Edward Hulton knew he was chucking money down the drain in keeping Short Sunderland G-BJHS flying, but he wasn’t about to throw away his dream. Thirty years after it left for the States, the archives of its former captain, Ken Emmott, offer some wonderful memories
Surely it couldn’t be right. “Sunderland display and depart”, said the entry on the flying programme for 1990’s RAF Coningsby open day. Must be a misprint. No way would it turn up here. But, come the appointed time, the authoritative voice of commentator Roger Hoefling spelled it out. “Thus”, he intoned, “the Short Sunderland V". And there it was, one of the most majestic sights imaginable in the skies, juxtaposed incongruously against the backdrop of hardened aircraft shelters and Tornado F3s as it swept low along the main runway. In those glorious days of neither needing, nor being able, to know everything due to appear at an airshow, this was just about the ultimate surprise.
The entry
