chris ballance
Airman 1st Class
- 126
- Jul 21, 2022
She is in this episode
Why did every country have a flying boat ?
- Thread starter VA5124
- Start date
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fubar57
General
......and left at the 16 second mark
chris ballance
Airman 1st Class
- 126
- Jul 21, 2022
Tough customers
chris ballance
Airman 1st Class
- 126
- Jul 21, 2022
soviets built 1.3k of the MBR-2 although it was a bit outdated by WW2. They started to license-built the PBY in Taganrog but due to production problems and the german knocking at their door they just managed to build ~30 of them. They got ~200 via LL from 1942-43 on
chris ballance
Airman 1st Class
- 126
- Jul 21, 2022
Don't know if it's true but Wiki has MBR-2 being used by the North Koreans postwar.
Given the intensity of the fighting in the Artic at times, I'm sure the Soviets would have even used P2Y-3s if they had received them.
The soviets had a beautiful 4 engine flying boat that I just found out about, but can't remember just now.
GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
The Beriev R-1 was kind of cool looking
fubar57
General
chris ballance
Airman 1st Class
- 126
- Jul 21, 2022
Tupolev MTB-2 (ANT-44)?
Yes! Thank you!
A bit of extraneous info I suspect has been covered way back when, but I haven't read through the whole thread yet.
This...
Akaiami flying boat jetty Aitutaki atoll 001
versus this...
Aitutaki coral runway 007
These were taken in the Aitutaki atoll in the Cook Islands, a New Zealand dependency in the mid Pacific around halfway between NZ and Hawaii. The top photo shows where pax embarked on a tender to reach a flying boat out in the lagoon. The bottom photo shows Aitutaki's first land runway built in WW2 for military aircraft, the runway was made from crushed coral. Places as isolated as the Cook Islands were ripe for flying boat operations because the infrastructure simply did not exist for landplanes, and although the lagoon had to be dredged to cater for the flying boats, those techniques had been honed for years before, whether dredging an aircraft sea runway or widening or deepening a harbour.
WW2 brought about enormous changes in operational policy and the pace at which they happened. That coral runway was built by the New Zealand Ministry of Works. Before WW2 it had built a wee handful of airfields around the country, most of which were grass strips with a hangar and maybe a radio station, but WW2 saw expansion into big hangars of increased size, concrete ramps, taxiways and perimeter tracks, as well as all the accoutrements we take for granted that are required to successfully operate an airport, as well as accommodation for all the personnel required to run the airfield, and it all had to be done quickly. The NZ MoW built almost a hundred airfields around New Zealand in a one-to-two year period, far more than the country had before the war, and it sent teams of workers into the Pacific to do the same, whereas, flying boats could operate from existing harbours and use facilities there, although purpose built hangars and stuff were required.
This is a relic of New Zealand's flying boat heritage, it once stood at Mechanics Bay on the Waitemata Harbour and was built to house TEAL (the national airline before Air New Zealand) flying boats, Sunderlands, Sandringhams and lastly Solents. It's bigger in person than the picture gives it credit.
Former TEAL hangar i
This...
versus this...
These were taken in the Aitutaki atoll in the Cook Islands, a New Zealand dependency in the mid Pacific around halfway between NZ and Hawaii. The top photo shows where pax embarked on a tender to reach a flying boat out in the lagoon. The bottom photo shows Aitutaki's first land runway built in WW2 for military aircraft, the runway was made from crushed coral. Places as isolated as the Cook Islands were ripe for flying boat operations because the infrastructure simply did not exist for landplanes, and although the lagoon had to be dredged to cater for the flying boats, those techniques had been honed for years before, whether dredging an aircraft sea runway or widening or deepening a harbour.
WW2 brought about enormous changes in operational policy and the pace at which they happened. That coral runway was built by the New Zealand Ministry of Works. Before WW2 it had built a wee handful of airfields around the country, most of which were grass strips with a hangar and maybe a radio station, but WW2 saw expansion into big hangars of increased size, concrete ramps, taxiways and perimeter tracks, as well as all the accoutrements we take for granted that are required to successfully operate an airport, as well as accommodation for all the personnel required to run the airfield, and it all had to be done quickly. The NZ MoW built almost a hundred airfields around New Zealand in a one-to-two year period, far more than the country had before the war, and it sent teams of workers into the Pacific to do the same, whereas, flying boats could operate from existing harbours and use facilities there, although purpose built hangars and stuff were required.
This is a relic of New Zealand's flying boat heritage, it once stood at Mechanics Bay on the Waitemata Harbour and was built to house TEAL (the national airline before Air New Zealand) flying boats, Sunderlands, Sandringhams and lastly Solents. It's bigger in person than the picture gives it credit.
chris ballance
Airman 1st Class
- 126
- Jul 21, 2022
I'm glad the hanger was preserved. Any news on Short Sunderland NZ4111 on the Chatham Islands
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It's tucked away on the edge of Mt Wellington, out of the way. I suspect no-one who frequents it knows its provenance or history. As far as I know the Sundy on the Chathams is under cover now. The preservation group has since acquired an F-27 fuselage that came from the old Air New Zealand training hangar, Hangar 4 at Chc airport, that has since been dismantled.
chris ballance
Airman 1st Class
- 126
- Jul 21, 2022
A good YouTube video on the Martin PBM Mariner was just published by Rex's Hanger. The video addresses at length the question that started this thread
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Reluctant Poster
Staff Sergeant
- 1,381
- Dec 6, 2006
I have to say after watching an episode of Giligans Island that if I had been on that island Gilligan would have been found floating face down in the lagoon very quickly
Thumpalumpacus
Captain
It baffles me why the Prof didn't just figure out how to haul the Minnow out of the water, patch the hole, and get both MaryAnne and Ginger as his just desserts. "You saved my life!" is a powerful aphrodisiac, and I'd be working my ass off for that. And I'd need Gilligan and the Skipper for labor.
33k in the air
Staff Sergeant
- 1,219
- Jan 31, 2021
"Why did every country have a flying boat?"
Perhaps to provide the punchline to a joke? "Sure, that'll happen . . . when boats fly! Ha ha ha ha! Oh, wait . . ."
Perhaps to provide the punchline to a joke? "Sure, that'll happen . . . when boats fly! Ha ha ha ha! Oh, wait . . ."
Reluctant Poster
Staff Sergeant
- 1,381
- Dec 6, 2006
He was an MIT grad, no practical ability
GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
Because if the Professor repaired the Minnow (which he and the Skipper were capable of), the show wouldn't have lasted more than a few episodes...
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