The Short S.25 Sunderland flying boat
 

Any of you historians know if any of these beautys still around ?

Museums , privatly owned etc ?


Sunderland




http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Sunderland.jpg


Role Military flying boat Manufacturer Short Brothers First flight 16 October 1937 Introduced 1938 Retired 1967 Primary users Royal Air Force
French Navy
Royal Australian Air Force
Royal New Zealand Air Force Variants Short Sandringham
Short Seaford

Preserved Sunderland and Sandringham
 

I just visited the converted Sunderland, a Sandringham, at Solent Sky Museum, Sothampton, which included a visit to the flight deck and interior accommodation.
Quite a contrast to the Sunderland at Duxford.

There is still one at Duxford I believe

ITLTech

Fantasy of Flight's Short Sunderland

Suggest you have a look at the Similar Threads box at the bottom of this page. Heaps of info.

Defintely at Duxford - v. impressive

... and there is Sunderland ML824, an MR5, in the RAF Museum at Hendon. It's ex-59, 201 and 330 Sqns, and the French Navy. Saved by the late Peter Thomas (who founded the fantastic Skyfame Museum at Staverton) and it was preserved at Pembroke Dock for many years before moving to Hendon.

A couple of these "big beauties" in MOTAT Museum Auckland New Zealand. One is actually a Solent.

Planemike

Here are a couple of pics I took at MOTAT, Auckland, in March 2007:
NZ4115 Short Sunderland. MOTAT Auckland, NZ 15 March 2007 :: NZ4115.jpg :: Fotopic.Net
ZK-AMO Short Sunderland. MOTAT Auckland, NZ 15 March 2007 :: ZKAMO.jpg :: Fotopic.Net

Check these pics too in the Air Britain photo files:
Air-Britain : Short Sunderland

Cheers
 

Cheers Guys .... great info ... im planning my trip as we speak .
just a pity we can't get to see one taking off ...watched some old film the other day looked amazing

I had no idea that so many of these beautiful machines still existed. It so sad to see them in static displays when they could /should be flying. is there any technical problem preventing them from flying or is it money?

Still not enough in my opinion, not that I am biased or anything. I agree that it would be great to see more in flight. However, I suspect that maintenance costs would prohibit that. A Flying Boat has all the technical problems of a land based aircraft plus the problems associated with landing on water, especially salt water. We only have to look at the problems facing the Vulcan to see how difficult it is to raise money for preserved aircraft.

Just for the record there is a Solent in Oakland CA. That should make eight big Shorts boats altogether. Dicksorchard you had better book your flt to CA !!!

Planemike

For what it is worth, Leslie Hunt's Veteran and Vintage Aircraft (Fourth Edition) of 1974 lists the worldwide survivors as:

Sunderlands - 5 (MR V ML824 at Hendon, Mk III ML796 at La Baule in France, MR V NZ4115/SZ584 at MOTAT, MR V NZ4112/VB881/RN272/6534M at Hobsonville Yacht Club New Zealand, and MR V NZ4414/SZ561 at Whangerei, New Zealand but at time rumoured to be moving to a Preservation Group in NSW Australia.

Sandringhams - 2 (both at Rose Bay, Sydney Harbour, Australia - VH-BRC - formerly Sunderland III JM715 and VH-BRF formerly Sunderland III ML814 - both at that time still flying with ANSETT)

Solents - 5 (one of 3 possible survivors on the River Tagus, Lisbon - either G-AHIN, G-ANYI or G-ABOL, others scrapped, Solent 4 ZK-AMO at MOTAT, Solent 2 ex-G-AHIO 'Somerset' and previously VH-TOD aand Solent 3 ex-G-AKNP and VH-TOB both at Richmond and allegedly owned by Howard Hughes.)

There are of course, lots on the bottom of the sea and lakes! There are reliable reports (by my father!)of dozens sunk (using small explosive charges to pierce the hulls) near Stranraer, Scotland, after WW2. A real rarity - Mark I Sunderland T9044 - was discovered by amateur divers at Pembroke Dock and was then sthe ubject of a Channel 4 UK TV 'Wreck Detectives' programme - quite a lot of it left intact although only an engine was raised.

There are a number of Sunderland variants in existance (I am sure its 8).

3 in the UK: === 1 at Hendon, 1 at Duxford, 1 in Southampton
2 in USA === 1 at Polk City, Florida, 1 in Oakland, California
1 in France === 1 in Le Bourget (currently being extensively restored)
2 in New Zealand === at MOTAT Museum, Auckland, New Zealand

Strangely, none exist in Australia where they were extenively used post-war.

But ours in Southampton is the best, of course. Let me know by private message when you come down to Southampton and I'll personally give you an internal tour and a visit to the flight deck. I spend most of my weekends dropping peoples jaws as I guide them around our Sandringham.

Ours is ex JM715. In our museum as VH-BRC, a MK V Sandringham conversion.

SolentSkyMuseum

Here is a recent pic I took.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...z/SH100589.jpg

As far as I am aware of the 8 remaining variants, 3 in UK, 1 France, 2 USA and 2 New Zealand ours is the ONLY one where we not only allow the public on board, but if they behave, we will take them onto the flight deck. I have had people speechless, in tears of emotion and completely overawed at the visit.

As an added personal bonus I actually flew in ours when it visited the Solent in the 1970's. A stunning memory.

Cheers
trevor

A couple of photos, you may have seen these before ? Coronation flypast Singapore 1953.

Keith.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...dayflypast.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...ingapore72.jpg

So, who's interested in becoming a trustee of the Sandringham Foundation?

It's an idea a colleague and I have been kicking around for a while and, what the heck, as you guys brought it up we might as well give it a try.

We currently have no money, no premises and no flying boats;so the only way is up. We do have some interesting and exciting plans, not only for a Sandringham flying boat but for other flying boat and floatplane concepts.

Our mission and aims are:

Mission
Through aviation we will educate, inspire, and encourage people everywhere to aid the most vulnerable and threatened places, people and creatures of our planet.


Aims
To promote interest and educate the general public in aviation whilst raising money for established charities

To raise awareness of global and conservation issues whilst raising money for established global charities

To advance awareness and understanding of the shared aviation and maritime heritage of the countries of the world

To rebuild a flying boat to airworthy condition and to demonstrate the aircraft in flight for the widest possible audience, providing interpretation and education pertaining to its historical, technical and social context

Shall we just opine its passing or shall we do something about it?

Excellent idea. Count me in.

Norwich, Thank you sir,marvellous photograph.Formation is a bit ragged,but then we did not get much if any practice at all with formation flying.
I think it was mainly 88 and 209 Squadron aircraft,as 205 had three aircraft up at Iwakuni at that time.I looked it up in my old logbook and we did a three ship formation flypast over Kure,Hiroshima and Iwakuni on June 3rd 1953 to celebrate the Coronation. The resident VP Squadron covered our operational task that day,so we did a double flight the following day. My goodness doesnt time flyby!

As an afterthought.We had fifteen aircraft on the Wing.Three at Iwakuni.At least one away on SAR duty.one on Minor servicing in the Hanger,so it would appear to be 100% serviceability,not bad!!

Sounds like a fantastic idea, count me in. Where do we go from here?