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Albatross flying boat manufacturing returns and will be built in Australia
A new version of the legendary Albatross flying boat will be built in Darwin, featuring digital avionics and enhanced turboprop engines from Pratt & Whitney. Manufacturers Amphibian Aerospace Industries (AAI) said the new generation G-111T is an “incredible aircraft of great and practical use to humanity” because of its huge variety of uses, including search and rescue, freight and coastal surveillance. (australianaviation.com.au) Más...To be fair, a significant portion of the Boeing 787 was designed and built in Oz.
Which portions?
This is VERY cool news. :)
When I was based at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi Texas back in 1963 and 1964 the Coast Guard had 2 HU16-E based there. As a Navy Diver, my dive partner and I had a chance to ride along on a mission. There was a Shrimp boat in the gulf taking on water so we delivered a pump so they could stay afloat and maintain a sea worthy vessel. The delivery was a water landing. Everything worked out for the Shrimp boat. As I remember the aircraft was very noisy with only 3 to 4 seats in the cabin area. It had an auxiliary power unit (very noisy) in the back of the cabin area. They used it to start both engines. We were glad to help and enjoyed the ride. What an interesting day that was. BTW… Navy Corpus had at that time squadrons of T-34 / T-28 / A-1E Skyraders and TS-2A Grumman Tracker for multi-engine training. They also had P2V Neptune’s. Those were the days of Round Engines. What a sound to remember.