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If you might indulge me again Jan, I had some further input
First, the photos of the weapons bay....is that a quad fifty caliber setup? Heck, didn't even know they sported that kind of firepower. I would definitely consider the inclusion of that nifty addition.
Also, you provided some dandy shots of the engine cowling maintenance flaps in the 'open' position...I especially like those!
Gordon, Rob....Can you find these engine cowling on the aftermarket?
Or would you have to cut those provided in the kit, open yourself?
Yup Gordon, That's Lieutenant W. J. Lahodney's own idea. As it says in the book "BLACK CAT RAIDERS OF WWII".....
"In his quest for increased firepower, Lahodney made several flights in the Army's B-25 bombers and was impressed with their gunfire capabilities. These planes had 75 mm in the nose but also several fixed-quad .50 caliber machine guns which were was of particular interest to the Cat pilot.
He decided to experiment with the same .50 caliber installation in the nose of his PBY. It was a somewhat radical concept and, as might be expected, there were many raised eyebrows. The PBY after all was a patrol plane, not a fighter, and it was the opinion of some that the fifties would tear the nose of the airplane. The old cat was simply not built to take that kind of abuse, they said. Others thought the installation would have an adverse effect on the aircraft weight and balance.
Few were optimistic that it would work.
Lahodney was not to be deterred. Removing the bombsight (which had not proven very effective for the specialized work of the Black cats) and the small bow plate window, he bolted the guns, mounted two over two, to the keel of the big boat. The top set of the two was mounted forward of the lower set, so the muzzles of all four were aft of the angle of the angled bow plate.
An aluminum panel with four blast tubes extending forward for seven inches replaced the window, and was all that was visible of the lethal addition from an exterior view. An electric trigger on the pilot's yoke and a selector switch which permitted the pilot to fire the guns individually or together, completed the installation.
Bill lahodney was confident that the Cat would not only withstand the vibration of the fifties, but that twin thirties normally mounted just above that spot could be retained along with the gunner's position.
With a minimum volunteer crew, consisting of himselfm a flight engineer, and a bow gunner, Lahodney took off from Palm Island seadrome to try out his idea. Dropping a floating smoke light in the water for a target, he executed a wing-over and put the Cat into a steep dive.
Eyeballing the burning smoke light he pressed the trigger and the fifties responded with a burst that churned the water and extinguished the smoke.
That was the kind of firepower he was looking for, he thought with satisfaction. During the run he had also noted that the extra weight in the nose had noperceptible effect on theaircraft's performance.
The test was repeated witht the same result and upon returning to base, a careful inspection revealed that the old Cat had shouldered her new burden without complaint.
The experiment was a complete success, so much so that the quad fifties were installed in at least three planesinevery succeeding squadron.
Other tests also bore out Lahodney's wievs. They demonstrated that a gunner could straddle the quad mount and operate the thirties with almost as much mobility as before. A burlap pad was placed on top of the hot .50 caliber barrels to prevent the gunner from being burned.
One problem with the installation was that because of its positioning it was difficult to keep saltwater from getting into the muzzels. Rubber plugs were made to fit in the blast tubes but they leaked badly. Then someone got the idea that the standard rubber devices used for the prevention of venereal disease would be just the thing to make the blast tubes watertight. And they were.
In preparing for the coming deployment, Lahodney flew over to Townsville on the Australian mainland on a supply run. He picked up two additional quad mounts from the army supply depot and an unusally large quantity of condoms to protect the gun muzzles. The swells were heavy that day and during the take-off run one bounced the Cat into the air prematurely. The starboard wing dropped about forty degree and full power on the starboard engine would not bring it level.
It hit the water and broke off and the rest of the airplane came down hard. As it began to sink, Lahodney again applied full throttle and ran the broken Cat up on the rocks of the Townsville breakwater. Incredibly, no one was hurt.
With a heavy on-shore wind, the condoms were scattered about and it looked like there were many thousands as they floated ashore. Lahodney recalls that since there were no women on Palm Island there were much humourus speculation concerning the intended use of all those contraceptives."
End of story.....
