This is not a PBY, but an OA-10, the Army version of the PBY. If you look carefully you will see that the soldiers are Japanese.

The photo was taken in September 1945 after the Japanese surrender and this OA-10 became stuck in the sand whilst conducting a liaison mission. The Japanese troops on the island were called in to help pull it off, which they did successfully.

Note the large mounted bulb behind the cockpit which was a radome. Unfortunately #945 was lost in a hurricane a few weeks after this shot was taken, when blown over on its back.

The most enigmatic mystery for the 3rd ERS OA-10s was when one disappeared on 13th October 1944 out of Biak. Under the command of Captain Lew Carnegie, it was depatched to find a ditched Mitchell aircrew which had taken to rafts in fine whether. Carnegie and his OA-10 were never heard from again.

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