Consolidated PB2Y Coronado: Difference between revisions

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[[File:RAF Darell's Island.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Coronados and Catalinas at [[Darrell's Island, Bermuda|RAF Darrell's Island]], [[Bermuda]].]]
Coronados served in combat in the [[Asiatic-Pacific Theater|Pacific]] with the United States Navy, in both bombing and antisubmarine roles. PB2Y-5 Coronados carried out four bombing raids on [[Wake Island]] between
30 January and 9 February 1944.<ref name=burney /> However, most served as transport and hospital aircraft.
30 January and 9 February 1944.<ref name=burney /> However, most served as transport and hospital aircraft. The British [[Royal Air Force]] [[Coastal Command]] had hoped to use the Coronado as a maritime patrol bomber, as it already used the PBY Catalina. However, the range of the Coronado (1,070 miles) compared poorly with the Catalina (2,520&nbsp;mi), and the [[Short Sunderland]] (1,780&nbsp;mi). Consequently, the Coronados supplied to the RAF under [[Lend-Lease]] were outfitted purely as transports, serving with [[RAF Transport Command]]. The 10 aircraft were used for [[transatlantic flight]]s, staging through the RAF base at [[Darrell's Island, Bermuda]], and Puerto Rico, though the aircraft were used to deliver vital cargo and equipment in a transportation network that stretched down both sides of the Atlantic, from [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]], to [[Brazil]], and to [[Nigeria]], and other parts of Africa. After the war ended five of the RAF aircraft were scrapped, one was already lost in collision with a [[Martin PBM Mariner]] and the last four were scuttled off the coast of Bermuda in 1946.<ref>{{Harvnb|March|2000|p=63.}}</ref>
 
30 January and 9 February 1944.<ref name=burney /> However, most served as transport and hospital aircraft. The British [[Royal Air Force]] [[Coastal Command]] had hoped to use the Coronado as a maritime patrol bomber, as it already used the PBY Catalina. However, the range of the Coronado (1,070 miles) compared poorly with the Catalina (2,520&nbsp;mi), and the [[Short Sunderland]] (1,780&nbsp;mi). Consequently, the Coronados supplied to the RAF under [[Lend-Lease]] were outfitted purely as transports, serving with [[RAF Transport Command]]. The 10 aircraft were used for [[transatlantic flight]]s, staging through the RAF base at [[Darrell's Island, Bermuda]], and Puerto Rico, though the aircraft were used to deliver vital cargo and equipment in a transportation network that stretched down both sides of the Atlantic, from [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]], to [[Brazil]], and to [[Nigeria]], and other parts of Africa. After the war ended five of the RAF aircraft were scrapped, one was already lost in collision with a [[Martin PBM Mariner]] and the last four were scuttled off the coast of Bermuda in 1946.<ref>{{Harvnb|March|2000|p=63.}}</ref>
 
Coronados served as a major component in the [[Naval Air Transport Service]] (NATS) during World War II in the Pacific theater. Most had originally been acquired as combat patrol aircraft, but the limitations noted above quickly relegated them to transport service in the American naval air fleet also. By the end of World War II, the Coronado was outmoded as both a bomber and a transport, and virtually all of them were quickly scrapped by the summer of 1946, being melted down to aluminum ingots and sold as metal scrap,<ref>{{Harvnb|Naval Aviation News|September 1946|p=9.}}</ref> or used as targets for fighter gunnery practice.<ref name=burney />