Walruses operated against submarines throughout the Second World War, and were also used by the RAF Search and Rescue Force to recover personnel from the sea.

After the end of the war the Walrus continued in service, and some aircraft operated in a civil capacity in regions such as Australia and the Antarctic.

[9] The strength of the aircraft was demonstrated in October 1935, when a Seagull V carrying the Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, Roger Backhouse, landed in the water in Portland Harbour with its wheels unretracted.

The aircraft's hull flooded following the impact of the landing, which caused it to flip over, but Backhouse and the crew managed to escape with minor injuries.

An automatic horn and indicator lights were subsequently fitted to ensure the pilot checked the wheels before landing.

[12] Test pilot Alex Henshaw later stated that the Walrus was strong enough to make a wheels-up landing on grass without much damage, but also commented that it was "the noisiest, coldest and most uncomfortable" aircraft he had ever flown.

[13] The Type 236 Supermarine Walrus is a single-engine amphibious biplane,[14] principally designed to conduct maritime observation missions.

The all-metal hull, an innovation for its day, was constructed from an anodised alloy, with stainless steel forgings for the catapult spools and mountings.

A senior technical assistant at Supermarine suggested the idea of completely retracting the wheels into the wings, so as to make the aircraft more streamlined.

[16] The Seagull's pusher configuration[15] has the advantages of keeping the engine and propeller out of the way of spray when operating on water and of reducing the noise level inside the aircraft; also the propeller was safely away from a crew member standing on the front deck when hooking on a hoisting cable.

[16] The engine is offset by three degrees to starboard to counter any tendency of the aircraft to yaw due to unequal forces on the rudder caused by the vortex from the propeller.

[22] The armament consisted of a pair of .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine guns, one each in the open positions in the nose and rear fuselage.

When flying from a warship the Walrus would be recovered by touching-down alongside, then lifted from the sea by a ship's crane.

[24][3] Like other flying boats, the Walrus carried marine equipment for use on the water, including an anchor and a boat-hook.

Production aircraft differed in minor details from the prototype; the transition between the upper decking and the aircraft sides was rounded off, the three struts bracing the tailplane were reduced to two, the trailing edges of the lower wing were hinged to fold 90° upwards rather than 180° downwards, and the external oil cooler was omitted.

Sea Otters never completely replaced the Walrus,[3] and both were used for air-sea rescue during the latter part of World War II.

Although its principal intended use was gunnery spotting in naval actions, this only occurred twice: Walruses from the battlecruiser Renown (the lead ship of her class) and the Town-class cruiser Manchester were launched in the Battle of Cape Spartivento,[3] and a Walrus from the Town-class Gloucester was used in the Battle of Cape Matapan.

[46] In August 1940, a Walrus operating from HMAS Hobart bombed and machine-gunned the Italian headquarters at Zeila in British Somaliland.

The specialist RAF Air Sea Rescue Service squadrons flew a variety of aircraft, using Spitfires and Boulton Paul Defiants to patrol for downed aircrew, Avro Ansons to drop supplies and dinghies and Walruses to pick up them up from the water.

[49] RAF air-sea rescue squadrons were deployed to cover the waters around the United Kingdom, the Mediterranean Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

Operating in the Antarctic Ocean,[55] it was launched from the factory ship Balaena, which was equipped with a surplus naval catapult.

[3][57] During the first part of the 1960s, the remaining Walrus A2-4, registered for both private use and charter work, was provided with improved radio equipment and additional passengers seating.

Wreckage that is thought to be that of the Walrus assigned to the cruiser HMAS Sydney was photographed when the wreck of the vessel was rediscovered in 2008.

During the 1950s and 1960s, it was flown by various Australian private owners before being badly damaged in a take-off accident at Taree, New South Wales in 1970.

The wrecked aeroplane was acquired by the RAF Museum in exchange for a Supermarine Spitfire and a cash payment of Australian $5,000.

[71][note 1] In 1973, en route the United Kingdom, it had to be fumigated in Hawaii, due to the discovery of Black widow spiders.

The restoration of A2-4 began after its arrival at RAF Henlow; it has been on display at Royal Air Force Museum London since 1979.

[73] Post-war, it was placed in storage until 1947, when it was issued to the RAAF's Antarctic flight, for use on Heard Island during the first Australian expedition to Antarctica since World War II.

[74] In 1963 it was recovered from a dump at Haddenham airfield, where RAF Thame had been based,[75] by FAA crew from HMS Heron.

[69] It became part of the collection of Solent Sky,[76] an aviation museum in Southampton, UK, where work was begun on restoring the aircraft to flying condition.