I think the first PBY contact was with the invasion fleet, not the carrier battle group. There was great hesitation about what to do — whether to launch or hold back. These were incredible gambles.
Not necessarily arguing your point. PBY’s were used extensively during the battle to both reconnoiter and attack.
No problem. My main point of the post was to correct the person to whom I was replying that Cdr. McCluskey following the destroyer to the carriers came many hours after the initial sighting of the Jap fleet, which gave Fletcher an initial heading to launch his strike force toward.