PBY Catalina and Combat Examples

[Engurrand]

I've got a group of characters tooling around the Mediterranean in a PBY Catalina (stats link, more stats, photo, photo) In preparation for the inevitable, I've been working out the airplane's stat block. In a further effort to frontload the math, I decided to run some sample combat scenarios to familiarize myself with the kinds of penalties I'll be seeing. I'll post those as soon as I've finished them.

Disclaimer: I am a neophyte in the nerdome of WWII hardware. It is an epic nerdom. I'm taking my first steps into a larger world. Corrections, suggestions etc are always welcome.

Disclaimer the second: Many of the relevant GURPS rules were a little difficult for me to parse. I may have been particularly creative in working out the hit location table. Corrections suggestions yadda yadda.

Consolidated BPY-5A Catalina, USA, Canada, USSR, 1940-1945
The first production model PBY Catalina rolled off the assembly line in September of 1936, one of fifty ordered by the US Navy to serve as long range patrol planes. By the end of the war the total number grew to around 3,300 and the Catalina had seen service under dozens of flags and in every theater of the war.

In 1937 one model, dubbed NCC 7777 "Guba" was sold to the stupendously named Dr. Richard Archbold who used it for explorations in New Guinea and the first seaplane transcontinental flight before selling it to the USSR. The similarly excellently named Sir Hubert Wilkins used one to try to find a lost arctic expedition (photo).

The listed model is a PBY-5A which has three wheels which retract and two float pylons which fold up to serve as wing-tips. Earlier models lacked the blister turrets and wheels (they could land only on water). This model and later ones may replace the wheels with removable gas tanks: This reduces Load by 1.3, but increases Range by 500.

Military models have six fold-out bunks, a galley, a chemical toilet and a radio. Crew includes Pilot, Co-pilot, Navigator, Radio operator, Nose gunner/bombardier, 2 blister gunners, 1 ventral gunner, and a flight engineer. Cost is $1,500,000. Armament was typically two MG34 [Ht134] machine guns in the nose and one in the ventral turret, plus one Browning M2HB machine gun [Ht133] in each "blister" turret. Variations from this armament were common. Hardpoints under the wings carried up to 2 tons of bombs a/o torpedoes, or four 325 pound depth charges. Late war models add radar and a radar operator crewman.

Civilian models were employed as airliners. These were crewed by three: Pilot, Co-pilot and steward(es). 14 passengers in the cabin, replace blister turrets with small windows, no nose turret.

In 1950 a handful were modified to serve as flying yachts under the brand Landseaire (extensive photo blog). These are Styling x2 and include a radio phone, hot shower, full bar, plus the galley has a stove and refrigerator and one hardpoint stows a rowboat. Crew is 2+6(?)A Cost is $2,300,000.

Models continue to be used for firefighting and sea patrol to this day.

The Catalina's versatile landing capabilities, long range, living space and (potential) armament make it a good candidate to serve as your pulp adventuring group's Millennium Falcon (though it won’t be outrunning anything, let alone an imperial cruiser unless that’s a blimp).

TL	Vehicle		ST/HP	Hnd/SR	  HT	Move	LWt.	Load	SM	Occ.	DR	Range		Cost		Locations	Stall
6	Catalina	110	-2/3	  12	3/98*	17.7**	2***	8	9A	3	2,520†		$1,500,000	g,rR2,rW,Wi,t4	33

*If you prefer realism over GURPS approximations, the Catalina's rated optimal cruising speed at 70% power is 137 KIAS = 157 mph = roughly 67yards per second. It's top speed is 137 KIAS = 197mph = 98 yards per second.
**This is the Max takeoff weight from wheels. The LWt is 17.25 when taking off from water, and 13.65 from rough water.
***This is Load when taking off from wheels. Water liftoff Load is 1.5. Rough water liftoff Load is -2. The negative (-) is not a typo. To lift off from rough seas the pilot is obliged to dump a weight of fuel (and/or gear, people etc) equal to 2 tons + the weight of remaining occupants and cargo. The Catalina’s max fuel load is 5 tons so this will severely adversely affect range.
† The longest recorded flight was from Perth Australia to Colombo Sri-Lanka, 4133 miles!

Hit Location Table:
Note: I’ve factored the airplane’s SM into the To Hit bonuses.

 

Roll	Location 		To Hit	Notes									HP
3-4	Cockpit			+1	Check if occupant hit, on hit, damage is to occupant not vehicle	
5	Nose Gun		+3	HP wounds causes destruction, excess lost.				37	
6-7	L Wing			+6	HP wounds causes destruction, excess lost. Fragile (Combustible)	55	
8	L Blister		+5	Check if occupant hit, on hit, full damage is to occupant not vehicle.		
9-11	Body			+8	Check if occupant hit. Occupants take 1d per full 5 wounding to vehicle		
12	R Blister		+5	Check if occupant hit, on hit, full damage is to occupant not vehicle.		
13-14	R Wing			+6	HP wounds causes destruction, excess lost. Fragile (Combustible)	55	
15	Runner			+4	HP wounds causes destruction, excess lost.				34	
16	Wheel			+4	If retracted count as body hit.						18	
17	Engine, Left		+5	Tight beam wounding x2, piercing x3, fragile (combustible).
					HP wounding causes destruction and fire, excess lost.			50	
18	Engine, Right		+5	Tight beam wounding x2, piercing x3, fragile (combustible).
 					HP wounding causes destruction and fire, excess lost.			50

To check if occupant is hit, roll 3d against the below number. Notation is: “Number of current occupants (occupant is hit on roll of).” GM may determine which occupant is hit either by fiat or randomly.

1 (3), 2 (4), 3-5 (5), 6-10 (6), 11-20 (7)

Additional Notes:
Cockpit Window – I’ve decided to treat this as a small window.
Blister Guns – After reading through the game mechanical definition of a turret, I decided these were more like big windows with a gun on. Damage to them which doesn’t hit the gunner should be treated as body damage, not destroy some of the turret’s functionality as the entry for Main Turret, nor destroy the turret but not damage the body, as the entry for Small Turret.
Engines – Because the engines are both vital, and separate from the body by a support structure, I’ve decided to give them their own HP pool like a limb, but apply the wounding of a vitals shot. Note that the fire of a burning engine (1d+1 per second) may spread to a wing once it’s done enough damage. If this starts to happen it is advisable to land immediately.

Combat examples I'm working up:
Strafing of stationary ground target.
Bombing run of stationary ground target.
Air to Air Engagement vs FW-190.

Edited to correct the handling bonus from +1 to -2, fix errors with model number and production period, and improve some text.