Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina - Patrol bomber
Marine Luchtvaart Dienst (Naval Air Service of the Royal Dutch Navy)
Naval air station Morokrembangan (Surabaya), Dutch East Indies
September 1941 – February 1942
(Revell 04370. 1:72; originally released in 1972, it was for some time also issued by Matchbox. This one is a rebox from 1989. Decals by Revell, Flevo Decals and selfmade)
The Y-38 was the first of 78 Catalina’s that were delivered to the Marine Luchtvaart Dienst (MLD). The first batch were of the flying boat version PBY-5, soon to be followed by the amphibian version PBY-5A. Catalinas were in Dutch service from 1941 to 1959. The Y-38 was mainly used for reconnaissance missions as “eyes of the fleet” and rescue work and patrolled together with Catalinas from the RAF and the US Navy, that were temporarely stationed in the Dutch East Indies to anticipate the Japanese advance. On Februari 9 1942, when evacuating Europeans from Ketapang, Borneo, it was atacked by Japanese Zeroes while still in the water and damaged. The passengers and crew jumped in the water where one of the pilots was killed by a caiman. The Y-38 managed to get airborne and tried to reach its base near Surabaya on Java. However, it had to make an emergency landing not far from its base, but sank after being rammed by a motorboat from an American destroyer.
A kit with a lot of issues, but far better than The Airfix Catalina. It took me a lot of patience and 10 weeks to complete the beast. But I enjoyed building it.
References:
Gunston, B. : Classic World War II Aircraft Cutaways, London 1995, reprint 2013
Gunston, B. (ed.): Jane’s Fighting Aircraft of World War II, London, 1946/7, reprint 1994
Staal, P.: The Consolidated PBY, bewaker van de Pacific (Sentinel of the Pacific), Hilversum (2004)
PBY Catalina in action, Squadron, Signal Publications, nr.62
MLD: http://www.wj-gerrits.com/marinesite/html/mld.html
Nederlands Instituut voor militaire historie: Transfer of Catalina Y-38 to the Dutch Naval Air Service (MLD), August 1941, San Diego, USA (video in colour): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAWVNln4fxQ (This video was my original source for this kit. There are only 5 pics of the Y-38, but they lack detail).