Name This AE...345

[Brady]

???

[Dixie]

Short Empire S.23 Flying Boat, 33 Sqn RAAF.

[m10bob]

Short Sunderland

[Terminus]

It's an Empire.

[Footslogger]

flying bomb [:D]

[m10bob]

Look...If Dixie AND T say it's an Empire, then by God that's what it is!

Besides, does look kinda bare for a "porcupine"..[:D]

[Iridium]

What are those hemispheres on the underside of the wings midway between the pontoons and wing tips? Surface radar?

[sadja]

searchlights ?

[Brady]

Empire, it is[:)]

[Long Lance]

Sorry for being late and fool: But what is the difference between an Empire and a Sunderland (I would have  bet on the Suderland btw)?

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: Long Lance

Sorry for being late and fool: But what is the difference between an Empire and a Sunderland (I would have  bet on the Suderland btw)?

The Empire was a comercial flying boat. It was used mostly by BOAC and Qantas, some of the BOAC ones were taken over by the RAF and armed with gun turrets in the tail (and later radar) the Qantas ones were taken over by the RAAF and armed (iirc) with single machine guns.
The Sunderland was designed from the outset as a military type and among other things, was much more heavily armed

[Long Lance]

Ah, thank you! That makes Sunderland not a total foolish guess...

[m10bob]

ORIGINAL: sadja

searchlights ?

Yes, I believe they were called "Kleg lights"..The planes would acquire the sub at night on the surface with radar and swoop in low, gliding, and hit 'em with bright lights. It stunned the sub crew the few crucial seconds it took for the plane to close to gun range.

The one in my pic is Canadian.

BTW, doing a google-search, i found a lot of nice pics of the Rmpire and Sunderland planes.
(One Empire profile is in colour and shows some of the guns added on).