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I skipped ahead to the Mariana's scenario to check out the later aircraft, and I was particularly impressed with the icon and stats of the PB4Y Privateer (USN version of the B-24). I'm looking forward to producing and using this aircraft, since my pool of Catalinas has more than enough planes.

I was wondering if anyone knows if the PBM Mariner was used in the Pacific and if anyone has worked up an icon and the stats for that plane. Would it perform differently than the Catalina???

Originally posted by Warpup:
I skipped ahead to the Mariana's scenario to check out the later aircraft, and I was particularly impressed with the icon and stats of the PB4Y Privateer (USN version of the B-24). I'm looking forward to producing and using this aircraft, since my pool of Catalinas has more than enough planes.

I was wondering if anyone knows if the PBM Mariner was used in the Pacific and if anyone has worked up an icon and the stats for that plane. Would it perform differently than the Catalina???

There is a limit to the numbers of types of aircraft included in Pacific War. I chose the PB4Y over the PBM because the PB4Y, or at least its early variants appear earlier than the PBM. This gives the USN a powerful Recon aircraft, rivaling the H8K early in the game. I don't know as much about the PBM, but, it appears to be much like the PBY, just 2 engines, so probably not as tough and with as long a range as the PB4Y, of course, this is just speculation...

I know the Mariner was used as a transport plane, but I think it had been superceded by the PBY as a patrol plane by the start of the war. I have no firm data on that, however. Maybe someone can enlighten us. It is possible that the Coronado (the transport amphibious plane) was something else entirely).

I am not aware of the PB4Y-1 being used as a patrol plane in the Pacific. As far as my limited reading tells me, they were an interim fix for the "black hole" in the Atlantic and few of them actually served, as CVEs solved the problem and B-24 bomber versions were in great demand by the USAAF.

Has anyone found references to PB4Y-1 squadrons in the Pacific?

Well, I managed to find answers to my question about the PBM. It was available at the beginning of the war and it served in the Pacific alongside its more famous (and numerous) companion, the Catalina. About 4000 Catalinas were produced by the US and various other allied powers, notably Canada.
About 1200 PBM Mariners were produced. It had a distinctive appearance (didn't all flying boats) in that it had a much fatter body than the Catalina, bent wings (reverse of the bend of the Corsair) with the two engines at the peak of the bend, a tail section that angled up, and tail wings that angled up.

The stats are very similar to the Catalina, maybe a range 8 instead of 9 for the PBM. There doesn't appear to be a good reason to include a separate icon and stats for PacWar.
I'm going to just pretend that the PBMs are serving alongside the Catalinas, since stats and function are about the same.

The PB4Y isn't quite the same plane as the B-24. It had a longer fusilage by several feet, a large single tailfin (also adopted for the transport version of the B-24), and radar and bomb/depth charge configurations for ASW. I believe it was built in its own factory by Convair, although some of the components must have been from B-24 production.

The Coronado was a big 4 engine flying boat with a big fat body. It had a shorter range than the PBM and PBY and wasn't used as much. It was around at the start of the war, but smaller numbers were in use. The British got only ten of them, I think, and the Americans may have used a few hundred.

Originally posted by grumbler:
I am not aware of the PB4Y-1 being used as a patrol plane in the Pacific. As far as my limited reading tells me, they were an interim fix for the "black hole" in the Atlantic and few of them actually served, as CVEs solved the problem and B-24 bomber versions were in great demand by the USAAF.

Has anyone found references to PB4Y-1 squadrons in the Pacific?

Well, this sounded like a good "google" question, so I asked, and voila:


http://alanc.carey.freeservers.com/index.html


The PB4Y Privateers (it sounds like there were other B24 Navy squadrons that weren't identified as Privateers?) were in the Pacific, and says the Navy received about a thousand of them (B24D Liberators).

Do the PB4Ys act the same as other patrol aircraft in the game? That is, can they be based a "1" airbase like the flying boats can be? It seems to me, as a variant of the B-24, it should require a minimum of a "4" airbase.

Originally posted by underdog:
Do the PB4Ys act the same as other patrol aircraft in the game? That is, can they be based a "1" airbase like the flying boats can be? It seems to me, as a variant of the B-24, it should require a minimum of a "4" airbase.

You're right, but the game doesn't distinguish air groups by the type of plane its flying. As long as the plane is categorized as a patrol plane, a patrol group is allowed to use it no matter what kind of plane it is.

Ya learn somethin' new every day.

There were, as I thought, few PB4Y-1s (see http://www.navylib.com/DataList.htm). However, I was unaware of the completely new production the Navy engaged in with the PB4Y-2 Privateer (see http://www.navylib.com/Y2DataList.htm). The Y2 apparently served in some numbers in the Pacific, at least late in the war. I kind of suspect that by the time the Y2 comes along, base limits will not be a concern (the contract wasn't let until 1943, so few would see much service until the island battles were over).