Flying Boats: The Giants - An enjoyable American produced documentary showcasing the Saunders-Roe SR45 Princess, the Martin Mars and the Hughes H4 Hercules:
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Flying Boats: The Giants - An enjoyable American produced documentary showcasing the Saunders-Roe SR45 Princess, the Martin Mars and the Hughes H4 Hercules:
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From Sea to Sky - The History of Flying Boats in Australia
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The Flying Boats - An Overview of British Flying Boat History
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The Golden Hind
Shorts S26 G-class flying boat G-AFCI 'The Golden Hind' as seen at Harty Ferry in March 1954 (Photo: KC Sherris)
In this photo the Golden Hind (as she was named) is seen in the Swale Estuary between Faversham and the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, in in the aftermath of a gale during which this rare 'G-class' flying boat (one of only three) was blown against a concrete jetty resulting in some damage to the side of her hull.
In the background can be seen the Ferry House Inn which, it should be said, remains a public house to this day, indeed it has now attained award-winning status.
At the time of this photo the Golden Hind was registered to Buchan Marine Services of Dorset. Coincidentally, her location in the above photo is extraordinarily close the original Short Brothers workshop which was established in 1909 at Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey.
I shall post more details about the Golden Hind and her sister ships on another occasion.Comment
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No. 10 & 461 RAAF Squadrons During WW2
From their base at RAF Mount Batten, Plymouth, Australians of No. 10 and 461 Squadrons RAAF spent most of the Second World War in a desperate battle to keep Britain supplied with food and war materials. The ongoing struggle was fought mainly against German submarines whose task was to destroy convoys of merchant ships as they travelled to and from Britain. The German submarines, also known as U-boats 'undersea boats' posed a constant threat to the supply lines that connected Britain to overseas markets.
No. 10 Squadron was in Britain before the outbreak of war to be equipped with the new Short Sunderland flying Boats. It was joined by 461 Squadron in April 1942 also equipped with Sunderlands which were nicknamed the “flying porcupine” by the German fighter pilots who encountered them, due to the large number of machine guns they were armed with. Although their main role was to locate and destroy enemy submarines, the flying boats of the 10 and 461 Squadrons proved to be equally useful for air-sea rescue and transport missions.
A hundred and sixty-one members of 10 Squadron, which had the distinction of being the longest serving RAAF squadron of the Second World War, lost their lives in the ceaseless struggle to keep Britain’s supply lines open. Sixty-four Australians of 461 Squadron similarly lost their lives.
Painting of a 'Sundy' (Shorts Sunderland) on anti-submarine ops during WW2
Crew members on board a Sundy during WW2 enjoy a breakComment
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The Pacific Clipper
Listen to the story of the Pacific's Clipper's (aka the 'California Clipper') round-the-world flight in 1942.
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