Last Double Sunrise pilot dies
 

The longest-duration airliners ever...

Heroic squadron loses last pilot - The West Australian

I am sure Brian Abraham will be along shortly regarding this. He has a copy of the Chief Pilot's notes for the flight.

32 hours.....................gawd I get restless after 2 hours these days. :ooh:

These blokes really were heroes, in the true sense of the word. As compared to blokes with weapons, who took major risks such as attacking enemy positions... which was usually over in minutes, or even seconds... these Double Sunrise blokes were on the absolute limits of everything, for extended periods... and also had to endure cold, noise, storms, and possible enemy attack, without weapons, for those extended periods.

I recall that the P&W R1830's of the PBY's never suffered a single engine failure of any kind, in over 2 years of the Double Sunrise operations, and around 1,000,000 miles of operation.

I also recall that with the massive takeoff weight of over 35,000lbs (raised by Qantas from the manufacturers original 27,500lbs), the PBY's were unable to gain any serious amount of height, for the first few hours into the flight.

This apparently didn't concern the crews, as they often flew at 500' to avoid Jap air patrols! I guess they didn't consider the possibly of German sea raiders sighting them! :eek:

Apparently an engine failure within 10 hrs of flight commencement would have meant a ditching... and the PBY's did not gain single-engine performance until after 16 hrs of flight!

I wonder how many of these certificates were issued, and how many remain in existence? There were apparently about 650 passengers in total, over the 2 years of operation.


http://i53.tinypic.com/2076tkw.jpg

A friend of mine is also a holder of the Order of the Double Sunrise. Having completed a full Bomber Command tour on Hampdens, he retrained as a Wireless Operator Mechanic and flew over 1,500 hours in Catalinas with the RAF including 30+ hour trips from Perth. Now 90, he remains hail and hearty.

AVM Ted Hawkins DFC*, former RAF Catalina captain, is still alive as well. One of his DFCs involved a flight in excess of 24 hours.