August 2018 August 2018 August 2018 August 2018 August 2018 August 2018 FLYPAST 91SPOT FACT The aircraft was produced
from 1938 until 1946The Last of
the Sunderlands
Bowing Out
duties as part of the United Nations
forces, operating on detachment
from Iwakuni, Japan.
Sqn Ldr Alan Coles brilliantly
describes the role of 88 Squadron
during this time in Men Behind the
Sunderland (pages 82-87) in this
issue. Working off the Korean coast
alongside US Navy Martin PBM
Mariners, the Sunderlands were used
in the same manner as they had been
in World War Two.
The RAF’s use of Sunderlands
during the so-called Malayan
'Emergency' has been interpreted as
desperation by some writers. While
the flying-boats may have looked
odd over the jungle, their longendurance gave them the ability to
loiter, awaiting calls from forward air
controllers as ‘bandit’ camps
were located.
The Sunderlands may have been
lumbering, but they provided a
flexible and imposing response. The
fore and aft turrets, guns in the beam
positions and small bombs lobbed
by hand from the hatches provided
effective and appropriate firepower.
With the end of the Korean
conflict in July 1953, the
contraction of the Far East
Sunderland force began with the
disbanding of 88 Squadron in
October 1954, followed by the
FEFBW itself two months later.“Retired Sunderlands were
stripped of parts to help keep the
others airworthy. When these
donors became empty hulks,
local scrap merchants dismantled
and carted them away”
Above
‘B-for-Baker’, Belfast-
built MR.5 SZ578 fl ew with
205 Squadron in 1954.Left
Two of the last RAF
Sunderlands awaiting
their fate at the Seletar
‘graveyard’. To the right
is former 205 Squadron
MR.5 PP112, which was
struck off charge on June
27, 1958.1010
Sunderlands and two transport variants ew in the Berlin Airlift