BIG FLYING-BOATS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 128, 30 April 1940, Page 7

BIG FLYING-BOATS

VALUE TO BRITAIN. ENEMY ’PLANE WORSTED. ENCOUNTER IN FIORD. (United Press Association—liy Electric Teiegrapn—Copyright.) (British Official Wireless.) . Received April 30, 11.3 a.in. RUGBY, April 29. The Air Ministry announces that a Sunderland fiying'-boat of the Coastal Command of the It.A.F. recently encountered and shot down a Mess'ersclimitt fighter. If the bombing by German Junkers SS’s over a Norwegian fiord had been more accurate it is probable the terse announcement that the Sunderland flyingboat had shot down a Messersclimitt 110 would have read very differently. The flying-boat had just landed and the captain was rowing in a whaler to a. nearby warship when a heavy attack was made by the Junker aeroplanes. Quickly the flying-boat’s captain returned to his craft and began to taxi over the water and dodge the bombs. After a while the flying-boat’s engines became hot and in order to coo] them the pilot took off, only to be immediately attacked by the Messerschmitt 110. The German machine, however, was unable to withstand the concentrated fire from the heavilyarmed Sunderland and crashed into the sea. Sunderland flying-boats are some of the largest service aeroplanes in use. Weighing over £0 tons and with a wing span of just over 112 ft and a crew of ten. they have been carrying out reconnaissance flights lasting from 14 to 16 hours. They are able to carryout shallow bombing dives as several submarines know to their cost and their heavy armament, they have two power-opera ted turrets, make them a formidable proposition even for a nimble Messersclimitt 110, although their ton-speed is only -210 miles against the German fighter’s .370. CONVOY PROTECTION. These boats arc very manoeuvrable in spite of their great size and are a development of the well-known “Empire” class of flying-boat of commercial fame. Attached to the Coastal Command, these aircraft have taken part in the Command’s- activities, which incliido the convoying of merchant ships against air attac-k, and it is the Command’s proud boast that an air-escorted convoy has never yet lost a ship. The Sunderlands which were used to land the experts who preceded the British troops landing in Norway after the German invasion also cooperated with other branches of the Air Force and the Navy in driving off practically all the German vessels from between Bergen and Trondheim.