Happy Easter to all of you 'out there'.

First-up today is a lovely walk-round of the World's only preserved Loening OA-1A I found by accident on the internet and just had to show it. If it is yours, please get in-touch.

Next up, by pure chance here is another walk-round that I found by accident whilst looking for something else and it features a PBY-6A Catalina example that has not appeared on SEAWINGS prior to now, so I just had to show it..!

Again, if this is your image set, please get in-touch with me.

I found a few R.A.A.F. Supermarine Southampton Mk.I photo's the other day that are perfect for scale modellers wanting to add detail to their builds. What a gorgeous looking series of 'boats they were with their wooden hulls.

Continuing the 'additional images' theme from past What's New's, I've come across a superb walk-round set featuring the World's only surviving PBM-5A Martin Mariner restored and on display at the Pima Country Air Museum, Arizona, and have added them to complement the existing large Gallery; one never knows when one extra photo will give you the exact detail you are seeking for that model..!

Finally for today, completing the 'additions to' series is a magnificent walk-round shot by our Dutch correspondent Cees Hendriks of Grumman HU-16E Albatross USCG '1293' which I have added to the existing gallery. Grateful thanks for your permission, Cees.

So, with everything running ok - so far -  tonight I have added to last night's up-date with 83 No. images I shot whilst visiting the Floyd Bennett Field Hanger 'B' of the same Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina and this includes a full interior walk-through(!) which is extremely rare as there is absolutely nothing installed into this airframe, so one can view the entire fit of internal ribs, stringers and bulkheads with associated fixings without any visual interference from fitted equipment.

All I can remember is how hot it was in there at the time; I came out sweating, I can tell you..!

SPECIAL NOTICE

On 30th December last, without any warning whatsoever, I suffered a complete and total computer hard drive failure right in-front of my eyes whilst using my pc. It was instant, total and irrecoverable.

I have since begun to restore all the elements that make up SEAWINGS and everything that I use to produce it; fortunately I backed up everything that was important - or so I thought - on Christmas Day and have since purchased a replacement HD, a pc overhaul and all the lost programs not saved on disc, a total of over £750.00 so far.

BUT, I have lost some very important information and attachments to emails that I received prior to the crash, sadly. They were in a 'holding' folder on my desktop as there had been so many in a short time, unusually.

I know there were some first-class photo attachments, plans and drawings and much more within all of the emails that have been lost and you can imagine my desperate desire to 're-find' them and save them for posterity.

I am currently taking all the steps necessary to ensure that this never, ever happens again. It is the first - and last - time this will ever happen to me; a well-used hard drive lasts around three years I am told, but there was no excuse for losing information, that's down to me and a failure to back-up everything......hind-sight is a wonderful thing.

So, if there is anything YOU can do to assist me, NOW is the time to do it please..!

Grateful thanks, Bryan Ribbans - Webmaster/Owner, SEAWINGS.

"I wish all visitors to the SEAWINGS website a Happy New Year for 2018".

The good news is that no flying boat archive reference material was lost, nor the website files, etc so we are still in business..!

Today's up-date is a small addition to the existing Walk-Round Gallery courtesy of correspondent Igor Kolokolov for the Grumman J2F-6 Duck so that I can confirm that all programs have been restored on my laptop to keep us going whilst the pc repair crew work on my mainframe.

Just for good measure, I've added another small walk-round today to double-check that all the required systems are working; this time it's Alex Norton's 24 No. image series of the Grumman J2F-6 Duck on display at the Erickson Aircraft Collection, Madras, Oregon, USA. My grateful thanks goes to Alex.

In the meantime, do have a great New Year's Day and here's to all of you having a Happy New Year 2018.

Today's up-date represents a massive walk-round 'tour-de-force' by our long-time walk-round specialist correspondent, Alex Norton.

Alex very recently paid a second visit to the Smithsonian Museum's Restoration Facility in Washington, USA following his first in 2014 and has shot a magnificent series of close-up images of the beautiful Sikorsky JRS-1 - the military version of the S-43 'Baby Clipper' - and one of a very small number of original Pearl Harbour attack survivors from 7th December, 1941 that actually flew against the Japanese attackers on that day.

He has also very thoughtfully provided, not one, but TWO image series; one 'as shot' and the second 'colour corrected', this to compensate for the lighting/colour conditions within the display hall which left a blue-ish 'colour cast', these new series added to his original one from 2014, amounts to a staggering 206 individual images featuring this 'boat...!

However, each offers superb detailed images for the scale modeler, enthusiast and historians amongst us, so I have provided both sets and included Alex's original 2014 walk-round set making this Gallery as comprehensive as it could possibly be.

