Catalina Goof
 

It seems that the model of Catalina found in-game uses the wrong tail. The PBY-6 and the PBN-1 Nomad, the latter of which saw most of it's use in Russia, utilize the tall tail seen in the second picture while the PBY-5 seen in the first picture would use a shorter tail seen on most production models in the pacific. It also seems that, if this PBY were actually a model 6, it would be seen with a Radome above the cockpit, which the game model lacks. I find this to be a rather curious error and would like to thank you for this space on this thread. Thank you.

Links where I found the pictures:
http://mission4today.com/index.php?n...ewtopic&t=4790
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._side_view.jpg
http://richard.ferriere.free.fr/3vue...ed_pby5_3v.jpg

I am pretty sure Gibbage said he based the IL2 3D model on the PBY-5A not the PBY 5, though as you say the tall tail was more a PBY 6 feature.


Though perhaps the PBY 5A was the flyable PBY he was working on that never eventually showed up in IL2.

I thought the aircraft was always intended
to represent the Nomad

+1

I'm pretty sure this is what the current catalina in IL-2 is (it was an eastern front addition IIRC). In addition to the tall tail, it also has the nomad nose, which differs from the PBY one in shape somewhat.

Cheers,

Fafnir_6

Correct. Gibbage always intended it to be a Nomad.