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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1173.PDF
FLIGHT e May 2.2nd, 1941 FLYING BOATS OF TWO WARS (Continued) THREE STOREY BABY:(Top Right) The Porte Super Baby, officiallyknown as the Felixstowe Fury. Span 123ft.,length 60ft., height (from keel) 27ft. 6in. were continued with it after the war until it met its end in a crash on the East Coast. There was a project to fly it across the Atlantic, but this was abandoned." Many were the doughty jobs of work done on these contraptions of a quarter of a century ago. Fit. Sub. Lt. J. B. P. Ferrand, with Air Mechanic G. T. Okmeld, on submarine patrol in an F.B.A. in November, 1915, fell in with a German destroyer with an escort of four sea- planes. The F.B.A. attacked forthwith, when three of the/enemy made off for Ostend ; the fourth made a fight of it, but was promptly shot down by the observer. Having disposed of the escort, the F.B.A. attacked the destroyer but his bombs missed the ship. An interesting episode occurred in October, 1914, when the German raider Konigsberg was hiding in the inaccessible Rufiji delta. There were in Durban two 90 h.p. Curtiss boats which were piloted alternately by Mr. H. D. Cutler. One of these was pressed into ser- vice and Cutler given a com- mission. H.Q. were estab- SEA BATTLE, 1940 : Anauthentic photograph of a Saro London taken from aHeinkel 111 during an air encounter over the NorthSea. BRITAIN'S FASTEST BOAT ; (Above) With a shapely frontelevation the twin Hercules-engined Saro Lerwick has an excellent turn of speed. MODERN LOOK-OUT : A Supermarine Walrus leaving thecatapult of " H.M.S. Devonshire." The Walrus is the standard aircraft carried on cruisers and battleships. lished on a small island called Niororo, 18 miles off the Rufiji coast of Zanzibar. Monsoon rains and disintegra- tion of the hull by the damp heat meant almost impossible flying conditions, and a continual fight to keep the boat airworthy. The boat did, however, find the Konigsberg, but the naval authorities could not, or rather would not, believe Cutler's report. A further reconnaissance with Capt. D. B. Crampton, R.N., as observer confirmed the report, and a third trip, with the hull in such a bad state that only the pilot could be carried, resulted in a forced landing and Cutler being captured. Zeppelin airships, which were having things all their own way, were being fought by flying boats in addition to the efforts of bomber and fighter aircraft. The courses of the airships were plotted continuously and, as soon as one approached within about 150 miles of the coast, flying boats took off to engage them. Within two months of starting the scheme in 1917 two successes had been scored. On May 14th a '' Large America'' took off at dawn from Yarmouth Air Station. A hundred miles or so out an interception of the Zeppelin L22 was made. The airship was cruising at 2,000ft., and the flying boat dived from 5,000ft. to attack with two Lewis guns at the point-blank range of 30 yds. As was usual with the Lewis guns of
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