Hi folks,
A thread for your Consolidated PBY Catalina Ideas and Inspiration.
I can't really help here - the Cat' is probably one of my all time favourite aircraft and I simply can't see how it could be perfected...apart from my owning a real one...which almost happened...and may yet again...
Regards,
Greg
The "Cat" is iconic in that the fuselage is literally a sculpture. About the only straight lines on it are the cockpit windows. Only the SR-71 or the Martin lifting bodies has this level of curvatures comparable of this 1930's era parasol wing flying boat.
So any whif must not violate the fuselage in any manner unless expanding its dimensions overall or proportionally shrinking it.
This just leaves the wing and the engines in play. Maybe go with a swept wing lowered to the shoulder position, with the flight engineer having to move out of his loft office , and a pair of jets atop the wing like on the Seamaster or the Beriev-10. Swept for the tail planes as well, not a dramatic sweep, maybe 25 or 30 degrees for wings and tailplanes are almost there as they were!
The keys to the cat is "less is more" as far as redesign.
Beyond this idea, bring in Tophe, yell "Catamaran!" and watch the magic... !