Black Cats: Australia's Long Range Catalina Strike Force
Australian Military History Military Aviation History Biography & Memoir World War II RAAF History Pacific War Naval Mine Warfare Catalina Aircraft
Black Cats: Australia’s Long Range Catalina Strike Force is the only comprehensive account of the RAAF’s secret Catalina squadrons—aircrews who flew 12-hour night missions, often in monsoon cloud, to mine Japanese harbours from the Philippines to China. First published in 2001 and now scarce in any condition, this 250-page paperback gathers first-hand diaries, squadron records and 1943–45 combat reports to show how the “Black Cats” turned the lumbering PBY flying-boat into a stealth weapon that sank more enemy shipping than any other Allied unit in the South-West Pacific. Readers discover how ground crews blackened the Catalina’s wings with stove soot, how pilots navigated by starlight and coconut-tree silhouettes, and why these slow, ungainly aircraft became the most feared night raiders in General MacArthur’s island-hopping campaign.
What makes this copy especially appealing to collectors and historians is its clean, unread interior: no inscriptions, dog-ears or annotations, and the binding is still tight and square. The only blemish is a light foxing speckle confined to the closed page edges and the front blank—common in Australian paper of this era—so the text block itself remains bright and fully legible. As the sole single-volume history of 11, 20 and 43 Squadrons’ mine-laying operations, the book is cited in the Australian War Memorial bibliography and is increasingly hard to find on the secondary market.
For aviation enthusiasts, genealogists tracing a Catalina veteran, or modellers seeking accurate nose-art and serial numbers, Minty’s work is packed with rare photographs, crew lists, mission maps and aircraft profiles that have never been reprinted. Young-adult and adult readers alike gain an accessible entry point to Australian military history, cultural identity and the technological ingenuity spawned by wartime necessity. Owning this well-preserved 2001 first edition ensures you hold the definitive record of one of the most daring—but least celebrated—chapters of the Pacific War.
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