New planes requests (from other threads/please pin it)

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by RPS69

Check the german boats activity over the black sea. Or even the He115 over barents sea. You will be surprised.

I'm not familiar with seaplane/flying boat ops in those areas. But, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if there were far more direct rescues in the Black and Mediterranean Seas. Waves don't get as big in smaller bodies of water, and due to nature of the coastlines there probably were more rescues in harbors and other sheltered areas.

I'll take your word that there were direct rescues in the Barents Sea. It seems a bit odd since there's ice for much of the year, and the cold water temperatures usually mean that water survival time is measured in minutes. No use risking an airplane and the lives of its crew just to pick corpses out of the water. But, I'm sure that some rescue planes crews took the risk and saved lives by doing so.

On the Western Front, the waves in the North Sea, Bay of Biscay, and English Channel were often too high for rescue planes to land. But there were still many rescues - especially in the English Channel, with the He-115, Supermarine Walrus, and PBY Catalina doing most of the work.

If IL2 ever decides to get into seaplane ops in the Mediterranean, an important aircraft to add to the wishlist is the CANT Z.501 Gabbiano. It was a real workhorse which suffered a lot of casualties.