Nice, I must get out to BC more often. My cousin lives on Bowen Island.
I like how the Stranraer (and Walrus) was designed by RJ Mitchell of Spitfire fame. That demonstrates the amazing breadth of his skill set. Had he remained alive and well into the 1950s I wonder what Mitchell's take on the Attacker, Swift and Scimitar would have been. As long as the Exchequer doesn't hold up the funds, we'd likely see Mitchell with something in service by 1949-50 that's equal to the MiG-15 and Sabre over Korea.
Mitchell died before his four engined bomber was completed. Perhaps an early four engined bomber before the Stirling.
Supermarine B.12/36 - Wikipedia
As for flying boats….? Perhaps Mitchell could have made a twin-engined ultra long ranged equivalent to the PBY Catalina. Interestingly, Canadian Vickers produced both the Stranraer and the Catalina (PB Canso) in British Columbia.
The origins of the PBY Catalina go back to a USN request for a new patrol flying boat in 1933.
At the same time in Britain the Air Ministry were issuing Spec R.2/33 that ultimately led to the Short Sunderland. While prototypes were ordered from Short Bros (S.25) & Saunders Roe (A.33) design studies were also carried out by Blackburn, Fairey & Supermarine. Supermarine's offerings were:-
Type 232 monoplane powered by 4 Goshawk engines
Type 238 monoplane powered by 4 Perseus engines
Type 239 biplane powered by Merlin engines
It is not clear if any of the above were officially tendered or were weeded out beforehand. The Blackburn & Fairey offerings have disappeared into the mists of time.
They also unsuccessfully tendered for Spec R.1/36 that led to the Lerwick. One of the things that counted against them in that timescale was Spitfire development. While Supermarine had been bought by Vickers in 1928 it seems, as was common at the time, to have retained its separate identity and therefore only had a relatively small design team and production facilities. It was 1938/39 before steps were taken to rationalise the management of Vickers various aviation interests.
The A.33 had some passing resemblance to the Catalina
Does anyone have any good pics of the Saro A.33 flying boat to the same R.2/33 Specification as the Short Sunderland?
www.secretprojects.co.uk
The Supermarine offerings to B.12/36 were never going to beat the Stirling, offered at the same time, into service.
Type 316 initial offering with single tail and interchangeable engines; superceded by the following with longer wingspan and twin tail;
Type 317 (Hercules engines)
Type 318 (Merlin engines)
By the time a contract was issued for 2 prototypes in 1937, Supermarine were heavily involved in getting the Spitfire into service and production. And then R J Mitchell died to further compound the company's problems. While the contract itself was cancelled in Sept 1939, Supermarine began some further work on the part built prototypes in March 1940, presumeably as a private venture at that point. The final blow was the bombing of the factory and the part built prototypes on 26 Sept 1940.
By then the Stirling had flown in May 1939, was in production and had entered service with 7 squadron in Aug 1940.
it's very small. A small general store, laundromat, gift stores, marina and marine services, fuel services, guided fishing trips.
