This is the first book to give a detailed first-hand account of post-World War II RAF Short Sunderland operations in the Far East. The author was a navigator with 88 Squadron & later 205 Squadron flying operations during the Korean War the Malayan Emergency & many other operations. He was based at Seletar in Singapore Kaitak in Hong Kong Iwakuni near Hiroshima & various other operational bases throughout his two & a half year tour. The Sunderland flying boat was a unique aircraft in that each crew was allotted an aircraft which became their floating & airborne home. The author describes the Sunderland's performance & flying boat operating techniques including taking-off from & landing on the open sea. It
Includes:: a tour of the aircraft's interior & the equipment used by the ten-man crew all well illustrated by photographs. The task of long distance navigation in the Far East during the early 1950s relied on the conventional methods of astro navigation & dead reckoning a difficult task when crossing hundreds of miles of open ocean & encountering monsoon & tropical storm conditions. Amongst the noteworthy events included is a return flight from Singapore to Hong Kong across 1 400 miles of ocean with a VIP passenger his first operational flight as a 21 year old Pilot Officer navigator. He then undertakes an operation involving a return trip to Scotland which took three months. On moving to Kaitak the Sunderlands provided air cover for search & rescue operations taking off & landing amongst the port's many small & erratically steered shipping craft. He flew sixty-one missions in support of the United Nations forces fighting in & around Korea enduring the threat of Chinese fighters over the Yellow Sea. In one operation an engine fire caused the crew to ditch in the Tsushima Strait with serious structural failure & they were rescued by the USS De Haven a US destroyer. This is a worthy record of some of the legendary Short Sunderland's final roles in the RAF.