EVERYBODY STAY CALM!!

You're right that the PBY could potentially, MAYBE beat a helicopter on range, but even that's a crapshoot. A few things to keep in mind-- A new PBY would almost certainly be a turboprop-- probably spinning a pair of PT6 derivatives because they hang that on EVERYTHING. This would simplify logistics since pretty much everything in the military and most things in the commercial world all run on some flavor of jet fuel. The problem is that would make it GROSSLY over-powered, but that's nothing a bit of engine tuning can't work around. There's pretty much no logical case for putting radial gasoline engines on a new PBY, but hey-- we're talking about reviving a nearly 100 year old design so who knows. The PBY is also dead slow. It was slow by WWII standards and even with new engines I'm not sure how much faster you could realistically push that design from an aerodynamic standpoint. It cruises at 100-110kts. It has a relatively long range of 2000ish miles, but you could probably cover that distance in a helicopter even with a fuel stop along the way. So maybe you use it for loiter for maritime patrol? Why do that when you can do the same thing with a MQ-1 or MQ-9 for a far longer loiter time and cheaper operation cost? If the military (or anyone else) is serious about getting back in the flying boat game, I think they'd be MUCH better off commissioning a clean-sheet design. It probably be the same or less work than reviving the PBY anyway, and you'd end up with a design that would likely be far more practical. [Source for PBY numbers](https://pbycatalina.com/specifications/)