Why German Fighter Pilots Couldn't Shoot Down Britain's Lumbering 'Flying Porcupine'

Comments · 245

• GL

  @glovehead87 · 3 months ago

  That story lasted longer than the war.

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• PJ

  @pj486 · 3 months ago

  Why use one word when I can use twenty

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• JO

  @john8127-v7z · 3 months ago

  My best mates Dad was an Armourer groundcrew during WW2 and afterwards. He volunteered to stay on after VE day. He told me he expected to be posted to the Far East but he went from fighter command on Tempests to Coastal Command on Sunderlands. He said he got to fly in one once in 1946 into Berlin on a mail run landing probably on the Havel River due to its proximity to Gatow. He said that landing for the first time was one of the loudest sounds he had ever experienced and he worked with explosives.<br>It was conversations like that that convinced me to also become an RAF Armament Fitter thirty years later.

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• JO

  @johnking6624 · 3 months ago

  I&apos;m 82 and I live in Cleethorpes, every day I drive past the Coastal Command memorial and, although I was in my cot when these men fought, I pay a moment&apos;s respect and gratitude to these young men who gave me a great life.

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• JA

  @jamie-fm6mx · 3 months ago

  George Thomas Smith Sargent Major, South Wales Borderers, Francis Harvey Morris Fleet Air Arm, Flight Deck Crewman. These are my paternal and Maternal Grandfathers.

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• BR

  @BrendenParker-o5v · 3 months ago

  Flight Sergeant George Parker DFC 10 Sqn RAF, my paternal grandfather, flew and navigated these air craft. In 1938 he was a QANTAS pilot, hopping from Wachope NSW to Britain. During a stop in England he was &quot;recruited &quot; by the RAF. They needed navigators. Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders were well practised at this. He f;ew Catalinas in North Africa before being repatriated back home. RIP Granddad.

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• WW

  @WW2Arsenalst1 · 1 month ago

  “One slow flying boat, eight fast fighters, 45 minutes—and the Sunderland was still the aircraft that came home.” That alone makes this story unforgettable. But what stayed with me most was the crew continuing to fight while their aircraft was literally being torn apart around them. Which impressed you more: Colin Walker taking the Sunderland down toward the waves to protect its belly, or Kenneth Simpson navigating them home despite being wounded in both legs?

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• KE

  @kelvinfindlay508 · 2 months ago

  In the 1960s I worked on the RNZAF Sunderlands. &nbsp;I was the bilge boy. &nbsp;But I managed to score two test flights. &nbsp;The Sunderlands were a big aircraft for those days so on test flights they took about half a dozen of us as passengers. Magic days.

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• AL

  @alanjarvis8777 · 2 days ago

  Robert Jarvis - my dad<br>Radar technician on Sunderlands &nbsp;North Africa<br>He said that the South African technicians and fitters were as rough and ready as you can imagine but they could rearm, cc repair, service and refuel those Sunderlands as fast as any other (and more slick-looking outfits)

• WW

  @WW2Uncovered-i3k · 1 month ago

  “One slow flying boat, eight fast fighters, 45 minutes—and the flying boat was the one that flew away.” That alone makes Colin Walker’s Sunderland fight extraordinary. Speed meant little when toughness, overlapping defensive fire, crew coordination, and brilliant low-level flying came together. Which impressed you most: Walker’s flying, Simpson navigating while wounded, or the gunners who never abandoned their posts?

  1

• ED

  @edenbreckhouse · 3 months ago

  Fascinating thumbnail. Who knew that the Sunderland was in fact 6 engined. Wow.

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• JO

  @JohnWalters-r9n · 8 days ago (edited)

  Mi dad worked on Sundies at Seletar harbour, Singapore in &apos;36.<br>The description &nbsp;that they were like flying houses tallied with his words that they had all the mod-cons&apos; of home .<br>.