Kirjahaku

The consolidated PBY Catalina was probably the most versatile and successful flying boat/amphibian ever built, serving not just with the US Army, Navy and Coast Guard during the Second World War, but also with the air forces of Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with the Danes, Free French and Norwegians as well as in Brazil, Chile, Indonesia and elsewhere. With a remarkable lifting capacity and endurance, this long-range twin-engine aircraft could absorb a great deal of punishment and still return home after flights lasting an entire day and covering thousands of miles. It was employed as a maritime reconnaissance aircraft, as a bomber and torpedo-bomber, as an anti-submarine weapon, as a mine layer, as a special operations machine and as a search-and-rescue craft by day and night. It ferried stores, mail and people - many of them sick and injured - across the world's oceans. In this book Andrew Hendrie tells the story of the "Flying Cats", of their achievements and exploits, of the heroism of many of the crews and the problems they had to endure.

In 1933, the Air Ministry issued a specification for a general-purpose four-engine flying boat capable of operating from the outposts of the Empire. The result was the remarkable Sunderland, built by Short Brothers. This book covers the development of the Short Sunderland and its operations during and after the Second World War. The Sunderland's ability to engage six or more enemy fighters simultaneously earned it the Luftwaffe's nickname of the Flying Porcupine'. The aircraft's maid of all work' role over the eastern Mediterranean is covered in detail, and includes recce's for the Royal Navy, evacuations from Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete, as well as attacks on enemy submarines. The Canadian, Australian and Norwegian squadrons' operations within Coastal Command are detailed plus, outside the Command, those of the South Africans and New Zealanders. The author also includes details of post-war operations such as the Berlin Airlift. Detailed appendices include lists of Sunderlands with brief histories and all known successful attacks on enemy submarines.