Country of origin:

United Kingdom

Description:

Military air-sea rescue amphibian

Power Plant:

One 578 kw (775 hp) Bristol Pegasus VI nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine

Specifications:

Armament:

Two 7.69 mm (0.303 in) Lewis or Vickers K machine guns, one in bow and one amidships

History:

In 1929 a specification was issued for a boat-hulled amphibian for shipboard operation to replace the Supermarine Seagull III, a number of which were in service with the Royal Australian Navy on board the seaplane carrier HMAS Albatross.  The result was a design by R J Mitchell (designer of the Supermarine Spitfire) known as the Type 236 Seagull V powered by the Bristol Pegasus radial engine.  Intended for Australian service, the design featured an anodised alloy hull, catapult spools, reinforcing webs, and main spars made of stainless steel.  The metal frame ailerons were fabric covered, and the remainder of the wing was plywood and fabric covered.  The wing could be folded to reduce the wingspan to 5.5 m (17 ft 11 in).  Accommodation was provided for a pilot, navigator, and wireless operator/gunner.  The Seagull V had Handley Page/Lachmann slats in the leading-edges of the upper mainplanes, but these were deleted from the aircraft supplied to the United Kingdom forces (known as the Walrus) when British orders were placed.

The prototype Seagull V (K4797) was flown for the first time on 21 June 1933.  On 26 June 1933 carrying the marking N-1 it was demonstrated at the Society of British Aircraft Constructors show at Hendon in London and on this occasion the test pilot performed a loop.  Trials were conducted at the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe in Suffolk, the marking N-1 being changed to N-2 as N-1 had previously been issued to a Southampton flying boat.  N-2 then embarked upon the aircraft carrier HMS Courageous and the aircraft was allocated to No 444 Flight for trials during a cruise to Gibralter, returning on the cruiser HMS Renown, and carrying out further trials on HMS Ark Royal.  Normal crew was four: two pilots, a navigator and a wireless operator.

Twenty-four Seagull Vs were ordered in August 1934 as spotter-reconnaissance aircraft for the Royal Australian Navy’s County and Leander class cruisers, and the first was embarked on cruiser HMAS Australia in June 1935.  By the end of 1936 five RAN cruisers each carried a Seagull V.

After trials with No 702 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm on board HMS Nelson, the British Government, via the Air Ministry, ordered the type into production for the British services as the Walrus in May 1935. Initial order was for 12 aircraft (serials from K5772), a further order being placed in 1936 for 204.  Production continued until January 1944 when a total of 741 examples had been completed, 285 by Supermarine and 461 by Saunders Roe Ltd from its facility at East Cowes on the Isle of Wight, this total excluding the 24 Australian Seagull Vs.  Two variants were built, the Mk I with a metal hull, and the Mk II, produced for air-sea-rescue work, with a wooden hull.

Sixty-one Seagull V and Walrus aircraft were supplied to the RAAF, with the pre-war Seagull Vs being serialled A2-1 to A2-24, and the other 37 aircraft, being the Walrus, which were supplied during the war years, retaining their RAF serials.  First aircraft supplied was A2-1, received on 25 June 1935, making a test flight at Southampton in Hampshire on that day.  It was then taken on board HMAS Australia at Spithead, also in Hampshire, and survived until it had a night alighting accident on 3 September 1942.

The last aircraft of this batch was A2-24, received by No 9 Squadron on 20 September 1939, which was involved in the Norwegian Campaign, eventually being lost after catapult failure on 6 April 1941.  P5715 was lost when HMAS Canberra was sunk; and a number of others were damaged beyond repair in March 1946 by hail whilst at No 2 AD at Schofields, NSW.

A number were lost in service.  One (L2177), which was on loan from the Fleet Air Arm and which was taken on board the HMAS Sydney on 23 September 1940, is known to have been on board when, on 19 November 1941, the Australian cruiser was lost in an action off Western Australia against the German raider Kormoran.  Interrogation of survivors from the Kormoran later stated the aircraft was swung out on to the catapult and the engine started before it was hit and destroyed by shells from the raider.

The type served on board ships of the Royal Australian Navy, including HMAS Australia, HMAS Manoora, HMAS Sydney, HMAS Hobart, HMAS Canberra, HMAS Warrego and HMAS Westralia. One (L2171) was obtained on loan from the RAF at Singapore and operated from HMAS Hobart, and another (L2293) was operated on HMAS Perth and HMAS Canberra on loan from HMS Barham.  The Seagull Vs were initially received at No 1 Aircraft Depot for erection.  Most of the aircraft with RAF serials, when they arrived in Australia, were erected by Qantas at Rose Bay, NSW.  RAAF units which had the type attached included Nos 5 and 9 Squadrons, Communications Units and various Flying Boat Maintenance and Repair Depots.

Following their retirement in 1947 a few aircraft were converted for civil use.  Eric McIllree purchased four, three becoming VH-ALB, VH-BLD (ex P5564), and VH-BGP.  The fourth remained as X9519 and was used for spares.  VH-BLD was test flown at Rose Bay on 22 June 1949, being sold to Kenney’s Drive Yourself Pty Ltd in December the following year. At this time ownership was transferred to Amphibious Airways Pty Ltd of Rabaul, PNG.

