Ships of the Air....Come Fly With Me!.......

[Gulliver]

I was born just a little too late for them ,but how many of you remember the Flying Boats on your voyages up the Solent to Southampton. in the 1950's?
One such company was Aquila Airways which flew to some 'exotic' European destinations during the 50's.
Although the voyage by sea(esp.Union Castle) would have been just great for me,how thrilling would it have been to fly to Lisbon,Madeira & Las Palmas.Or how great to do the flight one way,then return later by ship.........
It must have been a real pleasure back then,no flying from a major airport,but from a marine terminal;proper ,courteous service all the way.Expensive undoubtedly...£103 return to Madeira or the Canaries back in 1956 was the equivalent now of about £2000 or the cost of a good cruise. But what a way to go....
Aquila also did some seamens crew change charters,so maybe you flew on one of those?
Some more details....

'This is unashamedly a de luxe service, for which the flyingboat
is the ideal vehicle. Aquila's flights to Madeira, the
Canary Islands and now Capri are probably the most
luxurious scheduled airline services operated today.
The company's present fleet consists of two 42-seat Solents and
three 31-seat Hythes. As these aircraft are neither pressurized
nor turbine-powered, their popularity is impressive
proof of the flying-boat's unique passenger-appeal. Interior
spaciousness is undoubtedly its main attraction. Throughout
the flight the passenger is completely free to wander about
the aircraft at will, and this freedom fosters the sociable
atmosphere normally encountered only aboard ship.
The Solent has three separate cabins on two decks, plus a bar /observation-
cabin which will comfortably accommodate more than
a dozen people. In addition, it is liberally equipped with
toilets and dressing-rooms. The cabin crew—two stewardesses
and two stewards—have far more space in which to prepare
and serve meals than have their counterparts in any landplane
of comparable size. And the control cabin, occupying
the forward half of the upper deck, is the least restricted we
have ever seen. Well-separated stations for two pilots, navigator,
radio officer and engineer, together with a large rest
bunk, occupy a space sufficient for at least three times as many
passengers.
Solent G-ANAJ City of Funchal, the aircraft which made
the Capri proving flight, is actually a converted R.A.F. Seaford.
Although commissioned in 1945 (at Felixstowe, where
it flew with the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment),
it had logged only about 200 hours when acquired by Aquila
last year. Overhaul and conversion to luxury standards were
performed by the airline's engineering staff at Hamble. The
work took about six months, and no effort was spared to
produce an air yacht of most un-military appearance.
Typical cruising speed 180-200 knots,at height of 9,500 ft.'
　
A copy of some brochures with timetables is on the following links.(Courtesy of Bjorn Larsson of the Airline Timetable Images website)
http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/aq56/aq56-1.jpg
http://www.timetableimages.com/ttima...q56/aq56-2.jpg
http://www.timetableimages.com/index.htm
　
　

[Captain Kong]

I saw a few in the Solent in the early fifties, also saw a few in and out of Sydney early fifties, I think they were BOAC the name before B.A.In Southampton is a building with a huge Imperial Airways/BOAC Flying boat in she was one of the Southampton to Sydney Boat/planes

From the Bournemouth DAILY ECHO
WITH THANKS FOR THIS ARTICLE.
9:44am Tuesday 23rd February 2010
By James Morton »


WATCHING boats glide in and out of Poole Harbour, it’s hard to imagine the busy waters doubling up as a runway.

But for eight years during the 1940s, take-offs and landings were as prevalent as launches and dockings.

The famous flying boats splashed in and out of Poole, connecting Britain with its colonial outposts across the globe. Many even consider Poole the birthplace of British Airways, its forerunner BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) having established itself during its time in the harbour.

BOAC became the town’s biggest employer, creating around 650 jobs, from telephonists to baggage handlers to flight stewards.

Many former staff were reunited recently at a special memories day, hosted by East Dorset Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Among them was Patricia Miller, who joined the company as a wages clerk aged just 17.

She worked out of the main office hub at Salterns Point, but got the occasional chance to ride on the flying boats.

“The opportunity to fly on the boats was fantastic – all the water flying by as you landed,” said Patricia, now 79.

“It was an exciting time.”

The craft would carry around 24 passengers and the Kangaroo service, which took around 12 days to reach Sydney, departed Poole three times a week.

For the teenagers who signed up as stewards, the flying boats offered an incredible opportunity to see the world.

Brian Grinter, 81, joined BOAC as a 16-year-old, making trips to Hong Kong and Singapore.

“It was quite an experience for a young lad,” he said.

“It was a very good life.”

