Vahe Demirjian
Banned
The PBY, PB2Y, and PB4Y are well-documented in US naval aviation literature, but the reason that most people think that the design number PB3Y is "missing" is because PB3Y was an unbuilt Consolidated flying boat design bigger in span than the PB2Y and PBM. As noted by the late American aviation writer Ray Wagner in his 2004 book American Combat Planes of the 20th Century, the first PB3Y design had a wingspan of 190 feet but the final PB3Y had a slightly reduced span measuring 169 feet from wingtip to wingtip. However, the PB3Y was cancelled without reaching the hardware phase despite the Navy ordering a prototype (BuNo 32386) because PBY designer Isaac Laddon coaxed the Navy to cancel to PB3Y to free up his company's resources for building the B-24 and PB4Y.
