China Flanker Thread II
- Thread starter sumdud
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Cool whats the large amphib, I suppose thats a stinger on the tail?
Thanks for the link, kinda reminds me of some of the big flying boats of the past, I believe the Martin Mars is still on firefighting duty, there was a PBY on the Ramp at North Little Rock, when I was a lad, gorgeous, oil belching beast, and several years ago when I saw the Raptor at Oshkosh, two Sa-16s took off, the old Albatross of my Okinawa days, in formation, the noise of all those supersonic prop tips, was deafening, I turned around and they lifted off at what looked like a fast walk, a real contrast to the two ship P-51 departures with a whole different, man nuthin sounds like a Merlin. Delft how many airforces still have big flying boats? Yes, this is def off topic,, sorry?
franco-russe
Senior Member
As far as I know, the only naval air forces that still have flying boats are:
China: 4 SH-5, 3 Ind Avn Regt Qingdao-Tuandao
Japan: 20 US-1A/US-2, 31 Wing 71 Squadron Iwakuni
US-1/US-2 are SAR versions of the PS-1 ASW flying boat, not in service any more.
China: 4 SH-5, 3 Ind Avn Regt Qingdao-Tuandao
Japan: 20 US-1A/US-2, 31 Wing 71 Squadron Iwakuni
US-1/US-2 are SAR versions of the PS-1 ASW flying boat, not in service any more.
According to Wikipedia the Russians still use the Be-12 Mail ( ) but as it says there were nine of them still serving in 2008 the last one has probably taken out of service. Beriev has been an expert flying boat and amphibious aircraft designer since 1934 ( ).
The most numerous large flying boat must be the Bombardier (ex-Canadair ) 415 water bomber used for fighting forest fires in North America, Europe and SE Asia ( ).
There have always been promises of important developments in flying boats and amphibians but they seldom come to anything. So a special thread on flying boats - I would like it but I think it will not be worthwhile. Let's return to Flankers.
The most numerous large flying boat must be the Bombardier (ex-Canadair ) 415 water bomber used for fighting forest fires in North America, Europe and SE Asia ( ).
There have always been promises of important developments in flying boats and amphibians but they seldom come to anything. So a special thread on flying boats - I would like it but I think it will not be worthwhile. Let's return to Flankers.
franco-russe
Senior Member
Yeah, I forgot about the BE-12 - probably because they seem to have stopped flying. But there are some still left at Chkalovsk (Kaliningrad Oblast) and Kacha (Crimea).
Thanks guys, I appreciate that, kind of like dirigibles they come and go, didn't the russians have a jet seaplane for fire fighting?
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