Jetrader - Summer 2016 - 40

aviation history

PBY 'Catalina' -
The Effective Warrior
By Benjamin Millard
'With only rudimentary navigational facilities available, the (VP-84) squadron
operated effectively over icy waters and under extremely hazardous conditions of
difficult terrain and severe weather.' Presidential Unit Citation, awarded in 1949

Background
My father was a baby in Alameda, CA (near
Oakland), when my grandfather, Robert CC.
Millard, piloting the PBY 'Catalina' aircraft
with a seven man crew, attacked and sank
German submarine U-408 off of Iceland's
coast.
My grandfather, a freshly-minted
27-year-old Navy officer, was part of the
U.S. Navy's VP-84 squadron conducting
anti-submarine sweeps in the northern
Atlantic flying the PBY-5A. The most successful version of Consolidated Aircraft's
'patrol boat' program, PBY-5A, became
the de facto standard for WWII long-range
patrol and attack missions.
The U.S. Navy stationed VP-84 aerial
squadron at Iceland's Reykjavik base  -
humorously named 'Camp Kwitcherbelliakin'
(say it out loud) - protected Allied merchant vessels from the German U-boats
prowling the Denmark Strait off Iceland's

coast. "Wolfpack" - some 75 years before
'The Hangover' movies - was a term coined
by a German admiral for the tactical aggregation of U-boats in order to overwhelm
Allied supply convoys.
VP-84 conducted a total of 31 U-boat
attacks between August 1942 and May 1943
while operating under the ultimate control
of Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) coastal
command. VP-84 recorded an additional 54
U-boat sightings that likely deterred German
disruption of the Allied supply routes.
Of the 31 U-boat attacks, my grandfather participated in four with two
confirmed U-boat sinkings: U-408 in
November 1942, for which he was awarded
the Distinguished Flying Cross; and U-467
in May 1943. His actions - and those of
many others - resulted in Germany halting U-boat raids upon Allied shipping in
the North Atlantic, following the loss of
human life on both sides.

Depicts Lt Robert C Millard's sinking of U-408 showing the
immediate aftermath of the PBY attack. Original painting by
Mark Postlethwaite GAvA, www.posart.com. Image courtesy of
Osprey Publishing.

Origin/Development
PBY Catalina is considered the most successful of the 'flying boats.' Introduced into
U.S. Navy service during the Fall of 1936,
by 1944 it was the Allies' principal patrol/
attack aircraft with 2,000+ of the PBY-5As
having been built. PBYs were flown by all
Allied nations  - including Russia, who
honored my grandfather for his attack upon
U-408 (since the protected supply vessel
was destined for Russia).
PBY's success is likely due to its protean
utility in a in a time where the 'best available' technology was seized upon for the
multiple needs of wartime. These included
(but are not limited to): anti-submarine and
patrol bombing; search and rescue operations (which posed great danger to PBY
crew members, particularly in the harsh
winter of 1942-43); convoy escorts; cargo
transport; and surveillance/reconnaissance
missions (one function of PBYs stationed
in Iceland was to survey changes to the
surrounding ice).
Development of the first true 'longrange bomber' in U.S. aviation history

Millard and Crew at Camp Kwitch.
Lieutenant Robert C Millard (top row, second from right) with PBY-5A
crewmembers - taken to commemorate the sinking of U-boat 408, November 1943.
Photo: Naviar News.

40 The official publication of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading
http://www.posart.com
Jetrader - Summer 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jetrader - Summer 2016
