A Policeman, whose daughter was a friend of my sister's, before the Second World War worked as a Steward for Imperial Airways flying the pre-war civilian version of what became the Sunderland from Southampton to Nice/Monte Carlo then on to Alexandria, down the Nile to Khartoum then down to Lake Victoria and on to land at Durban. He had some amazing photographs of herds of wildlife on migration taken from the aircraft flying at 1,500 ft. He said the Galley area had a big hatch (Later used for fitting depth charges to racks to drop on enemy submarines) that could be opened in flight and that you could lean out to watch what was going on below.

When the war came he joined the RAF serving throughout in Coastal Command as aircrew in Sunderland Flying Boats. After the war he joined the police force.