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Originally Posted by Gary Cain  Very cool Ade, Sorry to hear about the loss of your relative in one of these though. There is a Short Solent (the civilian version) out hear in Oakland CA.
Gary |
The Short Solent in Oakland was formerly the personal aircraft of Howard Hughes and crashed and was rebuilt at least once. It is in seriously bad structural condition, the entire bottom is barely there and could not support the plane in the water, so chances are it will never fly again.
Kermit Weeks at Fantasy of Flight in Florida has the only Short Sunderland in the US his collection. He is a very private type so access to the interior is difficult, but I have been aboard and it is in amazingly good condition.
I remember seeing a Sunderland that used to fly in Ireland doing charter work taking tourists out to the Aran Islands. It would make an impressive take off run.
At the end of the war, Short had 6 flying boats in production, the Government did not want them so they were towed out into the Irish Sea and scuttled.
What a shame. Anyone up for a salvage dive?
Thank goodness they were able to keep the last 2 Martin Mars Flying Boats working up in Canada. They are quite impressive beasts! Saw one making an fire fighting aerial water drop in So. California and was stunned by the sight. Low and SLOW!
My Step Dad flew from San Diego to Hawaii on one of Mars ships back in the early 1950's and said it was a long noisy flight. Little did he know that his quarters as a Lt. JG Naval Aviator would be directly beneath the Main Catapult for his entire first cruise off Korea.
British Short Sunderland Flying Boat 
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