Alex, masterful workmanship here as ever and my very grateful thanks for everything..!

Message to all - Enjoy...!!

Finally for today, I have created the 'Out-of-Print Book' reference Gallery to provide access to certain long O.O.P. flying boat reference books that must be considered the very best in past publication history, ones that are too good to simply 'disappear' for all time. Click the icon at the bottom of the Index Page to go to the Gallery.

However, having just returned there myself recently, I was horrified to find that she had been removed from within her hanger as I found her sitting in the UK weather on a concrete base outside, looking forlorn with her paintwork ruined by the effects of the harsh weather.

Today, L-866 looks nothing like the glamorous 'Cat' in the walk-round Gallery. Why, Oh why has this been done..? Why take a perfectly restored aircraft and 'dump' it outside with no protection whatsoever? I thought they were there to preserve these aircraft, not ruin them..? Disgusting behaviour by the management.....

On a brighter note, I have created the Catalina/Canso Photo Gallery and added to the Catalina/Canso Reference Archive and filled it with 120 superb general images of 'Cat's & Canso's' doing their thing. As time allows and the images become available, I will add to it. It presents another reference resource for the discerning flying boat enthusiast and for the life of me I cannot recall why I haven't done it before now..! Enjoy...

Next up, is one of the finest photographic walk-rounds I have had the pleasure to host featuring Catalina PBY-5A 'PH-PBY', the ONLY Catalina in Europe that you can book a flight in..!

Yes, that's right...'book a flight in', you did read that correct..!

Check out the details on the Gallery page and enjoy 194 superb images, including the interior.

Today, I have added another stunning photographic walk-round to the existing Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina WR Gallery, this the 'cut-away' display example located at the USN Navy Museum,  N.A.S. Pensacola, Florida.

This addition makes coverage of this display more-or-less complete without visiting it yourself..!

First up is this cracking walk-round of a 'boat new to this website; a United-Consultants UC-1 Twin Bee courtesy of Cees Hendriks.

Continuing the Seabee theme, I recently shot this small walk-round of a completely 'naked' Republic RC-3 Seabee on display in the Tennessee Museum of Aviation, USA as it's so difficult to find basic hull 'hulks' that display all the internal bulkhead and build details; scratch-build modelers 'Gold-Dust'..!

While speaking about my visit to the Tennessee Museum of Aviation, here is the real reason I called in; this beautiful Grumman HU-16E Albatross in all her glory which I set-about capturing in my 147 image walk-round I have great pleasure in presenting here.

Finally for today, here's an up-date on one of my favourite 'boats, the newly restored Consolidated PB2Y-5R Coronado at the N.A.S. Pensacola, Florida, re-visited by our long-time correspondent Igor Kolokolov who has very kindly provided 50 images of it in all her glory and another 17 images taken from the original Technical Manual showing aspects of the interior of the type. Grateful thanks, Igor.

Today's up-date features some suitable subjects I found during a recent visit to the magnificent Tennessee Museum of Aviation near Knoxville, Tenn. USA. First up is a lovely example of the Liberty V-12 Model 'A' engine as used by the Curtiss H-16 and the Navy-Curtiss NC-4.

Next up is a lovely Walk-Round of a Beriev Be-12 'Mail' that I stumbled across on 'the web' with no other details. (If this is YOUR walk-round, please let me know so that I can grant full credit).

It shows this iconic amphibian/flying boat in great detail and fully weathered and to my eye, very attractive. Of all the modern 'boats, this is THE one I want to get 'up-close-and-personal' with.

For me, there is something about the design of it that is so attractive I just can't take my eyes off it..! Enjoy all the details in this lovely photo-shoot..!

Finally for today, here is 131 individual images of the Beriev Be-200 which I have added to the Be-200 Photo Gallery.

The yellow overall colour scheme shows perfectly all the details of the airframe for those building the Heller 1/72 scale kit.

Now here's a real treat..! Canadian Consolidated PBY-5A Canso C-FNJE at the 2017 Edmonton Air Show, Canada visited by our very own Chris Eldridge - aka 'Dogsbody' on the Flying Boat Forum and Chief Moderator - who paid a visit and sent in this lovely 54 image walk-round for us to enjoy. Read more about it here.

What I would have given to have been with you Chris, but thanks for taking a superb selection of pictures, including the cockpit..!

While producing the above up-date tonight, I have found that an earlier walk-round of Chris's might have gone un-noticed as it wasn't entered in the Walk-Round Gallery selection for some strange reason, so I have amended it right now.

