions.
One edition features 4 additional signatures.
£28.00 - £180.00

Flight Out of Hell by Nicolas Trudgian.


Flight Out of Hell by Nicolas Trudgian.
3 of 4 editions available.
All 4 editions feature up to 4 additional signatures.
£130.00 - £180.00

Heading for the Convoys by Stephen Brown.


Heading for the Convoys by Stephen Brown.
3 of 4 editions available.
All 4 editions feature up to 4 additional signatures.
£70.00 - £150.00


Black Cat, Indian Ocean, 1944 by David Pentland.


Black Cat, Indian Ocean, 1944 by David Pentland.
4 editions.
One edition features 4 additional signatures.
£90.00 - £400.00

On the Prowl by Timothy OBrien.


On the Prowl by Timothy OBrien.
3 editions.
One edition features an additional signature.
£2.95 - £85.00

Main Body  by Stan Stokes.


Main Body by Stan Stokes.
3 of 4 editions available.
£35.00 - £400.00


Wings Over Waikiki by Stan Stokes.


Wings Over Waikiki by Stan Stokes.
4 of 5 editions available.
All 2 editions featuring an additional signature are available.
£35.00 - £145.00

Catalina Attack by John Wynne Hopkins.


Catalina Attack by John Wynne Hopkins.
7 editions.
5 of the 7 editions feature up to 6 additional signatures.
£80.00 - £3600.00

By Dawn's Light by Ivan Berryman.


By Dawn's Light by Ivan Berryman.
2 of 4 editions available.
1 of 3 editions featuring up to 5 additional signatures are available.
£2.70 - £115.00


Great Catalina Take-Off by Roy Cross.

Great Catalina Take-Off by Roy Cross.
One edition.
£50.00



Text for the above items :

The Aircraft That Found the Bismarck by Ivan Berryman.

In early May 1941, in conditions of strict secrecy because the United States was not yet at war, seventeen pilots of the US Navy had arrived in Britain and been attached to Catalina squadrons of Coastal Command. These experienced PBY pilots were there to assist the Royal Air Force to become familiar with the Catalina, and also to gain operational experience for the US Navy. On 26th May 1941 Catalina Z of No.209 Sqn, commanded by Flying Officer Dennis Briggs RAF, with Ensign Leonard B Smith USN as co-pilot, joined the search for the Bismarck. At 1015 the aircraft was being flown in poor visibility at an altitude of 500ft when Ensign Smith sighted the Bismarck at a range of eight miles. The Catalina was flown towards the contact so that a positive identification could be made and emerged from the cloud only 500 yards from the German ship. The aircraft met a hail of anti-aircraft fire but was able to make its escape. As a result of the sighting report from Catalina Z the Bismarck was again engaged by ships and aircraft of the Royal Navy and was sunk at 1040 on 27th May 1941. Leonard Smith can be considered therefore, the first American to be directly involved in action in World War Two. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (American) for his actions.


Sinking of U-Boat 347 by Tim Fisher.

Flt. Lt. John Alexander Cruickshank in his consolidated Catalina. Winning his Victoria Cross for sinking U-347.


Black Cat Rescue by Nicolas Trudgian.

On February 15, 1944, flying his Navy PBY Catalina on air-sea rescue duty, Lt. Nathan Gordon received an urgent call. Several 345th BG B25s were down following a major attack on Kavieng, and crews were in the water just offshore. Under intense gunfire, Gordon made no fewer than four perilous water landings to pick up survivors, returning to make an emergency landing at Cape Gloucester with 25 people aboard, an just 10 gallons of fuel in his tanks. Gordon was awarded the Medal of Honor.


Catalina Crescendo by Ivan Berryman.

No text for this item


Flight Out of Hell by Nicolas Trudgian.

