Strana 52
OA-10A, 44-34056, 2
nd
Emergency Rescue Squadron, the Philippines, 1945
Toward the end of World War II, Catalinas flown by
both the U.S. Navy and the USAAF were painted
white across the entire fuselage, wings, and tail
surfaces. This was also the case for this aircraft,
which served with the 2
nd
Emergency Rescue
Squadron, which participated in the rescue
of crews and individual pilots in the vicinity of
the Philippine islands. Ground crew decorated
this Catalina with the enticing inscription
“I’ll be seein’ you” along with a drawing of a half-
naked girl leaning against a palm tree trunk
on the starboard side. On the port side was
a “scoreboard” showing the flights completed.
PBY-5A, BuNo. 46517, Capt. L. E. Rearden, VPB-71, Manus Island, November 1944
Night operations codenamed “Black Cat,”
targeting Japanese ships and coastal
installations, were carried out by U.S. Navy
units equipped with flying boats or Catalina
amphibious aircraft. Although this was originally
a tactic intended to provide some protection for
the highly vulnerable and slow seaplanes, the
operations proved so successful that several
units were assigned this role. Thanks to their
surfaces painted matte black, these slow
and bulky aircraft became feared nocturnal
predators. One of the units flying the black-
painted Catalinas was VPB-71, redesignated
in October 1944 from VP-71, which conducted
flights from Manus Island in November 1944.
KITS 07/2026
INFO Eduard52
July 2026