Therefore, please find here an earlier superb photo set of a Canadair CL-215T from 'Dogsbody'.

Finally for tonight I got caught up in the CL-215 moment - Yes, I know, as I did the Grumman Albatross...! - and added 100 new images to the Photo Gallery section for the CL-215. There are a host of fantastic pictures here and I'm willing to bet a few of them will become Your new desktop wallpaper in the coming days..! Enjoy..!

Grateful thanks to reader Brian Blackmore who very kindly contacted SEAWINGS to advise me. The issue was simply that the pdf was too large in Gb to load in a reasonable time; this has now been corrected and it downloads satisfactory.

If YOU spot anything on the site that isn't working properly, please do let me know, many thanks.

Working on the up-date yesterday reminded me that I had another walk-round of the Be-6 'Madge' in my archive and here it is, shot by our long-term correspondent Igor Kolokolov, demonstrating yet again how to take the perfect detailed walk-round series, just as if I had been there myself.

He, along with the other dedicated walk-round exponents  make this site what it is and my grateful thanks goes to all of them who take the time and trouble to perfect their art and share it with us all. Thanks to all of you....!

"Oh, go on then, show us another Grumman Albatross walk-round" I hear you cry...!

Well, ok if you insist, here is a lovely little walk-round of a beautiful USCG example in the markings as based at Sacramento and this features some lovely interior shots taken by correspondent Benoit Lescot for our viewing pleasure. Thanks for sending it in, Benoit.

Next up for a change is a superb long-out-of-print article added to the O.O.P. Articles Gallery which was published in International Airpower Review Vol.10, 2003 and features a very detailed and informative listing of all the Short Sunderland variants including descriptions of the different types together with colour camo and markings artwork and a full Squadron listing too.

The Plans Gallery seems the most affected, so I have started to re-construct the missing plans images today commencing here with the Beriev Be-6 'Madge' plans. This has also meant that I can take a re-look at these pages and images and up-date them to the 'new' page scheme as well.

I will be checking right through the site over the next few weeks and up-dating all the pages to the 'new' scheme and that will give me a chance to fix any other issues I find along the way.

It's got to be done, so I might as well get on with it..!

Up-Date: All links and images fixed today quicker than I thought..! Phew....didn't enjoy that one.

Jus the individual pages to be refreshed in the 'new' scheme, that's easier..!

It is the Grumman HU-16A Albatross on display in the Italian Aviation Museum at Vigna di Valle, just outside of Rome, Italy. Enjoy...!

Next up is a very colourful ex. Brazilian A.F. Grumman Albatross on display in Brazil, photographed by correspondent Ivan Pliopas who very kindly sent the images into SEAWINGS. Thanks, Ivan.

Finally for today, here is a lovely walk-round from the camera lens of our prolific Russian-based correspondent, Igor Kolokolov who attended America's 'Sun n Fun' fly-in in 2014 and found this gorgeous Grumman G-111 Albatross executive transport there on display. Thanks, Igor.

Thanks, Alex for sharing this with us all.

I choose my up-dates at random from the SEAWINGS archive to my personal 'whim-of-the-week' , but if there is anything that YOU would like to see, please get in-touch and let me know. If I have it, I will gladly present it here.....

Ok, once you have a theme in your head, you might as well stick with it....!

Up next, is a lovely 29 image walk-round of another USAF-serving Grumman Albatross, this time a UH-1G, on display at the Pima County Air Museum, Arizona.

My thanks goes to our world-roving correspondent, Igor Kolokolov for providing this superb set for us to enjoy. 

Finally today, I couldn't resist adding my 101 image walk-round of the USCG Grumman Albatross under restoration at Hanger B, Floyd Bennett Field, New York. What a treat to be able to walk around such a magnificent 'boat with a digital camera, a real special occasion. All thanks to Park Ranger 'Linc' Hallowell, who very kindly guided me around the Hanger B complex during my visit.

Linc, sometimes 'Thanks' just isn't enough.....

SPECIAL NOTE: As of this week, the SEAWINGS website is hosted on a brand-new hosting package with a new host and it's working far better than the past few weeks; the new hosts fee's have been paid for the next 12 months and all seems well. It has been a desperately awful couple of months here website-wise and much 'soul-searching' has been carried out to find a host that actually cares about what I'm building here. The great news is that I have found what I was seeking and we are off and running again....

Here is an up-date featuring another superb walk-round of a Grumman HU-16B Albatross that has not featured on SEAWINGS before, and just look at all that detail, especially the cockpit area.

More up-dates to follow soon.....

