CEILING 18,000+ FEET PAYLOAD A CREW OF SEVEN TO NINE MEN AND A TON OF BOMBS. THE POWERFUL, STURDY _CATALINA_, WITH ITS ABILITY TO CRUISE FAR OUT OVER THE OCEAN, GAVE THE NAVY A VALUABLE DEFENSE WEAPON. SCOUTING FAR OUT FROM OUR SHORES, IT COULD PROTECT OUR COASTLINE. WHEN THE _CATALINAS_ WENT INTO SERVICE IN 1934, NOT EVEN THEIR STAUNCHEST ADMIRERS VISUALIZED THAT, YEARS LATER, THEY WOULD BE ONE OF THE NAVY’S MOST DEPENDABLE WEAPONS IN DEFEATING THE NAZIS AND THE JAPS IN WORLD WAR II.] [Illustration] First introduced in 1934, the Consolidated PBY _Catalina_ was one of the world’s first all-metal flying boats. Powered with two 600-horsepower radial engines, the PBY was for six years the fastest airplane of its class. In January, 1937, twelve Navy PBY’s flew in nonstop formation from San Diego, California, to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, a distance of 2,553 miles, in 21 hours and 43 minutes. In June of the same year twelve PBY’s flew in nonstop formation from San Diego to Coco Solo, Canal Zone, or 3,087 miles in 27 hours and 21 minutes. In 1937 Sir Hubert Wilkins flew a commercial version of the PBY over 19,000 miles of Arctic wastes. [Illustration: BOEING P-12 FIGHTER BOEING P-26 A FIGHTER] TECHNICAL PROGRESS IN THE U. S. ARMY AIR CORPS IN THE THIRTIES Although prevented from any great expansion in the years following World War I, the Army led the way in many phases of aviation. United States Army planes were the first to fly around the world. Army aviation also pioneered night flying and the use of the lighted airfield, refueling in the air, and radio communication between ground and plane. It made great advances in aërial photography. In 1929, Captain Albert W. Stevens photographed Mount Rainier from an airplane 227 miles away, establishing a record of long-distance aërial photography. The same year, Lieutenant “Jimmy” Doolittle, in a demonstration of instrument-flying, accomplished a take-off and a landing solely through the use of instruments. This was the beginning of “blind flying.” The Army Fokker _Question Mark_ under the command of Carl Spaatz and Ira Eaker, generals commanding our heavy bomber forces in Europe in World War II, established an endurance record by staying aloft for 150 hours. Their plane was refueled in the air during the record flight. Army aviators were trained in the use of oxygen at high altitudes and in the use of instruments for “blind flying.” [Illustration: CONSOLIDATED PB-2A FIGHTER-BOMBER CURTISS P-36 _HAWK_ CURTISS P-40 _HAWK_]