The War Boats - flying boats

As of 2017 there is at least one PBY-5A operating in Europe. The sight of her coming into the Former RAF Station at Biggin Hill Big white and beautiful is something to treasure. As far as Bismark goes one of the crew was USN Ensign Leonard 'B'' Tuck, Smith the aircraft was RAF 209 Sqd PBY AH545 based at Loch Erne Northern Ireland. A lot was kept very quiet as Rossevelt whilst publicly supplying PBYs under lease Lend, could not admit to allowing US personnel into combat, also the Eire , again being neutral, did not want to admit they were allowing RAF combat aircraft from Loch Erne to fly over their territory en route to the Atlantic or that along the coast facing the Atlantic were what were called Coastal Lookout stations, covinently showing large air ident panel and codes so aircraft flying trans Atlantic could get an accurate fix on landfall.

The Bismark no match for the British Navy? More than a match! The Brits got lucky with a biplane hitting the Bismarks rudder. Once she couldn't steer, then the british took her down. The stupid commentator seems to leave that part out.

When I was 9 years old we rode on a grumman goose from Chalks airways Miami to Bimini will never forget it.

The film is acting 'wavy'...I had to stop watching because it's very irritating...

Glen Curtiss didnt 'first develop the flying boat '- his one yes, America's first yes, but NOT the first not by a long shot. Its an ambiguous statement at best.

Since I was a kid (I'm 64 now) I've been fascinated by flying boats... I built every model of world war 2 from tanks to planes... but it was the ships and more exact the flying boats that stroked my interest... and to this day I'm still love them..

Really good video except for that irritating shifting of the picture a times. Don't know why people do that other than to prove they have a toy to play with. Serves NO purpose in telling the story!

U need a new title

Don't we envy the camaraderie they had.

The narration confuses England and The United Kingdom. The people of Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast were bombed by the Nazis every bit as much as those of Liverpool. There is no such thing as the "British Navy". It is the "Royal Navy". This confusion probably arises because the British Army is not Royal, while the Air Force and Marines are.

My Dad was drafted and reported for Basic Trng on Dec 10, 1941, the day Nazi Germany declared war on the USA; we were also at war as of Dec. 7,1941 b/c of the Pearl Harbor attack. He took Combat Engr trng at Ft. Belvoir in VA, just down the road from Geo. Washington's home. His unit was sent to Iceland in July to take over from the Brit Engrs. His unit's job was to build, maintain, widen and lengthen the existence airfields on Iceland, as well as to build several other new ones far away from Icelandic population centers for secrecy's sake. Being combat trained, they also were security troops and guarded the airfields. They took care of anti-aircraft guns and had vehicles holding twin and quad .50 cal. MGs, as well as flak cannons (3 & 4 inchers), howitzers and mortars. The PBYs were regular visitors to Iceland for refueling and to report important info via radio or cable to HQ on Britain. They kept the convoys covered as soon as they came within range, and rushed to cover any convoys hit by U-Boat Wolfpacks which overwhelmed their escort ships. Iceland also became stopover ports for the later-on Hunter-Killer Task Groups formed around baby flattops which could handle Grumman F4Fs (Brits called them Martinets) and Grumman Avengers, which could carry 2,000 lbs of bombs or the later-available depth charge bombs. Then the Atlantic was carpeted by the Navy version of the B-24 Liberator built by Consolidated at the Willow Run Plant designed and built by Henry Ford. The Navy version had not only fuel in their wing tanks, but they designed an extra fuel tank that fit in one half of the bomb bay; the second half of the bomb bay carried depth charge bombs, regular bombs, and depth charge mortars (didn't explode unless they hit the sub). IIRC, the bomb load of the B-24 was 8,000 lbs, so they had tremendous range and tremendous ordnance. They covered "Torpedo Alley" from Iceland; from then on, between the sonar, radar, Anti-Sub TGs, Catalinas, and B-24s, the Nazis started losing U-Boats left and right. IIRC, by war's end in Europe, the Nazis lost almost 900 U-Boats. In May, 1944, my Dad was xfrd to a unit in Britain for Overlord, and he landed on Omaha Beach on D+1; their first job was to build a huge airfield just past the beach at Omaha so that C-47s could bring over supplies, VIPs, etc, and take back to Britain the most badly wounded GIs. Fighters and medium bombers also began landing to provide Close Air Support to the front line units. A-36s, P-47s, P-51s, P-38s, B-25s and B-26s all would land, fuel up, take on ordnance, and contact Fwd Air Controllers to help the ground pounders when German tank columns and 88 mm flak artillery appeared and started hurting our guys. The only thing he would say about Omaha Beach was the fact that there were a lot of GIs with half moons on their helmets, floating in the red water (29th Div). That's all he would say. Until I was older and started seeing more Combat Camera footage of the Normandy Invasion, I didn't understand. When I saw more footage, and then when I saw "Saving Private Ryan", I fully understood why he would not tell us about it. It was so horrible, he wanted to put it behind him. Mom said he had bad PTSD for over 2 years, and immersing himself into supporting his family was probably what kept him sane. R.I.P. Dad. 1980+

SO many fascinating aspects to this era, this is an excellent perspective.

I remember watching Chalk's Ocean Airways flying boats landing and taking off from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) in 2006, using their wheels. They carried passengers out to the Bahamas where they made water landings. Sadly, one of the old Mallards broke up in midair and the FAA shut them down in 2007. I would have loved to experience a water takeoff and a water landing. Note that some US Navy officers made a bet on when and where the first Catalina would spot the Japanese fleet headed to Midway Island on June 4, 1942. I think the winner chose the correct aircraft and only missed by about 15 minutes. Still, the Battle of Midway was a near run thing.
My favorite military history professor told us that Japan's economy in 1940 was about the same size as Belgium's. It's amazing they got as far as they did. As Charles De Gaulle commented during a visit to Stalingrad after WWII. "Just amazing what they accomplished here." One of his hosts bit on the statement - "Yes, the Russians were amazing." DeGaulle - "No, I meant the Germans, as they had come so far from home."

Btw: The Bismarck wasn't sunk by the British, the ship has been sunken by its crew by turning on the flooding walves

HAHAHAA Stilwell keeping the Japs from controlling all of Burma,  Stilwell had 200000 Chinese in the north, Slim had approx. 1million in the South where the main Jap forces in Burma were.

From back in the days before the Hysteria channel decided it likes ghosts, aliens, and UFOs more than it likes history.
Perhaps an interesting point missed by most documentaries is that German flying boats were equipped with diesel engines. This made it possible to refuel them from any ship or u-boat, making them theoretically capable of reaching North America.

An enjoyable documentary but it's sad that Sikorsky's S-42 and S-44's are rarely if ever mentioned (sadly not once in this doc). None of the many French flying boats either. Still though, love watching footage of these flying boats.

This is an incomplete story about the Bismark that is flawed.

vERY INTERESTING

Hey, the footage of Sunderlands from 16:30 onward, is of 35 Squadron SAAF aircraft.