Flying Boats: Air Travel in the Golden Age

by Charles Woodley

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780750970143
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	08/01/2018
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

CHARLES WOODLEY is a lifelong aviation enthusiast. He is the author of several books on historical aviation, including the successful Heathrow: The First 50 Years and BOAC: A History (both The History Press). A long-time member of Air-Britain, he founded the Grampian Airtouring Society and ran it for over ten years. He lives in Aberdeenshire.

Table of Contents

Author's Note 7

Acknowledgements 9

Introduction 11

1 Imperial Airways and the Empire Air Mail Scheme 13

2 Pan American Across the Pacific 40

3 Transatlantic Beginnings 56

4 Wartime Interlude 63

5 Return to Peacetime Operations 73

6 The Princess Flying Boat 102

7 Aquila Airways 110

8 Australia and the South Pacific 126

9 South American Operations 156

10 Norwegian Coastal Services 162

11 Preserved Flying Boats 165

Appendix 1 Foynes Flying Boat Movements During September 1943 179

Appendix 2 Fleet Lists of Major Flying Boat Operators 181

Sources of Reference 188