Dundee Coastal Air Station
Note: This map only shows my guess as to where this RNAS Air Station may have been situated. If anybody can kindly either confirm this, or provide a more exact location, this advice will be much appreciated.
DUNDEE COASTAL AIR STATION: Military seaplane and flying boat base
(Also known as STANNERGATE? See below)
Operated by: RNAS (Royal Naval Air Service), later Royal Navy
Location: Just to the ESE of Dundee city centre
Period of operation: 1916-1918? Used in between the wars, and in WW2 it appears
NOTES: Apparently operational in WW2 it seems. I expect it was operational in between times but was this actually the case?
Note: This picture was scanned from the December 1998 edition of Aeroplane Monthly magazine.
Perhaps one clue to the possibility of this Station being operational between the wars, (?), was the arrival on the Tay at Dundee of the four-engined Shorts ‘C’ Class flying boat variant, the S.21 'Maia' which had mounted above it the Short S.20 'Mercury', (float equipped and also four-engined), to undertake the longest distance world record flight by a seaplane. Covering 5,995 miles non-stop, (6,045 miles according to others) to Alexander Bay in South Africa, this record stands to this day. But, it is of course entirely possible that this project used the Naval dockyards as opposed to the Naval Air Station, and this picture supports this.
It is said by some that the 'Mercury' was not able to take-off with such a huge fuel load so the idea was, (somewhat akin to NASA ferrying the Space Shuttle above a Boeing 747 in later years), to first carry it aloft supported by a much larger aircraft. Or so some say. I suspect the Mercury was quite capable of taking off fully loaded? Either way the idea was, greatly encouraged by Imperial Airways, to carry air mail over very long distances. The project turned out to be very successful and the first trans-Atlantic flight was from Fornes in Ireland to Boucherville, near Montreal in Canada, on the 21st July 1938.
The flight to DUNDEE, (with all eight engines operating), routed up the west coast of England and Wales at about 500ft. Choosing this option rather than the more obvious east coast route. Having tried both options at least a couple of times I can now see why the west coast route does tend to be more user friendly. Less chance of widespread fog being encountered, that seems certain.
AN INTERESTING TRIAL FLIGHT
Incredible it now seems to me, a ‘shake-down’ flight to Montreal took place before attempting this record flight! The ‘ferry’ flight commenced on the 21st September 1938 with Capt. A S Wilcockson and crew piloting the 'Maia' (G-ADHK), and Capt. Don Bennett in charge of 'Mercury' (G-ADHJ).
THE RECORD ATTEMPT TO SOUTH AFRICA
With weather forecasts etc being in order the attempt took place on the 6th October landing on the 8th. Climbing to 4700ft the 'Mercury' was launched. It was not plain sailing either; an engine cowling came adrift causing considerable extra drag, (but no apparent damage), and airframe icing was encountered over France.
Please think about this. The 'Mercury' landed on the Orange river at Alexander Bay having covered 6045 miles in just over 42 hours. I’ll say it again…FORTY TWO HOURS! This equates to an average speed ‘over the ground’ of 144mph, quite an achievement for a design so loaded with extra drag - which included the floats of course.
The Orange River is the longest river in South Africa and enters the Atlantic at Alexander Bay, which is where it appears, the 'Mercury' actually landed.
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER?
The caption for the picture in Aeroplane Monthly was: "Mercury and Maia at Dundee, where they were positioned for the abortive seaplane distance record attempt in October 1938.
In compiling the research for this 'Guide' for over twenty years, this sort of thing does arise from time to time. Reports, apparently from experts, completely contradicting each other. Can anybody kindly offer advice, and any proof, on this subject?
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