Recently I chanced upon the WW2 crash site of a PBY Catalina. (On the remote island of Vatersay in the Scottish Outer Hebrides.)
But what does the acronym “PBY” stand for? I’m disappointed, and surprised, that The American Heritage Dictionary Edition 3 is no help.
According to this site:
http://www.warbirdmuseum.com/History/aviation_archaeology/aviation_archaeology.htm
"The PB stood for patrol boat and the Y was Consolidated’s designation. "
Thank you CHUKHUNG. I’ve added the address to Favouries for future reference.
Border
The B should be for Bomber, not boat. The version of the Liberator modified for the Navy, for example, was the PB4Y–Patrol Bomber, 4th design, Consolidated–and it was not capable of water landings.
The Navy system of aircraft designation was, IIRC, dropped in 1962 at the insistence of the then Seceretary of Defense MacNamara. A standard system for all services was instituted. There were no PBYs in service at that point, so they were not redesignated, but there were still a handful of PB4Ys being used as targets, and they became P-4s (actually QP-4s).
Under the old system, if the same aircarft was made for reasons of expidency by two different manufacturers, the “clone” would get a different designator than the original. Case in point, the Grumman TBF Avenger, and the General Motors TBM Avenger. Also the Grumman F4F Wildcat and the General Motors FM Wildcat.
Patrol Bomber (Consolidated Aircraft).
As JCHeckler says, the old Navy aircraft nomenclature was changed in 1962. The nomeclature used to include the aircraft type, fighter, torpedo bomber, dive bomber, trainer etc., and the manufacturer.
For example:
F4U - Fighter, 4th in sequence, Chance-Vought
F4F - Fighter, 4th in sequence, Grumman
TBD - Torpedo Bomber, Douglas
F2H - Fighter, 2nd in sequence, McDonnell
PBY - Patrol Bomber, Consilodated
SNJ - Trainer, North American
SBD - Dive Bomber, Douglas
Er, ah, um … could that be changed to Consolidated? I don’t know what Consilodated’s designation was.