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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 1036.PDF
420 Seafoxes, Hudsons and Turreted Sunderlands Protect Shipping Lane to the Cape and Across South Atlantic I. A.O.C. West African Command. Air Vice - Marshal J. B. Cole- Hamilton, C.B.E., at h^s desk at Air Headquarters. FLIGHT APRIL 22ND, 1943 Coastal C< West 2. -*,_ ....i^.v.. auuioscs tile uincers ana men during a visrt to one of the stations under his command. 6. Close-up of the Sunderland's nose showing how the power-operated gun turret is retracted into the hull in order that the mooring tackle can be con- veniently used. 7. In tropical surroundings a launch operates a shuttleservice to and from the flying boats and the beach. THE ever-increasing range and numbers of Germansubmarines means ever-increasing responsibilities onthe shoulders of Coastal Command. The shipping lanes of both the north and south Atlantic oceans, the northern route to Russia and the southern route via the Cape are now all open to under-water attack. Coastal Command, as one entity, operates throughout the year in temperatures which vary from sub-zero to tropical. Convoys to be protected are sometimes over 750 miles from the base where the aircraft take off. For most of the crew life is a dreary business of round- the-clock patrols over watery wastes, but for the navigator who has to find a pin-point on an ocean face or make a perfect landfall the work is terribly exacting. Its very monotony is likely to defeat its own object, for it is only by keeping continual vigilance that the crew can be ready- to handle an attacking aircraft or dejDth-charge a crash- diving U-boat. 3. Big Claus and little Clans. A Short Sunderland and a Fairey Seafox up on the slipway for overhaul. The Seafox was designed as a light reconna:ssance machine for catapulting from cruisers. 4. A general view of the station showing the slipway and sheltered anchorages. There are two Sunderland Ills on the tarmac and one at its moorings. 5. The formal briefing of flying boats' aircrews before take-off on an anti-submarine patrol.
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