Flying Boat routes

[Garry Russell]

Thought so.....nice models

Garry

[DispatchDragon]

There are about 20 of Jens boats in various models and paints at www.classicbritishfiles.com
as well as some rather eclectic British floating aircraft including a Short Sealand (the last flying boat built in the UK)
Several of Ted Cooks floating Hawkers, a Sopwith Tabloid, A Blackburn B20 -- But specifically many of the Imperial flying boats from the 20s and 30s that flew those routes.


Leif

[Motormouse]

Aquila operated to Lisbon and Madeira

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hamp ... 666185.stm ------> my dad is in that picture.....

ttfn

Pete

[AllanL]

I'm pretty sure a flightsim search for Kristensen Short will bring up for Imperial:

Short S8 Calcutta, used for proving flights and also initially on the trans-med flights and as cover when the -

Short S17 was out of action on the Trans-med service,

the Empire boats (Empire20.zip IIRC) S23,S30MR and S30LR C class boats used in the full service to Durban and also through to Sydney. (I've sorted out the latter route, we just never got round to fixing landing piers down to Oz)

Short Sandringham, BOAC post war conversion of the Sunderland,

then finally the Solent 3 & 4 - final flying boats in service with BOAC.

In fact the only Imperial/BOAC flying boat that Jens has not done is the G Class Short......(maybe some day.. )

For that matter, apart from the HP42/43 and the DH86, virtual Imperial pilots would have a thin old time of it without Jens' brilliant efforts!

[DispatchDragon]

Allan

I think you will find several Imperial land planes at the pond as well including the Argosy,Ensign,AW15,Albatross,HPW8,Short S17,VImy Comercial to name a few
For the short routes -- Dave Garwoods Rapide, Dave M's Short Scion.and an Airspeed Consul - which can fill in for the Consul.

And a plethora (I do love that word) of Imperial flying boats


Leif

[olly]

As a small boy, I flew this route in 1947 in a Short Hythe flying boat. We checked in at the Victoria Bus Station in London, and then were driven in a BOAC bus to Southampton. The routing was Poole to Marseilles, Augusta, Cairo, Basra, Bahrein, Karachi, Calcutta, Rangoon, Singapore, Sourabaya, Darwin, Bowen and finally Sydney, and from there by Constellation to Auckland. It took about 10 days back then. All flying was done in daylight and we were launched ashore each night to stay in some fancy hotel, including the Raffles in Singapore.

Alternative routes to the Med were through Malta, or even Bordeaux and Tripoli to Cairo. It looks as if all flights went west of the Alps. Just as well, as we flew at only 10-12,000 ft.

Colin Oliver

[Garry Russell]

Wow!.thanks for that Colin

What a lovely memory of a long gone time

Garry

[dutch11]

The thing that has been frustratingly elusive for me is the exact landing locations of the flying boats. I spent 2-3 hours on Google trying to find something that showed the landing sites. The Sea of Galilee for instance, that's a big piece of real estate, but I couldn't find anything that made even the vaguest reference to where they landed there. If anybody knows of a site that has that information I'd appreciate it if you would pass it on.

Mark

[TSR2]

Brilliant story Colin. It must have been an incredible time to fly! Thanks for sharing with us

[Motormouse]

Here's a rough map of Poole Harbour 'water aerodrome'

----> http://daveg4otu.tripod.com/dorset/poo.html

Southampton marine terminal
-----> http://daveg4otu.tripod.com/airfields/mat.html#

part of the structures for the pontoon dock are still there today.

ttfn

Pete