The Walsh Brothers Flying boats were World War I pilot training aircraft from New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

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Walsh Brothers

Brothers Leo and Vivian Walsh

Vivian Walsh (aviator)

Vivian Claude Walsh was an engineer. Vivian and his elder brother Leo Austin Walsh were pioneers of New Zealand aviation.Vivian and Leo built a British Howard Wright biplane, which Vivian first flew on 5 February 1911...

 built and flew a Howard Wright biplane in 1910 and flew it on 5 February 1911. When in August the aircraft crashed it was rebuilt by the brothers into what was in reality an entirely new aircraft, with a streamlined nacelle between the wings, which now had swept outer bay, while the canard was replaced by a conventional tailplane.

The New Zealand Flying School

During 1914 they began construction of a two place flying boat similar to a Curtiss

Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company

Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer that went public in 1916 with Glenn Hammond Curtiss as president. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the company was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States...

 design. After the war broke out, the brothers founded the New Zealand Flying School

New Zealand Flying School

The New Zealand Flying School was formed in 1915, by the Walsh Brothers, Leo and Vivian, to train pilots for the Royal Flying Corps. The school flew a fleet of home-built and imported flying boats from Mission Bay on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour, near where a sculpture now stands to commemorate...

 in October 1915 to train men for the Royal Flying Corps. The Curtiss based design was modified with dual controls to become a trainer and first flown 1 January 1915. The first class of three included the fighter ace, Keith Caldwell

Keith Caldwell

Air Commodore Keith Logan "Grid" Caldwell CBE, MC, DFC & Bar was a New Zealand fighter ace of the Royal Flying Corps in World War I who also rose to the rank of Air Commodore in the Royal New Zealand Air Force during World War II.-Early life:Born in Wellington, the son of David Robert Caldwell and...

. Classes were always small but - in contrast to overseas training - comprehensive.

Evolution of the Curtiss Design

Due to the difficulties obtaining suitable training aircraft, the Walsh brothers decided to build their own trainers, initially based on this pattern. Over the next four years they produced a series of four flying boat designs, evolved from, but bearing little resemblance to the original Curtiss model. The last of the Walsh Brothers designs, the Type D of 1919 was an aerodynamically and hydrodynamically advanced machine, with a powerful Beardmore engine.

Sale to NZPAF

The flying school struggled to gain clients after the war, and all assets of the flying school were acquired for the NZPAF in 1924. All Walsh brothers flying boats had been made for the use of the school, not for sale. The NZPAF had a landplane based training programme using the Avro 504

Avro 504

The Avro 504 was a World War I biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the War totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind that served in World War I, in any military capacity, during...

K and had no use for the flying boats. The survivors are believed to have been burnt on the Auckland waterfront, however there are "lost treasure" stories that these and some of the other machines used by the flying school are stored on a defence force base at Devonport

Devonport Naval Base

Devonport Naval Base is the home of the Royal New Zealand Navy, located at Devonport, New Zealand on Auckland's North Shore. It is currently the only base of the navy that operates ships, and was a navy base from as far back as 1841...

 in tunnels bricked up after the Second World War.

External links

• 1966 Encyclopedia entry
• http://uneli.unitec.ac.nz/our_auckland/kohi/flight%20school.htm
• http://www.raes.org.nz/index.cfm/NZAT/Vivian_and_Leo_Walsh
• http://www.teara.govt.nz/EarthSeaAndSky/SeaAndAirTransport/Aviation/3/en
• http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=3W3
• http://www.auckland-airport.co.nz/NewsHistory/aviators.php?walsh