Something different flying boat

[Unreal]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/889023721166065/pe...

Not seen one before.

[tog]

I saw this in Norway last summer, tooling about over Bergen. Sounded awesome!

They have an Insta. https://www.instagram.com/meyersmanxairways/

[LunarOne]

Ah, the Grumman HU-16 Albatross - my favourite aircraft ever after getting hooked on the flying boat stories in the short-lived TV show Tales of the Gold Monkey in the early 80s. That show featured the smaller Grumman Goose and I seem to remember that nearly every episode featured the pilot trying to start up a recalcitrant engine. Which is why in the modern age, many of these flying boats are having their original Wright Cyclone radial engines replaced with turboprops. Much more reliable, but takes away all the romance.

The Albatross is going back into production in Australia where a company called AAI has got the rights an type certificate to build them at the Albatross 2.0

https://www.amphibaircraft.com/albatross
https://flyer.co.uk/grumman-albatross-makes-modern...

[LunarOne]

In Coast Guard livery they are spectacular

[hidetheelephants]

LunarOne said:

Ah, the Grumman HU-16 Albatross - my favourite aircraft ever after getting hooked on the flying boat stories in the short-lived TV show Tales of the Gold Monkey in the early 80s. That show featured the smaller Grumman Goose and I seem to remember that nearly every episode featured the pilot trying to start up a recalcitrant engine. Which is why in the modern age, many of these flying boats are having their original Wright Cyclone radial engines replaced with turboprops. Much more reliable, but takes away all the romance.

The Albatross is going back into production in Australia where a company called AAI has got the rights an type certificate to build them at the Albatross 2.0

https://www.amphibaircraft.com/albatross
https://flyer.co.uk/grumman-albatross-makes-modern...

They are wildly reliable engines by piston engine standards, they made 50k of the bloody things; the US military didn't bin off their last aircraft with these engines until 1990. A few are converted by people with more money than sense as the cost of a turbine conversion will pay for decades of engine maintenance and a supertankerful of avgas.

[normalbloke]

This regularly flies over our house, and is a frequent visitor to Daedalus, where it comes in for fuel often, in fact, it managed to get stuck in the grass next to a taxiway yesterday after it’s lunchtime shenanigans in Colwell Bay. He was doing some ‘sporty’ flypasts after leaving the bay, and also at Daedalus, I just hope the fun police aren’t paying too much attention.Beautiful machine.

[ecsrobin]

Unreal said:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/889023721166065/pe...

Not seen one before.

I think I recognise the white rib in the first photo. Great to see it doing some water landings locally got to see it up close at the Goodwood revival in September.

[Eric Mc]

By coincidence, I bought this kit yesterday -

[normalbloke]

There is a video doing the rounds ( just been posted on the Daedalus Farcebook page) of a close encounter with a drone as it was leaving Colwell Bay.