Picture of the day

Dornier built a lot of very elegant flying boats during the war and after. Here's a good landing in one:

[youtube]zv3kBgftht4[/youtube]

And a video of the last flying DO24, refitted with turboprops, going from a silky landing to a very bad one:

[youtube]3pWoecl1M8s[/youtube]
 
grinder08 said:
But the hundreds of sailors on the merchant ships he saved and the people who got the supplies on those ships he saved sure as hell did.
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"hundreds of sailors on the merchant ships he saved and the people who got the supplies on those ships he saved sure as hell did" give a damn that he was "praised by a Nazi"? I doubt it. You're not making the distinction between what he did (inadvertently or not) and the praise he received from someone fighting for the Nazis.

also...love those flying boats.
 
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Flying boats are kinda wonderful. Weird mutant creations that do reasonably well in two of three realms. They vary enormously in size, grace, and style. This is the Supermarine Walrus:

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An aircraft built almost entirely out of lifting and control surfaces, plus a boat.

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While aesthetically no masterpiece, one can bet they were the most beautiful thing ever seen by any number of swimming airmen or sailors. Now compare that to this magnificent thing:

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That's the Latecoere 631, and a thing of surpassing beauty. We are poorer for not having any remaining in this world.

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I'm also struck by graceful things like the Kawanishi H8K, a masterpiece of barrel-chested handsomeness...

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...which would have been greatly improved aesthetically by retractable floats. And the British and American stuff... We could go on for quite a while on this...:)
 
It seemed like such a good idea...especially with no landing strip required...Not sure why they didn't survive into the jet age...I guess the helicopter replaced them.
 
The Martin 'Mars' lasted well into the current century. Beats the hell out of me why the surviving 'Mars' was not used during the recent BC wildfire situation.

There was a famous BC Forest Service PR photo of a Grumman Widgeon parked under the wing of the 'Mars'. The sponson off the 'Mars' was larger than the fuselage of the 'Widgeon'.
 
Rob said:
"hundreds of sailors on the merchant ships he saved and the people who got the supplies on those ships he saved sure as hell did" give a damn that he was "praised by a Nazi"? I doubt it. You're not making the distinction between what he did (inadvertently or not) and the praise he received from someone fighting for the Nazis.

also...love those flying boats.
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My interpretation of the quote I was commenting on was that the poster thought that the skipper of the Glowworm was wasting the lives of his crew for no gain. This was simply not the case. As an ex naval officer I consider Roope to one of the finest examples of a Naval ship commander. This was recognized by the German Naval commander at the battle. He recognized that the gallantry of the Glowworm crew against a vastly superior enemy had stopped him from doing his job, namely the destruction of British Merchant ships. Maybe I was wrong in my interpretation. If you really look at the history of Kapitan Heye he was far from a Nazi so I am not surprised that he recognized Rope actions. It is important to remember not all Germans were Nazi's. This was especially the case in the Kreigsmarine.
 
Sharps '74 said:
The Martin 'Mars' lasted well into the current century. Beats the hell out of me why the surviving 'Mars' was not used during the recent BC wildfire situation.

There was a famous BC Forest Service PR photo of a Grumman Widgeon parked under the wing of the 'Mars'. The sponson off the 'Mars' was larger than the fuselage of the 'Widgeon'.
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cost, efficiency, spare parts, accuracy, time on station and/or turn around seem to be the reasons
one of the guys i shoot league with who owns a logging company is actually convinced the gov't wants the forests to burn
 
Rob said:
It seemed like such a good idea...especially with no landing strip required...Not sure why they didn't survive into the jet age...I guess the helicopter replaced them.
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What do you mean they didn't survive into jet age?Sure they did.Beside american boats mentioned already Russia and China had,have and will have flying boats in service.

Indonesia,Philippines and Australia had flying boats in service into late 1970's,early 80s.Japanese love affair with flying boats is well known and continues with ShinMaywa US-2.So is Chinese with new Harbin SH-5

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There is a new trend emerging as well-small,almost disposable,concealable boats meant for i guess special ops/insertion/surveillance purposes.Iran has Bavar-2,S.Korea and Indonesia is working on them as well.

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Sharps '74 said:
The Martin 'Mars' lasted well into the current century. Beats the hell out of me why the surviving 'Mars' was not used during the recent BC wildfire situation.

There was a famous BC Forest Service PR photo of a Grumman Widgeon parked under the wing of the 'Mars'. The sponson off the 'Mars' was larger than the fuselage of the 'Widgeon'.
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Just like the Dippers did in AB right before the Ft. Mac fires, the Libs in B.C. fixed a budgetary shortfall by slashing the budget on the air tanker contracts, and then rolled the dice and hoped for the best.

In both cases, it all turned out for the best. The only people who lost out, were the poor saps who lost everything when their houses burned to the ground. The government wogs did just fine, and had plenty of good press about how wonderful they were when responding to the crisis, and completely buried the fact that in both cases, if they hadn't been penny wise and dollar poor, there would have been larger fleets available at the outset, and things wouldn't have gotten out of hand to the degree they did.
 
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