- "Hello, Ten Cents! Who's your new friend?"
- — Sally Seaplane, Sunshine
Sally is a seaplane that can land on both water and land, and is a friend of the Star Fleet, who have the contract to provide her with fuel. Sunshine appears to have a slight crush on her.
Biography
TUGS
She is a character who only appears a handful of times within the series, with her most major roles being within scenes for the episodes Sunshine and High Winds. Both of these scenes would end up being removed from their 15 minute cuts, leaving her with no speaking roles for the version of the series broadcasted.
Sally's technical definition is a 'flying boat' because her main source of buoyancy (like a ship) comes from her hull/fuselage with small floats on each wing to stabilise her, unlike the other form of seaplane - the 'floatplane' which uses a normal aircraft fuselage with large floats slung underneath to support it on water. If we expand on this she can be termed an 'Amphibious Flying Boat' because she has fold-up landing gear on her fuselage, allowing her to land on runways as well as water.
Her home is the Seaplane Hangar, which is right next to Lucky's Yard.
Sally's tail-number is S-ALLY, a fictional sequence that would not be assigned to a real plane - any civil aircraft registered in the United States has a tail-number beginning with the letter "N". Her basis (however) is actually a British design - namely the Saro A.19 "Cloud" seaplane. This creates a continuity error, because the "Clouds" first took flight in 1930, years after her first appearance in Sunshine, which takes place in the 1920s.
Livery
Sally is painted grey with her name painted on her tail in black.
Appearances
Episodes
- Sunshine (cameo in 15 minute cut)
- Pirate (cameo)
- Regatta (does not speak)
- Jinxed (cameo)
- High Winds (only mentioned in 15 minute cut)
Books and Annuals
- Loading Grain (does not speak)
Salty's Lighthouse
- Too Young to be Included (cameo)
- Let's Party (cameo)
- Hands Off (cameo)
- Salty Come Lately (does not speak)
- Backwards Day (does not speak)
- Banana Splits (cameo)
- Clear The Decks (cameo)
- Farley Frog (cameo)
- Sofie Come Home (cameo)
- High Spirits (cameo)
- Some Guys Have All the Luck (cameo)
- Treasure Hunt (does not speak)
- Big Birthday Bash
- Let's Wing It (cameo)
Voice Actors
Other:
Trivia
- The whereabouts of Sally Seaplane's original model is currently unknown.
- Sally Seaplane's model was scratch built with a plastic and fiberglass by model maker Peter Boys. Sally's blades were powered by a set of wires going under the set, and her eye mechanism couldn't move because the model was too small.
- In September 2014, a spare model known as "Phoenix" was sold by the original model-maker and went on display at the TUGS 25th Anniversary event at the Star Tugs Exhibition.
- In November 2016, a fund-raising campaign was carried out by the Star Tugs Trust to build a replica of her, made by her original model-maker. In August 2017, the replica model was unveiled at a specially-marked event the Midland Railway, Butterley.
- After production on TUGS ended, Sally Seaplane's model was put into storage at Shepperton Studios. The location of her model is unknown, for a brief period TUGS - The Exhibition displayed the model "Phoenix" a prop that was going to be used to flesh out the sea plane hanger, after an incident in where Phoenix's wheel was damaged the props owner withdrew it from the exhibition. After these events the original model maker was contacted and was asked to make a replica of Sally, in November 2016 the exhibition set up a fund-raising campaign and was successful in raising the money and in August 2017 she was displayed to the public for the first time. Phoenix's model is now officially owned by the exhibition after the props owner left.
Gallery
Television Series
Promotional Material
Miscellaneous
