Qantas Short Empire flying boats navigated a tumultuous period for commercial aviation. They flew part of the Imperial Airways route, introducing a new level of luxury. However, war brought them onto the front line. With over 160 photos, this book details the history of the Empire flying boats as they went from luxury carriers to military service.
In Beyond The Blue Horizon, Alexander Frater reveals and relives the romance and breathtaking excitement of the legendary Imperial Airways Eastbound Empire service-the world's longest and most adventurous scheduled air route. Written with an infectious passion, this is an extraordinarily original and genre-defining piece of travel writing by one of the world's most highly respected travel correspondents. "Whether being mown down by stampeding Baghdad-bound passengers in Cairo airport; battling with Indian Airline staff (and failing) to reconfirm six vital going-on flights from Delhi; being lured unwittingly into a souvenir shop selling pornographic wood carvings in Lombok; or hitting tropical Cyclone Ferdinand in a 748 en route from Sumba to Bali, Frater rises above it all with humour, style and a wonderfully sharp eye." The Evening Standard
Flying Boats: Air Travel in the Golden Age sets out to do justice to a time of glamorous, unhurried air travel, unrecognisable to most of today's air travellers, but sorely missed by some. During the 1930s, long-distance air travel was the preserve of the flying boat, which transported well-heeled passengers in ocean-liner style and comfort across the oceans. But then the Second World War came, and things changed. Suddenly, landplanes were more efficient, and in abundance: long concrete runways had been constructed during the war that could be used by a new generation of large transport aircraft; and endless developments in aircraft meant they could fly faster and for further distances. Commercial flying boat services resumed, but their days would be numbered.
Examines the actions of senior officials in the second most deadly attack on Australian soil when Zero fighters destroyed 15 flying boats at Broome which where packed with evacuees from Java. Profiles the different aircraft used during the Broome operation and the fate of Broome pearling luggers due to the scorched earth policy.
Wings on the River tells the colourful story of flying boats from Brisbane's unique viewpoint. Flying boats represented comfort and safety in reaching distant and exotic places across the sea, and Brisbane was on the doorstep of flying boat travel for more than fifty years. Wings on the River traces the whole flying boat era in Australia through its many changes, its triumphs and adversities, including: Pioneering flights between the wars by overseas and local flying boats alighting in the heart of the city; Qantas flying boats on the legendary Empire Air Mail route to Britain flying passengers in unprecedented luxury; Wartime U.S. Navy flying boat services across the Pacific to General MacArthur's headquarters in Brisbane; Barrier Reef Airways, Queensland's own flying boat airline, bringing Great Barrier Reef resorts closer to interstate tourists; The controversy about flying boats using the Brisbane River, and the dramatic accidents which forced them to leave; The story of Redland Bay's water airport and its little-known service over two decades.
A tale of a lifelong passion for a WWII aircraft that changed the author’s life: “It is almost like an adventure novel except it is true” (Air Classics). This book tells the story of a Dutch boy who grew up during the 1950s in postwar Borneo, where he had frequent encounters with an airplane, the Douglas DC-3, a.k.a. the C-47 Skytrain or Dakota, of World War II fame. For a young boy living in a remote jungle community, the aircraft reached the proportions of a romantic icon as the essential lifeline to a bigger world for him, the beginning of a special bond. In 1957, his family left the island and all its residual wreckage of World War II, and he attended college in The Hague. After graduation, he started a career as a corporate executive—and met the aircraft again during business trips to the Americas. His childhood passion for the Dakota flared up anew, and the fascination pulled like a magnet. As if predestined, or maybe just looking for an excuse to come closer, he began a business to salvage and convert Dakota parts, which meant first of all finding them. As the demand for these war relic parts and cockpits soared, he began to travel the world to track down surplus, crashed, or derelict Dakotas. He ventured deeper and deeper into remote mountains, jungles, savannas, and the seas where the planes are found, usually as ghostly wrecks but sometimes still in full commercial operation. In hunting the mythical Dakota, he often encountered intimidating or dicey situations in countries plagued by wars or revolts, others by arms and narcotics trafficking, warlords, and conmen. The stories of these expeditions take the reader to some of the remotest spots in the world, but once there, one is often greeted by the comfort of what was once the West’s apex in transportation—however now haunted by the courageous airmen of the past.
“The rich and diverse history of the British aircraft industry is captured in superb detail by the author in this weighty tome.” —Aviation News Great Britain’s aircraft industry started in 1908, with the first formally registered organization in the world to offer to design and build an aeroplane “for commercial gain.” This book tells the complete story of the 110 years since the start, all the companies formed and the aircraft they produced, highlighting the advances in aeronautical ambition and technology. It is the story of the creation, survival and decline of all one hundred and twenty-three of the aircraft design and construction companies formed between 1908 and 2018. The exhilaration of success and the magic of aviation technology are vividly illustrated by the technical and political birth stories of iconic projects, such as the Cirrus/Gypsy Moths, the Tiger Moth, the flying boats of Imperial Airways, Spitfire, Lancaster, Viscount, Vulcan, Harrier, Buccaneer and many more. The rotary wing industry is not forgotten. The birth of the jet turbine engine and the quest for supersonic speed is included. The stories of the disappointments of failure and disaster, such as the Brabazon, Comet, Princess, Rotodyne and TSR-2, and the growth of international collaboration in Concorde, Tornado, Airbus, Eurofighter Typhoon and other projects are included, in the context of the international scene and domestic politics. The conclusion highlights the prominent reminiscences and speculates on the future of the aircraft industry in Britain. “An outstanding reference book and a thoroughly enjoyable canter through the decades, from the days of wood and fabric to the modern composite structure of the wings of the A400 Atlas.” —RAF Historical Society