Short Shetland question

[ajmm]

Niche question. Does anyone have any reference photos or information concerning beaching gear on the Short Shetland sea plane?

 

Im building the Anigrand kit at the moment and don't want to sand away the bottom to make it a waterline job but I also think it looks weird and lopsided on the shelf resting squiffy on its wing pontoon. Beaching gear seem to be the logical solution but I can find no references for this. 

 

That said, the Shetland must have had some provision for being winched out of the water in order to perform maintenance and clean off the salt. I'm tempted to assume that it was a la Sunderland but the Shetland was a much much heavier airframe and was a joint venture with SARO who did the hull design so I'm windy of simply replicating the Sunderland's gear on this. 

 

I have plundered the internet to no avail. I have nothing on the Shetland in any of my reference books on my shelf but I think the Buttler book on British Prototypes has something on the Shetland (well it's on the cover anyway). Does anyone have this book? Might you be able to tell me whether anything about the beaching gear is mentioned? 

 

 

Thanks very much,

 

Angus 

Edited April 25, 2017 by ajmm

[Patrick Martin]

Try these.....

Short     Shetland             Putnam                             ident    

Short     Shetland             Aviation News   19 03     article  

Short     Shetland             Air Reserve Gazette        194801 photo  

Short     Shetland I           Flying Review    196206 letter     drawing

Short     Shetland             Air Pictorial        196707 letter    

Short     Shetland             Aeroplane Monthly        197409 photos 

Short     Shetland             Aeroplane Monthly        197803 article  

Short     Shetland             Air Pictorial        199603 ident    

 

Pat Martin

[malpaso]

Rather than beaching gear, some old school modellers provided a stand (like a ship) for flying boats.  It certainly looked effective for the large flying boats like the Southampton.

Cheers

Will 

[71chally]

Sadly not very clear, but at least confirms twin wheel beaching units

 

and a picture here,

Edited April 25, 2017 by 71chally

[ajmm]

Thanks guys!

 

Where did you find that picture, 71Chally?! Brilliant. I thought I'd found every pic there was. I'd seen that video but for some reason never clocked the frames where you can see the bird fully out of the water. Thanks so much. 

 

Malpaso - thanks I'll consider that actually if I balk at scratching the gear. Could work nicely. 

 

Pat - great list thank you. I'll have a tootle through those as there's bound to be more answers to other questions I have in them. 

 

Very grateful to you all. 

 

Angus

[Denford]

Just love that photo!   It almost looks too big to get off the ground or rather the water.

Interesting too are the opened portholes: truly a flying boat.

[Seahawk]

Just in case you're still wondering, no photos of Shetland landing gear in the Buttler book: all shots either in flight or in the water.

 

Look forward to seeing your model of this majestic beast.

[71chally]

8 hours ago, ajmm said:

 

Where did you find that picture, 71Chally?!

 

Angus

 

Hi Angus, it's from one of those odd Russian sites which seem to have more pictures of British aircraft than Western sites!

Here, http://www.airwar.ru/enc/sww2/s35.html

 

I'm sure I've seen other pictures of the Shetland II on beaching gear as well, will keep an eye open.

 

That shot is really useful as I believe it also shows the outlines of the wing weapons bay doors, aft and inboard of the inner engine