Builds Short Sunderland Mklll 1.72 scale with Eduard PE maintenance platform

[Smeggers]

@SPROCKET321 , I know it’s a bit late but this turned up on FB today. Thought you might like to see it.
This aircraft was lost with all hands.View attachment 538794

Did a bloody good job of finding it then! Was @Kirkz on the salvage team?

 

[Filthy_contract]

Quite apart from the astonishing modelling, this thread has been superb in terms of gaining a real understanding of what it actually took get the RAF into the air and able to fight. The books may talk about 1,000 bomber raids but they never quite capture what a mammoth and very skilled technical and maintenance effort backed it all up.

I have yet to read the maintenance hours/flying time ratio for wartime aircraft, but in many cases it was easier to write off an aircraft than to undertake major structural repairs. By way of a more modern comparison, the much-vaunted Harrier GR-9 took 14 hours of maintenance per flying hour; the F-14 ran into 20+ hours, I understand.

 

[Chef]

I have yet to read the maintenance hours/flying time ratio for wartime aircraft, but in many cases it was easier to write off an aircraft than to undertake major structural repairs. By way of a more modern comparison, the much-vaunted Harrier GR-9 took 14 hours of maintenance per flying hour; the F-14 ran into 20+ hours, I understand.

Are those figures averages or just what it takes on a good day?

As I was typing that I looked up the endurance albeit for a GR3:

Endurance: 1 hour 30 minutes combat air patrol 100 nmi (120 mi; 190 km) from base.
7 hours plus with one AAR.

So a standard patrol means it's VOR for 21 hours before it's good to go or three working days! That's quite a sobering thought and applying it to WWII ops puts into perspective the difference between aircraft held and aircraft available..

Talking Pictures had a film called 'Coastal Command' (1943). A day in the life of a Sunderland plus lots of other aircraft and a general look at Coastal Command, similar in feel to 'Target for tonight' They tend to show these films a few times, keep an eye on the schedules.

Coastal Command (1943) - IMDb

Directed by J.B. Holmes. With Roger Hunter, Charles Norman Lewis, Ralph Reader. Documentary style presentation of the work of RAF Coastal Command. Shows their work in protecting convoys and attacking enemy aircraft, ships and U-boats, all done by the actual men & women of the RAF.

www.imdb.com

 

[Daz]

Did a bloody good job of finding it then! Was @Kirkz on the salvage team?

Only for any bones found later

 

[BareGrills]

So a standard patrol means it's VOR for 21 hours before it's good to go or three working days!

Man hours.
21 men people for one hour would do it.
In theory.

I think I got away with my non PC use of words.

 

[putteesinmyhands]

Man hours.
21 men people for one hour would do it.
In theory.

I think I got away with my non PC use of words.

21 men for one and a half hours.

You forgot NAAFI break.

 

[aardvark64]

21 men for one and a half hours.

You forgot NAAFI break.

So diverged people then?

 

[Filthy_contract]

21 men for one and a half hours.

You forgot NAAFI break.

Which you would include in a value stream map of aircraft servicing.

 

[Nimbus]

I have yet to read the maintenance hours/flying time ratio for wartime aircraft, but in many cases it was easier to write off an aircraft than to undertake major structural repairs. By way of a more modern comparison, the much-vaunted Harrier GR-9 took 14 hours of maintenance per flying hour; the F-14 ran into 20+ hours, I understand.

Iirc Lynx was c. 9 man hours per flying hour, usually in blocks every 25 hrs, though oil samples and magnetic plug inspections could be every 5 if the EFD (Early Failure Detection) cell detected anything suspicious. More serious stuff occurred at longer intervals and needed more downtime. A ‘Check 4’ inspection (every 400 hrs iirc) would be around a week for a crew of 5 or 6. Anything beyond this would be sent back to a second line workshop.
Probably completely different now, except for the mocking of cabin staff when they get excited about achieving 1000 hours, when most Reems are doing twice that in a year...

 

[721CXT]

Sorry if this has been brought up before, but I couldn't find it on a search. Excuses over.

Reading a question on Quora "What was the most unusual dogfight of WW2?", this came up as an answer.

It is rather long, but (I think) fascinating:

Sunderland EJ134 vs. Ju88 x 8

Could make a good subject for a build - much use of a small drill bit required.

 

[Cold_Collation]

Sorry if this has been brought up before, but I couldn't find it on a search. Excuses over.

Reading a question on Quora "What was the most unusual dogfight of WW2?", this came up as an answer.

It is rather long, but (I think) fascinating:

Sunderland EJ134 vs. Ju88 x 8

Could make a good subject for a build - much use of a small drill bit required.

None needed. What an outstanding effort.

 

[ches]

Sorry if this has been brought up before, but I couldn't find it on a search. Excuses over.

Reading a question on Quora "What was the most unusual dogfight of WW2?", this came up as an answer.

It is rather long, but (I think) fascinating:

Sunderland EJ134 vs. Ju88 x 8

Could make a good subject for a build - much use of a small drill bit required.

Bugger
My
Old
Boots


Nails, nails, nails. Cap doffed.

 

[tgo]

Good call, fascinating to read.

 

[Bubbles_Barker]

Sorry if this has been brought up before, but I couldn't find it on a search. Excuses over.

Reading a question on Quora "What was the most unusual dogfight of WW2?", this came up as an answer.

It is rather long, but (I think) fascinating:

Sunderland EJ134 vs. Ju88 x 8

Could make a good subject for a build - much use of a small drill bit required.

I've read that story before, the moral of which is 'never engage an aircraft full of Australians with machine guns'.

 

[Filthy_contract]

Bugger
My
Old
Boots


Nails, nails, nails. Cap doffed.

I was reading of an an account of an RNZAF Lockheed PV1 Ventura bomber being bounced by five [ETA: 9...that's NINE] Zeros and downing three of them, with DFCs and DFMs all round. For an aircraft that was largely rejected by the RAF for frontline service in ETO, the Kiwi Venturas undertook fighter escort duties for USAAF B17 raids in the Pacific, and by all accounts did a good job. 'kin hard as nails, too.


Edited to add a report:

RNZAF machines often clashed with Japanese fighters, notably during an air-sea rescue patrol on Christmas Eve 1943. NZ4509 was attacked by nine Japanese single-engined fighters over St. George's Channel. It shot down three, later confirmed, and claimed two others as probables, although it suffered heavy damage in the action. The pilot, Flying Officer D. Ayson and navigator, Warrant Officer W. Williams, were awarded the DFC. The dorsal turret gunner Flight Sergeant G. Hannah was awarded the DFM
(source: Lockheed Ventura | Wikiwand)

 

[Gluteus Maximus]

The Venturas MkVs used by the RNZAF (and RAAF) in the Pacific were PV-1 Harpoons in US-speak

and much more effective than the B-34 Lexingtons used by 2 Group as Ventura MkIIs

although the latter in this case was flown by 487, a NZ Article 15 squadron flying as part of the RAF.

 

[Smeggers]

Sorry if this has been brought up before, but I couldn't find it on a search. Excuses over.

Reading a question on Quora "What was the most unusual dogfight of WW2?", this came up as an answer.

It is rather long, but (I think) fascinating:

Sunderland EJ134 vs. Ju88 x 8

Could make a good subject for a build - much use of a small drill bit required.

Excellent read and an outstanding effort by the crew.