Consolidated P2Y

The Consolidated P2Y was an American sesquiplane maritime patrol flying boat, also built by Martin as the P3M parasol monoplane because the Navy awarded production contracts separately from prototype contracts. It began as the Model 9 XPY-1 designed by Isaac Laddon, which first flew on 10 January 1929 at Anacostia, and led to the improved Model 22 Ranger, designated XP2Y-1, which took features such as the enclosed cockpit from the Model 16 Commodore and became a sesquiplane with a smaller lower wing. The Navy ordered 23 P2Y-1 boats on 7 July 1931, and by mid-1933 they were serving with squadrons VP-10F and VP-5F on long-range formation flights. Later P2Y-2 and P2Y-3 versions followed, and by the end of 1941 all had been withdrawn from operational use and sent to Naval Air Station Pensacola.