Dave
fire monitors are fully operational... vauxhall astra windscreen washer pump ÂA£3.50 off ebay! 😀

the sunderland will be getting the full escort from mine and Pauls fireboats when its done!

searchlights blazing and water monitors a-squirting


have been flying r/c a long time but have just taken up sea-plane flying this year! its fantastic

photos and videos will be posted when its done (probably around spring time)

David

HI David
I hope to see your Sunderland soon. We had a club member who had the same idea but he never quite got round to finishing. Of course you will need to make your fire monitors fully operational! Good luck
Dave

cheers Dave

looks like the fireboat was developed just too late then! I am researching sunderland/solent flying boats at the minute as I am building a 90" electric flying model sunderland at 1/16 scale (same scale as 34" fireboat)

the RAF were really quick to dump its flying boats at the end of the war, many serviceable sunderlands and catalines just had the plug pulled and they were sent to the bottom of various lakes and lochs without ceremony.

sad really!

at least we keep the memory of these wonderfull craft alive with our models

thanks
David

oh.. nice bit of history there Clifford.... thanks for sharing!

HI all
my grandfather flew the flyingboats out of foynes in Ireland in his day .one of his passengers was winston Churchill

clifford

HI David
Lesro's e-bay listing of the kit gives the following info:
"BRIEF HiSTORY OF FULL-SIZE CRAFT

Only two Vosper 46 foot RAF Crash Tenders (or firefloat Mk. 2) of this type were produced by Vospers. Firefloat No. 93 was delivered to the RAF Marine Craft Section based at Calshot on Southampton Water in approximately March 1952, it appears to have spent most of its life in storage probably because the Sunderland Flying Boats were being withdrawn from service during this period and its role therefore became redundant. No. 93 was struck off charge in July 1958 and disposed of.

No. 94 entered service in about 1952/1953 and was damaged and stored at number 238 Maintenance Unit until July 1958 when it too was struck off charge. it is not known what happened to the two craft after this date. The main power units for the craft were provided by two Meteorite 8-cylinder petrol marine engines of 375 bhp at 2400 rpm, this gave a top speed of 28.4 knots. Fuel consumption at top speed was nearly 48 gallons per hour. A separate smaller Ford V8 engine was used to operate the two foam/water monitors and a smaller JAP engine for the bilge pumps. A crew of five was intended in service, construction was wood, hard chine, plywood frames and double diagonal planking."
I assume the crew would be RAF personnel suitable trained in search and rescue, and firefighting. The latter would probably have worn suitable protective clothing similar to their land based colleagues.
Dave
HI David
I have just found a website called Air Sea Rescue and Marine at http://www.asrmcs-club.com/boatswebsite/
This may answer more of your questions. Plenty of good pics as well
Dave