Saved by a Walrus ...

[Mark Allen M]

B-17 Flying Fortress 'Hell-Lena' (serial number 42-29981) of the 92nd Bomb Group and its crew in a life raft after ditching in the North Sea on 26 July 1943, Reconnaissance aircraft from Coastal Command, RAF Bircham Newton.

B-17 Flying Fortress 'Hell-Lena' (serial number 42-29981) Delivered Cheyenne 20/3/43; Gore 31/3/43; Presque Is 8/4/43; Dow Fd 11/4/43; Assigned 338BS/96BG Grafton Underwood 27/4/43 HELL-LENA; Andrews Fd 13/5/43; Snetterton 12/6/43; transferred 326BS/92BG Alconbury 23/7/43; Ditched in North Sea after mission to Hanover 26/7/43










Photo source: Sqldr Herbert William Gill Collection


And below a couple of shots of a NZ Walrus


HMNZS Achilles + Walrus Fiji 1942


Close Up of Supermarine Walrus Aboard HMNZS Achilles 1942

[ErrolC]

Thanks, great photos.
Various secondary sources claim that Achilles didn't have a Walrus by then, but there is primary evidence up to Sept 1942. Catapult was removed during post-damage 1943 refit.

[Dave Homewood]

Excellent photos Mark.

[Chris Brame]

Is the 200' in the captions referring to the depth at the site, or the altitude of the plane taking the photos? With the coordinates on the photo, I wonder if it would be possible to find the plane now?

[JohnB]

I've always been surprise there isn't a flyable Walrus anywhere.
There aren't even many survivors.
You'd expect someone would have bought one when they were cheap (after all, we're not talking about a B-24 here) and kept it.
Perhaps as a bush plane in Canada.

[JohnB]

I've always been surprise there isn't a flyable Walrus anywhere.
There aren't even many survivors.
You'd expect someone would have bought one when they were cheap (after all, we're not talking about a B-24 here) and kept it.
Perhaps as a bush plane in Canada.

[Dave Homewood]

Some people did buy them as war surplus with a plan to fly the but I think they became uneconomic. The Pegasus engine is not easy to support, as the Swordfish owners know.

There was one for sale in Britain about a decade ago and a group in New Zealand were keen to buy it to restore to flight, but the seller took a lower offer from a UK crowd, who then sold it onto to a museum that is restoring it to static sadly.

[JohnTerrell]

Walrus W2718, registered as G-WLRS (previously G-RNLI), was sold in the spring of 2018 and moved to the ARCo restoration facilities at Duxford, and at the time of the move it was said that the restoration would be progressing to fly.

Last edited by JohnTerrell on Sun Jun 30, 2019 8:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Dave Homewood]

Well that is positive! ARCo are the best people to achieve it too.

[sandiego89]

Is the 200' in the captions referring to the depth at the site, or the altitude of the plane taking the photos? With the coordinates on the photo, I wonder if it would be possible to find the plane now?

I would imagine the 200' would be referring to the altitude the picture was taken at. Fairly common for that to be annotated on pictures. They would not be concerned about water depth.

[Larry Kraus]

What happened to the Lifeboat that was dropped in the 3rd picture?

[Randy Wilson]

I'm not sure what happened to the air-dropped lifeboat but it may have been an Uffa Fox designed lifeboat dropped by a Hudson, from this link:

https://intheboatshed.net/2008/01/30/uffa-foxs-greatest-memorial-the-airborne-lifeboat/

Randy

[Mark Allen M]

Here's some explanation.

https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2017/03/1 ... ea-rescue/

[Mark Allen M]

Also a nice article here. Flt Lt Tom Fletcher, hero of hero's ... RIP

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/754221 ... tcher.html

[Mossie]

Also a nice article here. Flt Lt Tom Fletcher, hero of hero's ... RIP

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/754221 ... tcher.html

What a great guy, RIP