Navy PBY Catalina

These flying boats were a major force in WWII. They were used for long range reconnaissance for fleet units, submarine hunting, bombing and locating combat pilots downed in air battles. They were the planes used to locate the Japanese fleet and turn the tide of battle at Midway. They were used for recon of Japanese fleet units of the Tokyo express in the battle for Guadalcanal. It was a PBY that located the survivors of the USS Indianapolis in the later days of WWII. When the Indianapolis was sunk, by two Japanese torpedos, en route  between Guam and the Philippines, 1100 of the 1500 man crew abandoned ship and of the 1100 men that went into the Pacific waters, only 300 survived, the rest died, some of exhaustion and more from shark attacks. Had it not been for the PBY, all would have been lost. A brave LTJG named Marks located survivors and landed in open ocean to pick up survivors until the navy destroyer USS Cecil Doyle could arrive on scene.

The navy still had seaplanes in San Diego until the mid-sixties at North Island. They were huge birds, so large it was a wonder they could lift off from San Diego bay.