If 'big-Boats' are your thing and close-up details as well, you are going to love this..! Grateful thanks to Vladimir, as usual.

More up-dates to follow soon.....

More up-dates to follow soon.....

If YOU have any other information on this 'boat such as plans, interior images, manuals or indeed anything, please send it into SEAWINGS for us all to enjoy.

More up-dates to follow soon.....

More up-dates to follow soon.....

Next is another super walk-around of the RAF Museum, Hendon Supermarine Walrus. by correspondent Andrew Birnie. Certain flying boats will keep appearing on this site as with the advent of the brand-new Airfix 1/48th scale plastic model kit, there is never enough reference material..! And the idea is to compile a complete reference source for all the popular types as time and opportunity allows.

Continuing with the 'these are all my favourite flying boat's' theme as it seems today, here is a gorgeous walk-round of a Beriev Be-6 'Madge' shot by Oleg Timchenko which shows great details for modellers building the new Trumpeter scale kit.

More to come soon...

I have done this in an effort to find the rightful owner of these fantastic photo's so I can grant rightful credit or take them down if requested, so if these are YOUR photo's please get in-touch with SEAWINGS.

In the meantime, I'll leave them here for posterity.........

More up-dates to follow soon.....

Many thanks, Igor..!

More up-dates to follow soon.....

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The next major flying boat type to receive the SEAWINGS 'treatment' is the Dornier Do.24 and this comes from the substantial private archive owned by our Dutch correspondent Bart Lammerse who has very kindly granted permission for us to share it - all of it.

It has always been a type that eluded the 'full coverage' that it should have on this site, partly due to a distinct lack of decent references and also because I've been concentrating on other 'boats. With Bart contacting me and making his fantastic offer of help, the timing could not be better.

I say that because his archive is large and covers all aspects of this iconic German Luftwaffe WWII 'boat; walk-round(s), plans, manual, profiles and contemporary photographs which is where I've started today.

Click to view the 109 images in the new Do.24 Photo Gallery here and over the next few weeks I will be working to add all the rest of the material.

My grateful thanks goes to Bart for his generosity. Enjoy!

Coming up next on SEAWINGS for the Do.24:

● Photographic Walk-Rounds.

● Interior photo's.

● Maintenance Manual illustrations.

● Plans, Colour Profiles and Paintings.

● Article pdf's.

● The SAR 'boats; a photographic gallery.

.....and more..!

PS: I couldn't wait to add more images so have uploaded Bart's Do.24 construction photo's to the above gallery..! These images have been sourced from the now-defunct fly.to/do24 website and I am pleased to save them and give them a home for all to view, courtesy of Bart.

Finally for today, I've just up-loaded a superb 'out-of-print' article describing in some detail the operations of the Spanish S.A.R. Dornier Do.24's into the Out-Of-Print Article Gallery, again from Bart's archive. Scroll to the bottom of the gallery to read it.

A subject that has fascinated me for some time is the shipborne catapults that have launched the flying boats from the various capital ships, yet there is very little information 'out there' on these machines.

New correspondent Maarten Schönfeld answered my 'cry for help' and very kindly sent me all references that he had amassed when constructing a scale model of such a catapult.

Armed with this information, and some of my own, I have created the H.M. Ships Catapult Archive within the Ships Gallery and hope to add to it in the near future.

If YOU have any pictures, plans, drawings and information concerning the flying boat catapults that were mounted on ships around the world, please send it into SEAWINGS as modelers and enthusiasts would love to be able to make good use of it....!

SEAWINGS 2016 Hosting Fund Donations Received To Date:

6 in Total

"Every contribution helps, Thanks"

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So, armed with my camera I took full advantage of that as you will see; it afforded opportunities for photos that one would not normally get. Enjoy!

Next up today is a selection of full-colour profiles of the Walrus drawn by noted artist Bob Pearson who's work features in all the quality websites, book volumes and discerning model kit manufacturers artwork. My grateful thanks goes to Bob for granting permission to show these. Thanks, Bob.

I realised that I've not up-dated the Walrus Photo Gallery for a long while, so I have just put that to rights with a brand-new selection of images from my archive to add inspiration to those modelers contemplating the arrival of the new 1/48 scale Airfix model kit next year!

Into the Walrus Walk-Round Gallery I've added four excellent images from UK-based correspondent Ken Withey showing in particular details the wheel well and bomb rack area. Many thanks, Ken.

Next, three extra profiles have been sent into SEAWINGS featuring the Walrus by correspondent Mark from New Zealand. Thanks, Mark.

