Most manoeuvrable flying boat?

Stephanie · 15 June 2012, 02:05 PM

What Allied flying boat/amphibian was the most manoeuvrable in use in WWII? Can't beat the catalina for so many things, but what about the best of both - cargo capacity and flying?
Cheers

Dave_Kent · 17 June 2012, 05:18 AM

A couple of guesses, as this is quite far away from what little I know of anything.

Manouverability - I think you'd need to look at one of the smaller machines, the Supermarine Sea Otter or perhaps the Supermarine Walrus.

In terms of an over-all performance package among the major production Allied flying boats, it sort of depends on what you want. The Martin PBM Mariner seems to have had superior performance to the PBY, while the Short Sunderland had a shorter range, but was faster. So less ability to patrol, but a quicker response to a situation.

Over 4,000 PBYs were built, so there is no question that it is the most important flying boat ever produced.

There are some WWII Forums out there and at least one Flying Boat forum where you'll get a better answer.

Dave

mike_baram · 17 June 2012, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Short Sunderland had a shorter range, but was faster

There is, or used to be, a Short Sunderland at the North Field at Oakland (CA) airport. You could see it parked behind the fence while driving on Jimmy Doolittle Dr.
The plane appeared in "Raiders of The Lost Ark", at the point where Indiana Jones begins his journey, taking off with the GG bridge in the background.

(I just looked at GoogleEarth and it looks like it's still there, parked next to the Oakland Aviation Museum.)

Stephanie · 18 June 2012, 05:14 AM

Thanks for the replies! - and hi Mike! This gives me a few nice aircraft to look at.

(and, just to answer Dave's direction, I've been on this forum since it began, I know most of the people here, many personally, but I don't know anyone on the WWII forums, so I hope the good people here will all permit me to impose on them a little when we veer farther from the front!)