The Catalina performed some of the most critical surveillance missions of World War II. An RAF Catalina located the German battleship Bismarck, enabling the Royal Navy to destroy it in May 1941. A Canadian Catalina warned the Royal Navy’s Indian Ocean fleet of the approach of a Japanese carrier group in April 1942 before being shot down by a Zero. A Catalina also spotted the Japanese carrier force as it approached Midway Island in June 1942 and provided one of the most important radio messages of the war. This aircraft is a Consolidated OA-10 Catalina.