Coastal Command - A "forgotten" force

Does anyone have any close-up pics of the system for running out the bomb-racks from the under-wing side-doors of the Sunderland? I've never been able to find any. I have some cutaway drawings of the Sunderland but they are rather vague as to this detail.

Adrian

 

Do you think it was detrimental to battle effectiveness to have bombers in separate commands?

 

Do you think it was detrimental to battle effectiveness to have bombers in separate commands?

Overall or specifically (examples)??

 

I would say overall.

 

I wouldn't say so. Coastal Command had such different priorities to Bomber Command. Seperate commands and strategies were needed for the two theatres that it would only have been to coastal's detriment if they were bunched in with Bomber as well.
Seperate was probably better in the long run.
Kitty

 

Some logbooks ( photocopied) which I have show some aircraft having gone off with a maxium load of fuel and staying in the air for over 14 hours.
From Lough Eren flights down to Gibralter and north to Iceland were regular runs.

One ex- catalkina man told me of shutting one enhine doewn and just flyinhf along above stalling speed on "one fan" to coax maxium range out the aircraft.

The guys who flew them certainly knew how to get the most out of them.

 

The surviving Coastal Command VC winner is Flt Lt John Cruickshank VC.

Roxy

 

Incidentally, it is still current Nimrod MR2 practice to open the bomb doors at 4 miles from the intended target - 4 miles was the distance required to wind a Sunderland's bombs/DCs on to the wings!

Roxy

 

Another bit of niff naff and trivia:

Maximum Range is best miles per gallon

Maximum Endurance (common for Maritime Patrol ac) is fewest gallons per hour

Range speed is faster than endurance speed; both are a bit faster than stalling speed. Shutting down engines (not all of them!) can help with endurance.

Roxy

 

I bought a book in the late 90's called RAF Coastal Command in Action 1939-1945.

The book contains Archive photographs from the PRO, together with text and makes for excellent reading.

A real tribute to the Coastal command. ISBN 1-84015-112-9 A Budding Book.

Tom

 

I concur with Tom.

Mrs Roxy is less keen on the book!

Roxy

 

Flying at low level attacking U-Boats and suface ships protected by Flack ships was indeed very dangerous.

It is impressive to see just how much damage some of the attacking planes sustained and still pressed home their attack and returned safely to base.

A real credit to the crews and the aircraft construction.

Coastal Command deserved more recognition, but was not seen as a glamourous side of the service.

Tom

 

Coastal Command deserved more recognition, but was not seen as a glamourous side of the service.

Tom


Sad to say its very much the same today, the command deserves more recognition, lets face it, Churchill said that the U-boat war was the only thing that worried him during WW2 and that, and the Battle of the Atlantic, lasted from the first day of war to the last and Coastal Command contributed so much to that battle.

Peter

 

A few good books relating to RAF Coastal Command........


RAf Coastal Command 1936-1969. Chris Ashworth.

Aircraft versus Submarine. Alfred Price.

The Cinderella Service RAF Coastal Command 1939-1945. Andrew Hendrie.

Endurance. A History of RAAF Aircrew Participation in Liberator Operations of RAF Coastal Command 1941-1945. Alwyn Jay.

A Separate Little War. Andrew D. Bird.

And many more.

Regards
Peter.

 

Peter,

You probably have read every book available on the subject, but I found the book from the BBC series, "The Secret war" has a good section devoted to the U-Boat menace and the innovations to counteract the threat.

As you mentioned Winston Churchill was convinced the U-Boat threat had to be beaten as he had graphic memories from the 1st World War regarding the submarine menace.

It is one of my favourite books to read and re-read as it is full of technological breakthroughs thought up by Service personnel and the Boffins!

Regards

Tom

 

Peter,

You probably have read every book available on the subject, but I found the book from the BBC series, "The Secret war" has a good section devoted to the U-Boat menace and the innovations to counteract the threat.




Hi Tom,

If you refer to the book 'The Secret War' by Brian Johnson then yes I do have it in my library. The section covering the technical aspects of the U-boat war is very good. I do have a number of books on the subject, costs me a small fortune.

Regards
Peter.

 

Possibly a question for Peter!

What squadrons were involved in Coastal Command? I do know some and the particular groups however is there a definitive list?

Why? I am looking to sort my 11,200 RAAF deaths into sections. It took me so long to catalogue these lads into "posting at death" (one at a time) I want to break it down a little further.

I noticed this in Wikipedia! Any thoughts? The 5,866 number seems to be quite light.

During the war Coastal Command flew over 240,000 operations, sunk 212 U-boats and destroyed 478,000 tons of shipping. 1,777 aircraft were lost, with 5,866 personnel killed in action. Whilst the latter figure for the number killed was given in the official History[1], the Coastal Command & Maritime Air Association gives 10,875 lives lost. It is possible that the former figure may not have included missing personnel, who were later assumed killed, nor those killed who were allied and dominion personnel serving with the RAF.

 

What squadrons were involved in Coastal Command? I do know some and the particular groups however is there a definitive list?




Hi Geoff,

I have details of the Coastal Command order of battle, year by year covering most of WW2 which gives - Group - Base - Squadron - Aircraft.

Not sure if this will be a help but if so, would you be interested in a particular year / years?

Regards
Peter.

PS
Just found another list of squadrons in Coastal Command in chronological order.

 

I noticed this in Wikipedia! Any thoughts? The 5,866 number seems to be quite light.


The following RAF Coastal Command causality list is taken from....

'The Cinderella Service. RAF Coastal Command 1939 - 1945' - Andrew Hendrie.

 

Hi Geoff,

I have details of the Coastal Command order of battle, year by year covering most of WW2 which gives - Group - Base - Squadron - Aircraft.

Not sure if this will be a help but if so, would you be interested in a particular year / years?

Regards
Peter.

PS
Just found another list of squadrons in Coastal Command in chronological order.

Hi Peter,

Much of it could be guess work however if chronological it would be easier to correlate with the deaths.

Cheers

Geoff