VH-BLD had a similar history to VH-BGP and they, together with an Avro Anson (VH-BMM), were operated in New Britain and the Solomon Islands to transport native labour around the islands during 1951.  In January 1952 VH-BGP was badly damaged when it was blown into a Qantas DC-3 at Rabaul Airport; and VH-BLD received damage during take-off from Patlangat, New Ireland.  The Certificates of Airworthiness were cancelled and they were struck off the register in June 1954, eventually finding their way to Camden, NSW.  These aircraft, along with X9519, and a fourth aircraft, the identity of which is not known, were scrapped at St Marys in 1960.

VH-ALB (ex A2-4), the only survivor of the Australian Seagull V aircraft, had an interesting history.  It was received at No 1 AD on 17 March 1936 and was allotted to HMAS Sydney on 20 April 1937.  It had a couple of accidents, including striking the side of the ship on 28 February 1938, and being immersed in the sea at Jervis Bay, NSW on 22 March 1938.  It then spent some time at No 9 Squadron until embarked on HMAS Perth on 11 April 1940.  It was damaged in a hailstorm on 25 April 1946 and was offered for disposal in October that year.  It was used on charter work in Victoria and northern Queensland.

In 1964 it was purchased by two estate agents, Messrs H Treloar and J L Nichols, who proposed to use it for crocodile-shooting expeditions in the Northern Territory, and for deep-sea fishing trips around the Barrier Reef.  At one stage it was entered in the London – Sydney Air Race in 1969 but was unable to make the start.  After a series of overhauls it eventually crashed on take-off at Taree, NSW and was exchanged by its owners for a Supermarine Spitfire with the RAF Museum at Hendon, where it has been restored and placed on display in its RAAF markings as A2-4.

Three other Walrus are known to exist.  L2310 is on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton; HD874, an RAAF Walrus Mk II (wooden hull), was shipped to Heard Island, 1,448 km (900 miles) north of the Antarctic, on board HMALST 3501 (with Sikorsky Kingfisher A48-13) in November 1947.  Attached to the RAAF Antarctic Flight it received a number of modifications to suit it for the cold climate, one of which may have been the fitting of a metal hull from a Mk I.  Two days after arrival it made its only flight for the expedition, reaching 2,743 m (9,000 ft) around the volcanic mountain, Big Ben.  After landing it taxied to Atlas Cove where it was tied down.  However, during the night of 20/21 December 1947 winds at speeds of up to 200 km/h (125 mph) lashed the area with hail and snow.  The Walrus was torn loose from its picket blocks and rolled over a couple of times, causing extensive damage.  Some equipment was salvaged at the time.  In 1980 the wreck  was returned to Australia where it has been rebuilt and placed on display at the RAAF Museum at Point Cook, VIC.

The Walrus also served with the RNZAF between 1943 and 1947, with ten aircraft being taken on charge.  These comprised four Mk Is (serials NZ151 – ex L2222; NZ152 – ex L2236; NZ153 – ex L2285; and NZ158 – ex X9512) and six Mk IIs (serials NZ154 – ex W2707; NZ155 – ex W2724; NZ156 – ex X9567; NZ157 – ex W2700; NZ159 – ex W2740; and NZ160 – ex W3021).  In addition one (K8558), which was in a damaged condition, was received on loan from the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy.

NZ151 had an interesting history: as L2222 it was allotted to No 9 Squadron RAAF on 13 April 1942 and served at RAAF Rathmines, NSW until 10 June when it was re-allocated to the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy serving on board HMNZS Leander.  W2707 had a similar history, becoming NZ154.

A2-12 spent some time on board HMNZS Achilles from April to August 1942.  Another (K5841) was damaged on 24 November 1937 when it overturned in Wellington harbour.  These aircraft were used for seaplane training duties as well as utility transports, air-sea rescue, etc and were attached to No 720 Squadron.  Most were written off after suffering accidents and only two (NZ151 and NZ152) were returned to the Royal Navy after completion of service.

After the war two were sold to Mr R Exton of Auckland.  One, a Mk I (ex NZ158), became ZK-AMJ on the civil register and the second (NZ156) was to be used for spares.  However, the cost of conversion proved too great. It was eventually sold in October 1951 to Amphibian Airways of New Guinea and dismantled to provide spares for VH-ALB. The registration ZK-AMJ was cancelled in 1952.

A Mr M Gould bought two from RNZAF Blenheim and, although not licensed to fly, flew one to Paraparaumu near Wellington.  He returned and taxied the second across Cook Strait.  They were both displayed for some little time at Paraparaumu until. However, following the owner’s demise in the crash of a Tiger Moth in December 1947, they were sold for scrap.  It is said one was used by the then New Zealand airline TEAL for crew training but this has not been confirmed.

A further example survives in the United Kingdom, this being W2178 for which the registration G-RNLI was reserved but was not taken up. In mid-2013 it was conveyed to Audley End in Essex where its restoration to airworthiness was to be completed.  However, in 2018 it was again sold and the registration G-WLRS was reserved for when restoration is finally completed.