page_title: Short Sunderland
section_title: Survivors
hierarchical_section_title: Short Sunderland / Survivors
caption_attribution_description: English: Short Sunderland MR.5 ML824 NS-Z at the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon, in 1977
context_page_description: The Short S.25 Sunderland was a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force. The aircraft took its service name from the town and port of Sunderland in North East England.
  Developed in parallel with the civilian S.23 Empire flying boat, the flagship of Imperial Airways, the Sunderland was developed specifically to conform to the requirements of British Air Ministry Specification R.2/33 for a long-range patrol/reconnaissance flying boat to serve with the Royal Air Force. As designed, it served as a successor to the earlier Short Sarafand flying boat. Sharing several similarities with the S.23, it featured a more advanced aerodynamic hull and was outfitted with various offensive and defensive armaments, including machine gun turrets, bombs, aerial mines, and depth charges. The Sunderland was powered by four Bristol Pegasus XVIII radial engines and was outfitted with various detection equipment to aid combat operations, including the Leigh searchlight, the ASV Mark II and ASV Mark III radar units, and an astrodome.
  The Sunderland was one of the most powerful and widely used flying boats throughout the Second World War.
context_section_description: ML814 a Mark III, converted to Mark V and then for passenger work, is on display in Kermit Weeks' Fantasy of Flight in Florida, US. It was bought in 1993, and flown across the Atlantic from the UK. According to the FoF website ML814 is the "last 4-engined passenger flying boat that can still fly." Formerly RNZAF NZ4108 – SH.974b MR.5 went to Airlines of New South Wales as VH-BRF "Islander" and was converted to a Sandringham in Australia. Airlines of New South Wales subsequently taken over by the major Australian airline Ansett and became Ansett Flying Boat Services and operated from Rose Bay, Sydney, Australia until 1974. Currently it is the last four-engined passenger flying boat to have crossed a major ocean, although it is reported to be maintained in airworthy condition it has not been flown since 1996 and remained on display in the museum's main hangar for a majority of the 2000s occasionally being towed to the outdoor ramp for certain events.
  In addition a few aircraft have been preserved as static museum exhibits.
  ML824 is on display in Hangar 1 at the RAF Museum London at Hendon, which acquired it in 1971. The interior of the aircraft is accessible to visitors. Originally preserved at Pembroke Dock after final service with the French Navy. It made its last flight from Lanveoc Pouloc, near Brest to Pembroke on 24 Mar 1961.
  ML796 is on display at Imperial War Museum Duxford in Cambridgeshire.
  NJ203 RAF Short Sunderland IV/Seaford I S-45 NJ203. 1947 Converted to Short Solent 3 by Short Bros Belfast. 1949 BOAC G-AKNP "City of Cardiff". 1951 Trans Oceanic Airways of Australia as VH-TOB "Star of Papua". 1953 South Pacific Air Lines as N9946F "Isle of Tahiti". Last flew 1958. 1958 Howard Hughes – Hughes Tool Company. Since 1990 it has been on display at the Oakland Aviation Museum, California, USA.
  NZ4111 located at the Chatham Islands. Serving with No. 5 Squadron 6 RNZAF March-11 April 1959, coded KN-D; it took part in a flypast to mark the opening of the Auckland Harbour Bridge on 30 May 1959. On 4 November 1959, it was badly damaged in an accident in the Chatham Islands when the Sunderland hit rocks in Te Whanga Lagoon while taxiing and sank in shallow water. It was stripped of usable parts and written off RNZAF books on 9 December 1959. This was the first of the RNZAF Mk.5 Sunderlands to be written off due to damage. The fuselage was broken into major components for use on a farm; the owners are now reassembling the hull and fuselage sections.
  NZ4112 – Hulk used by Hobsonville Yacht Club until 1970, then scrapped. Cockpit and front of aircraft transported to the Ferrymead Heritage Park for the Ferrymead Aeronautical Society Inc. Christchurch, New Zealand.
  NZ4115 SH.1552b MR.5. Previously SZ584 and BOAC G-AHJR is on display at the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland, New Zealand. The interior and cockpit having been extensively restored and hull repairs some reskinning having taken place to airworthy standards and the exterior repainted in NZ4115's later RNZAF maritime scheme Q for Quebec is now displayed inside the MOTAT Aviation Display Hall with Short Bros sister TEAL Short Solent ZK-AMO. Q for Quebec's turrets, armaments and radar and radar domes are being refitted while on display.
  Sunderland T9044 was discovered on the seabed off Pembroke Dock in Wales in 2000. The site is protected and recovery of the aircraft is ongoing.
  The wreck located by Calshot Divers at Calshot in 2010 is very likely to be that of ML883 and not PP118 as originally thought. This wreck site is awkward to dive due to its proximity to the Fawley Refinery, Solent shipping lane, Calshot RNLI station and public slipway.
caption: Sunderland V ML824 displayed at the Royal Air Force Museum London at Hendon wearing the codes of No. 201 Squadron RAF. Now indoors in Hangar 1.
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