Ron Gubb, 80, ditched his job as an electrician to become a steward and also flew around the globe.

“I got through two or three passports in my time,” he said.

Gordon Reeves, 80, was another 16-year-old who signed up to become a steward.

He recalled the indulgence passengers on the flying boats enjoyed. “The flying boats were really quite luxurious, with silver service,” he said.

Passengers would travel by train from London to Bournemouth. They would be transferred to Poole’s Harbour Heights Hotel for stop-overs, then on to the departure lounge at Salterns.

Among the celebrated passengers were King George VI and General Charles de Gaulle.

The flying boat operation had been shifted to Poole from Southampton in 1939 due to the fear of attack by the Luftwaffe.

Five runways were laid out across the water and the harbour hummed with the buzz of aircraft.

As well as commercial flights, military flying boats flew in and out of RAF Hamworthy and there were seaplanes from RNAS Sandbanks.

By 1947, the industry had returned to Southampton and boats ruled the harbour once more.

But the memory of Poole’s days as an international airport has been kept alive by the Poole Flying Boats Celebration.

[Gulliver]

Brian,thank you for that interesting article and those reminiscences.
I love old timetables,which was a great asset when I left the sea for a career in the transport industry.I like to interpret how the various services integrate and dovetail within the schedules,and the most efficient way to schedule services.
In that air timetable link was a copy of the 1949 BOAC World TimeTable. The Flying Boats were still extant on the UK to South Africa service(taking 4 full days with 4 overnight stops.),and the Australian service had gone over to Lockheed Constellation aircraft.(This took 5 days),with yet another service westabout via USA,Hawaii,Hong Kong,the South Pacific and Auckland taking even longer.
In our lifetimes,our generation has seen so very many changes within the transport industry,possibly more than any previous or future generations will ever see:-
The great advance in car design,and the (unsustainable) rise in car ownership;the emergence,and demise(perhaps temporarily) of mass supersonic air travel;the end of steam and the generally ill-thought out consequences of the Beeching Plan,and the continuing shambolic running of our railways,the first and once the finest system in the world;the end of the British Merchant Navy...........with so much changed and lost.....

The timetables on the site previously mentioned are sometimes hard to wrinkle out,but you may find these two examples interesting.

Flying Boat(Solent aircraft) 1949 U.K. to South Africa
3 times weekly. BO- 103
Day 1 dep.Southampton 0830
arr.Augusta(Sicily) 1645 Overnight Stop
Day 2 dep.Augusta 0715
arr.Alexandria 1315
dep Alexandria 1445
arr.Luxor 1715 Overnight Stop
Day 3 dep.Luxor 0615
arr.Khartoum 1000
dep.Khartoum 1100
arr.Kampala 1745 Overnight Stop
Day 4 dep.Kampala 0800
arr.Victoria Falls 1400 Overnight Stop
Day 5 dep.Victoria Falls 0830
arr.Johannesburg( Vaaldam) 1200

Return fare (March 49) (£295 .4 /-( very expensive!)

　
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Constellation Aircraft 1949 U.K to Australia

3 times weekly BO 0704
Day 1 dep.London 1100
arr.Rome 1545 Overnight stop
Day 2 dep.Rome 0615
arr.Cairo 1225
dep.Cairo 1600
Day 3 arr.Karachi 0355 Day Stop
dep.Karachi 2115
Day 4 arr.Calcutta 0230
dep.Calcutta 0400
arr.Singapore 1320 Overnight Stop
Day 5 dep.Singapore 0800
arr Darwin 1835
dep.Darwin 2245
Day 6 arr.Sydney 0730
Return Fare (1949) was (£468/-00(very expensive!)
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[Captain Kong]

Thanks for the schedules Gull, looks like the itinery of the QE2 on the world cruise. I would have enjoyed a trip to OZ on one of those, Travelling in luxery instead of Working Class on BA. The only way to fly.

I remember seeing them in Auckland Harbour in 1953 as well as Sydney. They landed and took off opposite the bottom of Queens Street and where the bridge is now. Big sprays of water as they landed and took off.
From 1980 to 1985 there was one at Calshot just below Fawley, it was being refurbished by some volunteers and often went on trials up and down the Solent. It sort of disapeared after 1985 , dont know if it has been scrapped or still flying. but there is one that was on the Sydney run preserved in Southampton
Cheers
Brian.

[happy daze john in oz]

Hi Gulliver and Kong, well remember seeing those flying boats sitting on the Solent in wooden covers and often thought what a romantic way to travel. There was a company here afew years who dabbled with the idea of running a small service but I do not think it got very far.