Short Sunderland (& DH Beaver) at Calshot 1993

[clee2011]

A few print scans taken at former RAF flying boat base Calshot in 1993. They show the Sunderland departing for Kermit Week's "Fantasy of Flight" in Florida (July 20th?). The Beaver was being used as a camera ship for some air to air. I hope they are of interest and apologise for the poor quality.


Calshot 1993 (19) by colin.lee2006, on Flickr


Calshot 1993 (10) by colin.lee2006, on Flickr


Calshot 1993 (8) by colin.lee2006, on Flickr


Calshot 1993 (22) by colin.lee2006, on Flickr


Calshot 1993 (23) by colin.lee2006, on Flickr


Calshot 1993 (20) by colin.lee2006, on Flickr


Calshot 1993 (7) by colin.lee2006, on Flickr


Calshot 1993 (9) by colin.lee2006, on Flickr


Calshot 1993 (13) by colin.lee2006, on Flickr


Calshot 1993 (15) by colin.lee2006, on Flickr


Calshot 1993 (12) by colin.lee2006, on Flickr


Calshot 1993 (16) by colin.lee2006, on Flickr

Colin

[wv383]

So good you can almost hear it! Thanks for posting!

[Davef68]

Lovely shots.

It looks like a model in this one!

[Mike Dodd]

Thanks for posting, me and Mrs.Dodd made the trip down to Calshot courtesy of a good friend shortly before she flew.Sadly we were unable to catch her flying as our son decided to arrive in this world earlier than expected!

[Haskey]

Thanks for posting the pictures. It brings back memories of seeing them there together. I have pictures of the Sunderland and DH Beaver parked at Calshot but was never lucky to see them fly. I had a boat trip on the RAF launch 206 on Southampton water. This vessel has now been retired and in 2010 was put on display in the RAF Museum at Hendon alongside the RAF Shorts Sunderland.

[clee2011]

Thanks for your replies guys. By pure coincidence in my local paper today there is a mention of a "Schneider 80" event to be held at Calshot on Tuesday 13th September. This I knew nothing about and will be a rare opportunity to see some floatplanes flying in this country. More details on this website: -
http://www.euroseaplanes.co.uk/schneider80.html

Regards
Colin

[capercaillie]

Shame its not still flying over here, it could have looked so good put back in Coastal Command colours .

And dare I say - nice Beaver

[wallace]

What a waste of an aircraft, sure she is preserved but she's not flown in years. That would be a plane worth seeing in the air.

[skelly737]

Hi,

Just got back from a recent trip to Florida and was fortunate to see the Shorts Sunderland tucked away in one of the main hangers at the Fantasy of Flight Museum. It looks in reasonable condition, however the guide that was showing around did say that the owner has no plans to put this bird back in the sky. He did say that it could be done, however the risk of loosing or damaging the only one of its kind, meant that it wasn't worth taking the risk. Also the lake next to the museum would need to be at a much higher level than at present, for the aircraft to operate safely. Shame really but when you look at the rest of the aircraft in his collection, you can understand why.

Dave