Bird Innovator: Difference between revisions

During the late 1960s Dr [[Forrest Bird]] and his Bird Corporation developed a conversion for the PBY Catalina to improve performance. To get the maximum range and performance, the aircraft was modified with an extra two 340&nbsp;hp (254&nbsp;kW) [[Lycoming GSO-480-B2D6]] engines positioned outboard of the original Pratt & Whitney radials.<ref>http://www.warbirdregistry.org/pbyregistry/pby-rcaf9746.html</ref> (These engines and cowlings had originally been installed on the McKinnon four engine Grumman Goose. When they were removed by McKinnon to convert the Goose to twin turboprop power, they were purchased by Dr. Bird for his PBY Innovator conversion. Engineering for the Innovator conversion was performed by Spectro engineering of Los Angeles.) For the conversion, the wing attach fittings were strengthened and greater fuel capacity installed by adding fuel bladders to the outer wing panels. The engineer's controls were previously moved to the cockpit by Southern California Air Service during their "Landseaair" conversion to allow operation without a Flight Engineer. Propeller control for all four propellers was via electric motors. The larger "Super Cat" rudder and increased power main engines (1830-94) had been installed at an earlier time. Contrary to rumor, the angle of incidence of the wing and horizontal surfaces were not modified during the conversion. The effect of the extra engines exceeded expectations, such that it was capable of a cruising speed of 152&nbsp;mph (244&nbsp;km/h) on four engines, and of maintaining 124&nbsp;mph with one of the main engines feathered. The downside of the Innovator conversion was the basic empty weight (BOW)of the aircraft increased to over 29,000 lbs. This was far in excess of the 27,000 lbs maximum that the US Military considered safe for water operations.<ref>Legg (2002), pp.32-34, 243-245</ref> <ref>original aircraft logbooks</ref>