I'm not so sure about it NOT being named after the area;
there was the short Stirling, an early war heavy bomber,
the Short Shetland, another sea plane, (quite a biggie i've seen pics of
it).
Of course it may be that possibly there were particular people it was named
after.
regards, M.
"Edward Senft" wrote in message
om...
I'm pretty sure that Sunderland was the last name of
one of the designers of the sunderland flying boat. I
can't find any source other than a Wikipedia article
concerning the origin of the name.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunderland), This article indicates that
that the craft was named after the city of Sunderland. I believe this
is incorrect, however. (I remember my grandfather telling me stories
about
meeting Sunderland and talking about the flying boat he designed.)
Could someone verify the origin of the name for the Sunderland. Thank
you for your time!

Edward Senft