|
Post by planecrazy on Aug 15, 2014 21:47:53 GMT 12
In July this year my wife and I where very fortunate to visit Southampton and Solent Sky the home of Short Sandringham JM715, formerly (ZK-AMD) "Auckland", formerly (VH-BRC) "Beachcomber." The old girl is in great condition and a credit to the museum's staff. My wife Janine flew to and from her Lord Howe Island home over twenty times in this machine and her sister ship (VH-BRF) "Islander" formerly with the RNZAF as NZ 4108. My wife won't mind me mentioning it was quite emotional for her to see and walk through the boat. Next month the 10th of September marks the 40 year since "Beachcomber" left the island's lagoon for the last time, Janine was on board for this last flight returning to boarding school in Sydney. Will put a few more pic's up down the track when I sort through them all.
|
|
|
Post by planecrazy on Aug 16, 2014 14:34:01 GMT 12
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 16, 2014 15:43:27 GMT 12
Very interesting. It lacks the luxury of the later Solent.
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Aug 16, 2014 16:24:14 GMT 12
Very interesting. It lacks the luxury of the later Solent. Heaps of legroom though, Dave. I went for a scenic flight in that flying-boat in Sydney back in 1974. Ansett were in the process of winding down their flying-boat service to Lord Howe Island as the date of the new airport opening on the island neared, and they operated several "farewell to the flying-boats" scenic flights from Rose Bay. Myself and two friends went on one of them, and the two memories which really stick in my mind were how noisy the aeroplane was, particularly on takeoff, and the huge amount of legroom.
|
|
|
Post by harrysone on Aug 17, 2014 15:02:51 GMT 12
I think the standards of luxury probably changed on that aircraft from the early 1950s when TEAL had it to the mid 1970s (as represented). Ansett probably operated Beachcomber in 'tourist' class layout, rather than 1st class standards
|
|
|
Post by planecrazy on Aug 19, 2014 9:57:15 GMT 12
I think the standards of luxury probably changed on that aircraft from the early 1950s when TEAL had it to the mid 1970s (as represented). Ansett probably operated Beachcomber in 'tourist' class layout, rather than 1st class standards Correct there was only one class on the Lord Howe service although some cabins less noisy and warmer than others, the rear lower, cabin D, and upper, cabin E, where the most comfortable of the five cabins.
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jan 7, 2015 16:12:00 GMT 12
I don't know when and where this occurred, but here are a couple of interesting photographs of ZK-AML I discovered on somebody's PhotoBucket album....
|
|
|
Post by komata on Jan 7, 2015 18:37:07 GMT 12
KTJ Interesting images aren't they? They were apparently taken by the late Capt. Ian Patterson and show ZK-AML in a 'spot of bother' at a place called "Gordon's Tree' in the former British Sudan. As it is quite a story, herewith a 'copy and paste' of the relevant section from an article which appears on the Flying BoatForum under the title 'Teal Solent IV Nearly lost before Delivery' The flying Boat Forum URL is : theflyingboatforum.forumlaunch.net/viewtopic.php?p=8523&sid=a9402a1ccd8f19c02744737d23fcc3e0'It is not commonly known that the former TEAL flagship ZK-AML Aotearoa II was nearly lost while carrying out hot weather trials in the Sudan several months before the company took delivery of the aircraft in November 1949. Being the first of a new class, AML’s flight testing took much longer than previous models. The schedule was further prolonged by a serious incident that almost caused the loss of the aircraft before TEAL could take delivery, an event that to the author’s knowledge has never been previously recorded. Being a prototype, the test programme required that the aircraft undergo hot weather trials before MOT certification could be granted. Thus on 2 July 1949, AML was flown by a Short Bros crew to Gordon’s Tree, (Khartoum) in the Sudan for what should have been a week of tropical trials on the Nile. Gordon’s Tree is notable for being the former port-of-call on the Nile for BOAC flying boats immediately after WW2. After a week of uneventful flight trials at Gordon’s Tree, a near catastrophe occurred on 12 July when the flying boat began ‘porpoising’ while coming in to land causing the loss of the port float and forcing the pilot to rapidly beach the aircraft to prevent it capsizing. Photographs taken after the incident show the aircraft lying at an acute angle in shallow water with its starboard float and outer wing totally submerged. Its port wing, on which several young Sudanese are squatting, is pointing skywards, notably without its float. [KTJ: These are the pics that you have found] A close up view showed that after being ripped away from the port wing, the float damaged the port tailplane’s leading edge as it departed the aircraft. Following arrival of a replacement float from Belfast, AML was airborne again within 10 days and after an extra week’s test flying at Gordon’s Tree it returned to Queens Island, Belfast on August 2nd. Further test flights were conducted throughout August from Hythe on Southampton Water, after which the aircraft returned to Belfast where it remained ‘on the hard’ until late November. On 26 November, under the command of TEAL Captain Ian Patterson, ZK-AML left Belfast on the first leg of its delivery flight to New Zealand. Calling first at Southampton (Hythe), the flight continued on to Augusta, Alexandria, Bahrain, Karachi, Rangoon, Singapore, Surabaya, Darwin, Bowen, Sydney and finally Auckland. Ironically, AML, the first of TEAL's new Solents to fly, was the last home, landing safely at Mechanics Bay on 7 December. Flight testing for TEAL’s three remaining Solent IVs took considerably less time and passed without incident. With MOT certification finally granted they began their long delivery flights to New Zealand, ZK-AMM Ararangi arriving at Auckland on 29 September, ZK-AMN Awatere on 23 October and ZK-AMO Aranui on 30 November'. Further details and the relevant photo captions appear within the article. Hope this helps; it's an interesting and little-known story.