On February 15, 1944, a force of B-24s, B-25s and A-20s hammered the heavily defended Japanese base at Kavieng. Several aircraft, however, were forced to ditch; three downed B-25 crews from 345th Bomb Group floating helplessly in life-rafts within a thousand yards of the beach, and the Japanese troops were in no mood to take prisoners. Their only chance of survival was the air-sea rescue PBY Catalina. Nicolas Trudgians dramatic reconstruction depicts Lt. Commander Nathan Gordons PBY Catalina making its final take-off, the intense enemy gunfire from the shore making his mission seemingly impossible. But the young pilot got all 25 men aboard safely home, and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for what is one of the bravest actions of the war in the Pacific.


Heading for the Convoys by Stephen Brown.

RAF Catalinas of 210 Squadron over the West Coast of Scotland in 1944. The Consolidated Catalina PBY-5 proved invaluable to the RAF in its efforts to defend the vital convoys from the threat of enemy submarines, particularly during the Battle of the Atlantic.


Black Cat, Indian Ocean, 1944 by David Pentland.

A Catalina flying boat of the Royal Air Force shown at anchor in the Indian Ocean at night.


On the Prowl by Timothy OBrien.

Royal Air Force catalina over flys a Royal Navy Cruiser of Gibraltar while on patrol.


Main Body by Stan Stokes.

Jimmy Doolittles attack on Japan with B-25s launched from the USS Hornet was a blow to Japanese morale, and it gave Admiral Yamamoto the leverage he needed to push for a grandiose plan to inflict a decisive military blow to American forces in the Pacific. Yamamotos grand scheme would have several elements. A huge fleet would be sent to Midway Island to lure American carrier forces into combat. The force would include seven battleships, ten aircraft carriers, some two dozen cruisers and more than seventy destroyers. A separate strikeforce would be sent to the Aleutians under the command of Vice Admiral Hosogaya Moshiro. The plan was for the the northern force to strike first and divert American carrier forces northward away from Midways air support forces where they could be dispatched by Yamamotos overwhelming force. Fortunately for the US Navy a highly skilled group of cryptographers had broken portions of the Japanese Navys secret code. The Americans sent a bogus message to trick the Japanese into revealing the true target of their massive force. While not surprised, the American forces in the Midway area were sadly outnumbered, and good fortune would be needed to offset the Japanese advantage in numbers. The three primary US carriers in the Pacific (Enterprise, Hornet and Yorktown) were readied for the action. Shortly after 9:00 AM on the morning of June 3, 1942, Ensign Jack Reid of VP-44, piloting a PBY Catalina flying boat, spotted the main Japanese invasion force, and shadowed the fleet at low altitude for several hours. Later that day B-17s from Midway Island would attack the invasion fleet followed by a torpedo attack by other PBYs. Early in the morning of June 4 the Japanese launched their first aerial attack on Midway. As the 108 Japanese aircraft approached the island a hodgepodge of all air worthy American aircraft were launched including PBYs, B-17s, Wildcat and Buffalo fighters, Vindicator bombers, B-26 Marauders and SBD Dauntless divebombers.


Wings Over Waikiki by Stan Stokes.

