Warbird Information Exchange

I can't reacall ever seeing any photos of the front turret/bombardiers station in a pig boat-I assume the poor guy could access the rest of the aircraft thru the co-pilots footwell ala B-26/A-26. Also the 4 gun mod done to some of the BLACK CATS through the bombsight glass area(I know it was sheet steel).
every one I've seen has had the nose turned into a Clipper bow and usually has an APU installed..

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Try this for starters:

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/pbyregis ... 028-8.html

Maybe Owen has some closeups?

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

A good source of black and white period photos is the book PBY Catalina - in detail and scale by Bert Kinzey and published by Squadron/Signal Publications. It includes good photos of the external features of flat-topped, 'eyeball' and PBN Nomad turrets as well as some internal shots. Picking up a point in the original message, internal access to the bow turret was by crawling between the pilots and under the control yoke not "thru the co-pilot's footwell". The bow turret position was also used to moor a Catalina when on the water, the crew member using the removable hatch in the top of the turret to do so. Most post-war 'clipper bow' Cats had a hatch to perform the same operation.

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David Legg
Editor, The Catalina News
The Catalina Society
Author: Consolidated PBY Catalina - The Peacetime Record