by DavidLegg » Mon Nov 17, 2014 7:43 pm
Re the Windsock publication mentioned above, I wrote this review for The Catalina News a few months ago …
"We have from time to time reviewed books published by Albatros Productions Ltd in its Windsock Datafile series. These books concentrate on aviation of the WWI period and have included a small number of seaplanes, the latest being Datafile 159 – AD Flying Boats by CA Owers. During WWI, the British Admiralty had its own Air Department at its Isle of Grain factory at the tip of the Medway Estuary. After producing the Type 1000 floatplane and the AD Scout landplane, attention was turned to the AD Flying Boat, a two-place patrol and reconnaissance biplane with a single rearward facing powerplant and wings that folded forward for storage purposes. The prototype’s hull was built at Hampton Wick in Middlesex whilst Southampton-based Pemberton-Billing Ltd (later Supermarine) was contracted to build the wings and carry out final assembly. The prototype first flew from Southampton Water in mid-March 1917 with later trials being carried out at Grain. The design was not particularly successful although a total of 27 were produced. The Royal Navy handed over its remaining ADs to the newly-formed Royal Air Force in April 1918 and most of them were subsequently re-purchased by Supermarine and modified to passenger carriers. Known as the Supermarine Channel (a slightly modified version was the Channel II), a total of twelve were placed on the UK civil register and individual examples went on to fly in Bermuda, Norway and British Guiana whilst other aircraft flew in Chile, Japan, New Zealand and Venezuela. This slim A4 softback has 34 pages of text, photos and tables including a twelve page pull-out section of 1:48 scale line drawings. The price is £11.75 in the UK, ISBN number 978-1-906798-31-4. The fantastic range of Windsock publications may be viewed at the relevant website – see list of links at the end of this feature….."
David Legg
Editor: The Catalina News, The Catalina Society
Author: Consolidated PBY Catalina - The Peacetime Record