Service
In the summer of 1939, four Lerwicks were allocated to 240 Squadron. By October, the squadron had stopped flying them and reverted to its older and slower Saro London flying boats. The Lerwick programme was cancelled on the 24 October but restarted on 1 November. In December 1939, Air Vice-Marshal Sholto Douglas recommended the Lerwicks be scrapped and Saunders-Roe put to building Short Sunderlands but the production change would have taken months and with the start of World War II, aircraft were urgently required.
Production continued and the type entered service with 209 Squadron based at Oban in 1940, replacing Short Singapores. The squadron soon began losing aircraft to accidents. During the service with 209 Squadron, all the Lerwicks were grounded twice for urgent safety modifications; on only two occasions were U-boats ever attacked by a Lerwick and neither of the submarines was damaged.
In April 1941, 209 Squadron began receiving PBY Catalinas. The last of a total of 21 Lerwicks was delivered in May but the type was withdrawn from front-line service in the same month. Most of the remaining Lerwicks were transferred to Number 4 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit at Invergordon; three were sent to 240 Squadron for service trials at the highly-secret Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Helensburgh.
In the Summer of 1942, the Lerwicks were briefly returned to service for the purpose of operational training with 422 Squadron and 423 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, based at Loch Erne. By the end of 1942 the type had been declared obsolete; by early 1943 the survivors had been scrapped.
Read more about this topic: Saro Lerwick
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