The Consolidated PBY Catalina, the sea going flying workhorse of the US Navy during WW II, is with no doubt the most successful flying boat ever produced. Produced for more than ten years, it was built in greater numbers (3,300) than any other flying boat in history. In the early days of aviation flying boats made a lot of sense because of the relatively limited number of prepared airfields. Any estuary, river, or lake could become an airfield for an aircraft designed as a flying boat. Consolidated Aircraft got into the flying boat business rather late in the game. In 1928 the company won a bid to produce a prototype of a new high-wing monoplane flying boat for the Navy which would utilize aluminum in its fabrication. The XPY prototype was successfully flown in early 1929, but the Glen L. Martin Co., one of the pioneers in flying boat production, won the production contract. Not deterred by this setback, Consolidated utilized the expertise it had developed on this project to introduce a commercial 28-passenger flying boat called the Commodore. This aircraft was utilized by a number of airlines including Pan Am. Concurrent with work on the Commodore the Consolidated design team set about developing an improved version of the XPY. This design (the P2Y-1) had an enclosed cockpit, and was designed to handle either two or three engines. A total of 47 P2Ys were put in service. As production commenced on the P2Y, Consolidated began work on another improved flying boat which would be considerably larger than the P2Y. The prototype of this new aircraft (the XPY-3) utilized retractable wing floats. In 1935 Consolidated won the initial production order for the first PBY-1s in 1935. In 1936 another fifty aircraft were ordered as the PBY-2 derivative. A PBY-2 based in Hawaii is depicted in its pre-war markings over Diamond Head, in Stan Stokes painting entitled Wings Over Waikiki. This version lacked the fuselage window blisters which would be used on later variants. The PBY-2 had a wing span of 104 feet, and was nearly 64 feet in length. Powered by two 850-HP Pratt and Whitney R-1830-64s, the PBY-2 had a maximum speed of 178-MPH, and a range of more than 2,000 miles. The British ordered more than 100 PBYs in 1939. They called the aircraft Catalina. Also in 1939 a number of Catalinas were modified into amphibians by adding a retractable tricycle undercarriage. This added more than 2,000 pounds to the weight of the aircraft, but also improved its versatility. In the first few days following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, many of the PBYs deployed throughout the Pacific were damaged or destroyed. The PBYs were vulnerable to enemy fighter attack when in the air. Despite these early setbacks, the Navy learned to make good use of the PBY as the war progressed. One of the most effective uses of the aircraft was in night search and attack missions, where the aircraft were generally painted all black. These Black Cats operated from island bases and seaplane tenders and effectively hampered night time movement of enemy supplies. The Catalina also flew many Dumbo missions during the war rescuing downed allied aviators. Many thousands of lives were saved during these missions.


Catalina Attack by John Wynne Hopkins.

D for Donald of 270 squadron, Royal Air Force, out of Freetown, West Africa operating in the Atlantic Ocean. It was during routine operation search that D for Donald surprised U515 on the surface and immediately attacked the submarine. U515 in putting up stiff resistance blew a large hole in the hull of D for Donald and the magazine of the starboard side 0.5 twin Browning was hit and the subsequent shrapnel wounded both blister gunners. U515 escaped but was sunk by an American naval hunter group a year later. D for Donald limped back to base and managed to make the beach before it would sink completely.


By Dawn's Light by Ivan Berryman.

The Consolidated Model 28 PBY Catalina was so successful in its definitive form that it went on to become the most extensively built flying boat of all time. Here, a 210 Squadron Catalina Mk IVA from RAF Sullom Voe, Shetland, has located two weary downed aircrew, drained but grateful after a long night in the North Atlantic swell.


Great Catalina Take-Off by Roy Cross.

No text for this item


Catalina

Built by the Consolidated Aircraft Company and designed by Isaax M Ladden. the Catalina first flew on the 28th march 1935. and first flew with the US Navy in October 1936. In 1935 the cost of each Catalina was $90,000 and just over 4,000 were built. The Catalina was used in various maritime roles. but it was designed initially as a maritime patrol bomber. Its long range was intended to seek out enemy transport and supply ships. but was eventually used in many roles including Convoy escort,, anti submarine warfare and search and rescue. In its role as a search and rescue aircraft it probably is best remembered for many thousands of aircrews shot down in the Pacific and less extend in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The Catalina was the most successful flying boat of the war and even served in a military role until the early 1980's some are still used today in aerial firefighting.


View Catalina Signatures



View Catalina Squadrons

Contact Details
Shipping Info
Terms and Conditions
Cookie Policy
Privacy Policy
Classifieds

Join us on Facebook!

Sign Up To Our Newsletter!

Stay up to date with all our latest offers, deals and events as well as new releases and exclusive subscriber content!

This website is owned by Cranston Fine Arts.  Torwood House, Torwoodhill Road, Rhu, Helensburgh, Scotland, G848LE

Contact: Tel: (+44) (0) 1436 820269.  Email: cranstonorders -at- outlook.com

Follow us on Twitter!

Return to Home Page