Sunderland 'no ladder'
Nice to hear from you Hairy - Yes there is every possibility that
the story of the Air Comm type taking a swim in Southampton waters was
a porky however to be fair to him it was I that embelished the tale by assuming that a ladder would have been used - also adding the word 'smart' to 'salutes' - I may also have been unfair by describing him as
an 'erk' when in fact for all I know he could well have been a skilled
competent and respected ground flight engineer.
On another tack some years ago in my business I found myself in
the office of a Vicar somewhere down in the West country. As he sat
at his desk I noticed the framed photo of a Sunderland on his wall
- not what one would expect to find in the average parsonage. Turning to the vicar - a small slight elderly man who seemed no more than 5ft I pointed to the photo and queried why was the photo on his wall - Turning his head towards the photo he said "Oh - thats my old Sunderland" - It transpired that this small and seemingly meek mild man of god in earlier years had piloted Sunderlands somewhere in the Biscay on anti U-boat patrols !