Issue No 22 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN 81
the Air Ministry conducted its Home Census on
March 21, 1946. Another role in another service
awaited some of them.
Vickers-Armstrongs submitted a quote in res-
ponse to an approach from the Ministerio de
Marina, which accepted it, for the supply of eight
Walruses. The examples bought back from the
RAF in 1946 to fulfil the order were L2183, L2184,
X9563, X9564, X9571, X9573, W2766, and Z1758.
The total cost quoted was £48,000 ex-works
plus another £8,000 for spare parts, the terms of
payment being cash on acceptance of each aircraft
at Supermarine. Accordingly, the Walruses were
ferried to Eastleigh, where they received B
Conditions markings N-33 to N-40 in an unknown
sequence. (Some Walruses in the preceding
sequence are recorded elsewhere as Walrus IIs
but AN records refer to all eight as Walrus Is).
Aviación Naval test pilot Teniente de Corbeta Juan
Carlos Corbetta was to be responsible for all test
flights and for the selection of spare parts.
A three-page list of spare parts, for which
a quotation was requested from Vickers-
Armstrongs, was attached to a letter from Capt
Teodoro E. Hartung (Chief of the CNA) dated
October 18, 1946, and another list of spares,
including prices, was attached to a letter from
Edward W. Carden dated March 10, 1947. In
the event, correspondence from May that year
indicates that the spares order was not placed.
The last letter in the file, dated January 7, 1948,
indicates that there had been renewed interest in
spares, and mentions a plan made by Supermarine
to provide two sets of spares by breaking down
the last two surplus Walrus aircraft in stock
(W2774 and HD823). There are, however, no
further documents in the file to indicate whether
this was in fact done.
Following testing and acceptance by the CNA
in Europe, the Walruses were delivered in pairs,
TOP The second batch of former RAF Walruses
were initially finished in a two-tone primer scheme,
with their B Conditions markings applied to the
bow of each. Here Walrus 2-O-29, still bearing its B
Conditions marking N-39, is prepared for delivery at
Eastleigh. The rudder had pale blue and white stripes
applied, along with the Sol de Mayo national emblem.
ABOVE A place for everything and everything in its
place — a dismantled Walrus packed away in its crate
for shipping. Other military operators of the Walrus/
Seagull V included Turkey, Australia, the Irish Air
Corps, Canada, New Zealand and one aircraft to Egypt.THE LATE RAY STURTIVANT VIA AUTHOR
PHILIP JARRETT COLLECTION