Now, I have also renewed and expanded the Walrus Manual Gallery and have added the full Supermarine Walrus Maintenance Manual as a pdf download for those that want to go that 'extra-mile' in details and description.

Finally, in what seems to have become a massive Walrus up-date today, next is a complete re-vamp of the Walrus Plans Gallery complete with text notations for some of the plans, all provided by our long-term correspondent Olivier Faivre. Thanks, Olivier.

Phew, what a day I've had doing all these up-dates but it has been well worth it; now, there is no excuse for not getting the Supermarine Walrus details correct..!

Enjoy!

Featured within  the Scale Model Kit News gallery are the CAD drawing images  and Airfix's own description that is bound to have us all dribbling down the monitor for the next few months as we count down the days to getting our hands on it...!

Spookily, this all comes right in the week where I've decided to up-load, feature and concentrate on Walrus references for this site, so you will all have the very best of what SEAWINGS can offer - which in the case of the Walrus is an enormous amount, when the kit finally arrives. You will have all these to-hand and no excuse not to dive in and build one..!

And as ever for the past 16 years these references are provided by myself to you all completely free-of-charge unless of course, you feel like making a donation as the annual site hosting fees are coming due......

Just published, Volume 2 of 'The Fighting America Boats of WWI compilation is another masterwork by Aeronaut Publications and the author Colin Owers.

Read my review in the gallery and see what a proper flying boat book should look like; ...and then some.

SEAWINGS welcomes anyone to send in their new publications for inclusion in this new gallery - please contact SEAWINGS here.

More entries for the gallery to come....

Next up today is my walk-round of Supermarine Walrus L2301 on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, RNAS Yeovilton, England.

Yes..! I made it there at long last and what a pleasure it was to walk around this superb restoration complete with its wings folded, a treat in itself, and get right up-close to her to shoot what amounted to 151 No. images.

Thanks to the very helpful staff there, I even managed a couple of interior shots!

Continuing the page re-building/re-design theme, I have consolidated all the walk-rounds of Walrus L2301 into one gallery to make it easier for everyone to find everything; well, that's the plan!

I'm carrying on this work 'behind-the-scenes' through the next couple of months so keep a look-out for page changes..! Enjoy!

SEAWINGS 2016 Hosting Fund Donations Received To Date:

5 in Total

"Every contribution helps, Thanks"

The best answer I can give you is 'working behind the scenes' for the past few months. In actuality, family and work got in the way daily, but truthfully 'behind the scenes' is quite correct as I've embarked on my 'life- path' of getting this site right-up-to-date by not only producing up-dates but by going through every page on the site and changing each one into the 'new' livery I've decided upon; it's much more 'user friendly' in that it's easier to read and more subtle than previously. I won't be changing this one again; this is 'it' now. But, it needs to be completed otherwise the site looks a mess.

That said, in carrying through this effort I've have found some things that weren't working as they should and even a gallery that was never up-loaded in the first place! (Doh..!)

So, go to the Short S-45A Solent Mk III walk-round page and you now have the fantastic IrfanView images working again..!

And, here is the Grumman J2F-1 Duck DETAILpics Gallery that should have already been up-loaded, but wasn't for some strange reason.

Brian and I spoke on the phone, emailed and corresponded for well over ten years or more; every few weeks a package would arrive at my office and in it would be a pile of documents - all flying boat related - and a lot of them would be the actual magazine articles removed out of copies of FLIGHT, and the like. From that I was able to build the 'Flying Boat 'Out-of-Print' articles Gallery which he was credited for.

He sent me fabulous stuff that you wouldn't ever get to see nowadays; he was a serious collector of aviation related material and fully bought into my producing a website that would endeavour to preserve the flying boat era for future generations to learn from, as well as the present generations to enjoy, be they historians, enthusiasts or scale modellers, all for 'free'.

He never ever asked for anything in return and so sadly, he turned out to be the 'nicest chap I never met'. He had his heart attack the night before we were due to meet for the first time.

Here is another article he sent me, preserved for all time. Brian, sometimes 'Thanks' just isn't enough.....

SEAWINGS 2016 Hosting Fund Donations Received To Date:

4 in Total

"Every contribution helps, Thanks"

I have determined that I have to get to this flying boat and give it once-and-for-all the 'SEAWINGS walk-round treatment' as the display is so, well, 'flying-boat'..!

With its wings folded, affording the viewer so much more detail opportunity, as well as unique options on photography angles unavailable in any other museum, plans are being made to get me and my trusty digi-camera front & centre with this craft......!

Me, I can't wait.....and YOU will be the first to see the results..! Watch this space..!