16th October 1937

[antarmike]

First Flight of the Short Sunderland Flying Boat.

 

more follows when I get a chance........

[antarmike]

The Sunderland had one of the largest crews of any type operated by the RAF. The crew of 13 beats the Flying Fortress, Washington (Super Fortress) and the Shackleton, all of which had a crew of 10. The large crew was to provide releif memebers to man the aircraft whilst others slept. The Sunderland being one of the few RAF types to have beds (it actually had 6 bunk beds) and a galley( with twin Kerosene stove) and a flushing Porcelain toliet, so long were some of the Maritime Patrol sorties.

 

It must be the only RAF plane to have had a small machine shop so that spare part manufacture and repairs were possible in flight!

 

It is also one of only a small number of aircraft to have served in two major wars.

 

Entering service in June 1938, it remained in continuous RAF service until 1959, fighting throughout WW2 an into the Korean War.

 

Although relatively lightly armed at first , the defensive armament grew over time, finishing with an amazing 18 guns, the most ever carried as defensive armament by any aircraft. (up to 16× 0.303 inch (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns

2× Browning 0.5 inch (12.7 mm) machine guns)

Edited October 18, 2008 by antarmike

[antarmike]

[antarmike]

The sunderland quickly gained a reputation for being able to look after itself.

 

Two instances stand out:-

 

On 3 April 1940, a Sunderland operating off Norway was attacked by six German Junkers Ju 88 medium bombers and managed to shoot one down, damage another enough to send it off to a forced landing, and drove off the rest

 

On 2nd June 1943 the reputation was enhanced by an air battle between eight Ju 88C long range heavy fighters and a single RAAF Sunderland Mark III of No. 461 Squadron RAAF on 2 June 1943. There were 11 crewmen on board the Sunderland; nine Australians and two British. The crew was on an anti-submarine patrol and also searching for remains of BOAC Flight 777, an airliner that had left Lisbon the day before and subsequently had been shot down over the Bay of Biscay.

 

In the late afternoon, one of the crew spotted the eight Ju 88s. Bombs and depth charges were dumped while the pilot, Flt. Lt. Colin Walker, "redlined" the engines. Two Ju 88s made passes at the flying boat, one from each side, scoring hits and managing to disable one engine while the Sunderland went through wild "corkscrew" evasive manoeuvres. On the third pass, the dorsal turret gunner managed to shoot one down. Another Ju 88 disabled the tail turret, but the next that made a pass was hit by the dorsal and nose turrets and was shot down as well.

 

Still another attacked, destroying the Sunderland's radio gear, wounding most of the crew in varying degrees and mortally wounding one of the side gunners (Flight Sergeant "Ted" Miles). A Ju 88 tried to attack from the rear but the tail turret gunner had managed to regain some control over the turret and shot it down. The surviving Ju 88s continued to attack, but the nose gunner damaged one of these, setting its engines on fire. Two more of the attackers were also hit and the final pair disengaged and departed. Luftwaffe records indicate that the latter were the only two that made it back to base.

 

The Sunderland was heavily damaged. The crew threw everything they could overboard and nursed the aircraft back to the Cornish coast, where Walker managed to land and beach it at Praa Sands. The crew waded ashore, carrying their dead comrade, while the surf broke the Sunderland up. Walker received the Distinguished Service Order and several of the other crew members also received medals.

But for most of the crew their luck would eventually run out.

 

Walker (the pilot)went on to a ground job while the rest of the crew was given a new Sunderland. That Sunderland and its crew disappeared without a trace over the Bay of Biscay two months later after reporting by radio that they were under attack by six Ju 88s.

Edited October 16, 2008 by antarmike

[antarmike]

When first entering service the Sunderland was expected to tackle U boats with a puny anti-submarine bomb. It wasn't until 1943 that it got the punch it deserved when Torpex filled depth charges became available.

 

As well as Air sea rescue role the Sunderland could be used as a trnsport, in fact it was heavily used during the Berlin Airlift in that role.

[antarmike]

Oh and did I say it was one of my favourite aircraft!!!!

[AlienFTM]

And it was a great place to grow up lol.

[Degsy]

As regards it's armament it was nicknamed 'The Flying Porcupine' by the Germans.

[Guest catweazle (Banned Member)]

1959 waiting for the scrap man.

[steve ryan]

Thanks Cat

this was a nice post about the Sunderland, then you spolt it with your Stachelschwein graveyard photo, i feel sad now

Edited October 17, 2008 by steve ryan

[Guest catweazle (Banned Member)]

Thanks Cat

this was a nice post about the Sunderland, then you spolt it with your Stachelschwein graveyard photo, i feel sad now

I think its sad we dont have a flying example in this country,my mate helped to restore the last flying one its now in America. It was just another working tool,and like the steam trains i bet the operators couldnt wait to get out of it.Remarkable aircraft though.I like the whole story of flying boats,flying to Egypt along the nile all through Africa to Cape town.

I have allways fancied a flight in a Catalina another aircraft that saved lots of lives but little talked about.

[antarmike]

There is one in Hendon of course.

[Guest catweazle (Banned Member)]

And this is it,Great day out.

[antarmike]

As regards it's armament it was nicknamed 'The Flying Porcupine' by the Germans.

This had as much to do with the numbers of aeriels some models had sticking out allover as it did with the guns it carried.

 

Beginning in October 1941, Sunderlands were fitted with ASV Mark II radar (Air to Surface Vessel). This was a primitive low frequency radar system operating at a wavelength of 1.5 m, featuring a row of four prominent "stickleback" yagi antennas on top of the rear fuselage, two rows of four smaller aerials on either side of the fuselage beneath the stickleback antennas, and a single receiving aerial mounted under each wing outboard of the float and angled outward.

 

The Wartime censors weren't keen on showing these aerials, so it is hard to find a photograph, please excuse the drawing.

Edited October 19, 2008 by antarmike

[antarmike]

interior stowing different deck levels

[antarmike]

being towed by an RAF RSL (range Safety Launch)

[antarmike]

Take-off.

 

It was sometimes difficult to get the Sunderland unstuck on take off so the hull was redesigned fairly early in in production. The new step in the hull helped significantly with this problem

[Tony B]

Shows Nimrod up dosen't it? Was it based on or did it develop into the Empire flying boats?

[antarmike]

It was based on the S23 or C class empire flying boat, but the hull was significantly different. The Hull was deeper and the nose was longer. The Sunderland was Shorts model S25.

 

The S23 had 4× Bristol Pegasus radial engines, 920 hp (696 kW) each

 

but for the S25 Sunderland (III)these were replaced by 4× Bristol Pegasus XVIII nine-cylinder radial engines, 1,065 hp (794 kW) each

Edited October 18, 2008 by antarmike