|
|
|
Post by isc on Jan 12, 2015 21:22:22 GMT 12
Not sure which aircraft it was on, but an aunt of mine made regular flights to Sydney during the 1950s/60s. She had an unusual habit of standing on her head for half an hour each day, on one flight a stewardess found her standing on her head in the loo. isc
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jan 23, 2015 10:00:03 GMT 12
Wellington, 31st December 1937....
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jan 23, 2015 18:32:06 GMT 12
Wellington, September 1950....
|
|
|
Post by planecrazy on Feb 10, 2015 20:24:04 GMT 12
Someone has copied a section of my DVD reviewed by Dave 24/1/2011, link below. rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/12731I was annoyed at first but hey in this day and age how can you beat it, some never before seen footage and pic's of the boats on Lord Howe island, sorry it's a bit average in places.
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 11, 2015 21:08:03 GMT 12
Hmmm, it wasn't me!
|
|
|
Post by planecrazy on Feb 11, 2015 21:53:25 GMT 12
It's all good I realise it wasn't you Dave, I actually contacted UTube they couldn't do much, not too worried about it, would have been nice if the person had given me a credit, bit of a pity but as I said in this day and age, so be it!
|
|
|
Post by Peter Lewis on Feb 27, 2015 16:39:59 GMT 12
One of the minor gaps in the TEAL Empire boats story is the lack of photographs of ZK-AMA in wartime ID livery, whereas there are a number of photos showing ZK-AMC with the ID stripes.
I now believe I have found the reason.
I have just been re-reading Geoffrey Wells book 'Head in the Clouds'.
As you will recollect, Wells was the flight engineer on the UK-NZ delivery flight of ZK-AMC in March/April 1940. As such, he was deeply involved in the pre-delivery preparation of the aircraft before it left the UK.
In the book he states "For identification purposes while flying over war-engulfed France, large stripes of red, white and blue had been painted vertically on the tail, horizontally along both sides of the hull and across the wing".
So this explains why and when these markings were applied to ZK-AMC. They seem to have been retained during the early years of its TEAL service.
Of course ZK-AMA, which left the UK prior to the start of the war, had no need of such markings.
So we can stop looking.
|
|
|
Post by Peter Lewis on Mar 18, 2015 16:51:54 GMT 12
Last weekend I received a slightly belated birthday present - a model of Solent ZK-AMO. This is one of a series of mementos put out by Ar New Zealand as part of their 75th celebrations. It measures 185mm long and suits my model-making capabilities. All you need to do is attach the wings and bolt on the display stand. Seems to quite a reasonable representation.
|
|
|
Post by gyrocaptain on Mar 18, 2015 19:03:41 GMT 12
That'd be about 1:144 scale then. I'm guessing it's a Pacmin model. Looks nice, I wonder if they still have any available via in-flight sales?
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 18, 2015 19:05:54 GMT 12
Very nice model Peter.
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Mar 18, 2015 20:12:28 GMT 12
That'd be about 1:144 scale then. I'm guessing it's a Pacmin model. Looks nice, I wonder if they still have any available via in-flight sales? You can order them online from HERE. There are seven different models and they cost $99 each.
|
|
|
Post by gyrocaptain on Mar 19, 2015 19:20:53 GMT 12
Oho! Thanks for that. I think I'll have to score one.
|
|