Why German Fighter Pilots Couldn't Shoot Down Britain's Lumbering 'Flying Porcupine'

On 2 June 1943, a lone Short Sunderland flying boat of RAF Coastal Command was caught far out over the Bay of Biscay by eight Junkers Ju 88 long-range fighters. By every rule of air combat, the slowest aircraft in the sky was finished. Instead, it fought a 45-minute running action and made it home. This is the full story of the "Flying Porcupine" — the aircraft, the tactics, the crew of 461 Squadron RAAF, and what the records actually show. ───────────────────────────── WHAT THIS VIDEO COVERS → The Short Sunderland flying boat and the all-round defensive design that made it so hard to bring down → RAF Coastal Command and the Bay of Biscay campaign of 1943 → The Battle of the Atlantic, and why an island nation built long-range flying boats by the hundred → The Junkers Ju 88 heavy fighter and V Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 40, the Luftwaffe's specialist hunters over the Bay → Why eight-against-one did not play out the way the doctrine promised → The 45-minute running action of 2 June 1943, told from inside the hull → Flight Lieutenant Colin Walker and the crew of 461 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force → The "Flying Porcupine" nickname, and where it most likely actually came from → Claimed results versus the surviving German records, an honest look at what can and cannot be proven ───────────────────────────── MAJOR RESEARCH SOURCES → The National Archives, United Kingdom — squadron operations record books → Imperial War Museum → Australian War Memorial — unit records and the official Australian war history → Royal Air Force Museum → The London Gazette — official award citations → John Herington — official Australian history of the air war, 1939 to 1943 → Chris Goss — research on V Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 40, and the Junkers Ju 88C fighter units ───────────────────────────── FURTHER READING → Norman Franks, "Conflict Over the Bay" — RAF Coastal Command and the Bay of Biscay, May to August 1943 → John Herington, "Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939–1943" — the Australian official history, free to read online via the Australian War Memorial → Chris Goss, "Junkers Ju 88C Day and Night Fighters" (Osprey Combat Aircraft) — the attacking aircraft type in detail → Chris Goss — his definitive unit history of V Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 40, the Luftwaffe's only long-range maritime fighter group ───────────────────────────── ABOUT BRITISH BASTION British Bastion covers British and Commonwealth military history — the engineering, the intelligence, and above all the people behind it. New documentaries on a regular schedule. If a story like this one is worth keeping alive, a like and a subscribe genuinely help more people find it. It costs nothing, and it matters more than it should. #ShortSunderland #FlyingPorcupine #BattleOfTheAtlantic #WW2Aviation #BritishBastion Historical documentary for educational purposes. Archival material is presented in its historical context.