JOHN STROUD’S series on European post-war piston-engined airliners continues with the Short Sandringham flying-boat POST-WAR PROPLINERS === Sunderland HII G-AGKX was modi fied to become the sole Sandringham with Pegasus engines. ewasstill basi- ally a Sunderland but with modified and improved interior accommodation nd faired nose and tailcone, It was launched on to the Medway at Rochester late in November 1915 a8 MLIE8 OQZR, received its C of A in January 1946"and was redelivered to BOAC that June as G-AGKX Himalaya. ‘Three undated Short brochures in my possession cover three Sandringham versions on offer — 2l-seat type Bristol Pagasus 38° and de Havilland Hydromatic propellers, 56,000Ib all-up weight, 4.410Ib payload and 1,790 nau- tical miles range at 152kt; 21-seat ver- Heading photograph, BOAC's Sandringham 5 G-AHZD Portmarnock poised toatigt in October 1949. [ese last month that BOAC’s Right, Dodero was the firstcus tamer’ for the Sandringhem. G-AGEZ, later LV-AAO, was the first Short & Herland con. ‘eraion. Here tin tabing of from Belfast Lough KEITH WOODCOC! ing shows DNL Sandringham 6LN-IAU Bexnoe Brak Acroplaree Monthly, April 1993) sion with Pratt & Whitney Twin Wesps ‘and, Hamilton propellers, 60,0001b all: up weight, 5,9161b payload and 2,110 nautical miles range at 182kt; and 43 soat version with Pogasus 38¢, 56,0001 all-up weight, 9601b payload and 1.200 nautical miles range at 151kt. The Pegasus-engined models are quoted as having a maximum level speed of 185kt and the Pratt & Whitney powered boats fas 208Kt. ‘As far as I can diseover only the Sandringham 1 had Pogasue engines. The type was builtin seven versions as Sandringham 1: BOAC’s first with accommodation for 24 day oy 16 night passengers, with dining saloon and cocktail bar on the rear upper deck. Sandringham 2 5.passenger ver sion for Dodero with upper deck bar (three built). Sandringham ; 2l-passenger type for Dodero with upperdeck dining saloon and galley (two built). Sandringham 4: 30-paseenger ver sion for Tasman Empire Airways with upper.deeke pantry (four built) ‘Sandringham 5: BOAC’s Plymouth class for 22 day or 16 night passengers and lower-deck pantry (nine built plus one burned out during conversion). Sandringham 6: 37-passengor vor sion for DNL-Norwegian Air Lines with lowerdeck pantry (five built) Sandringham 7: _30-passonger Bermuda class for BOAC (three built). ‘Although the Sunderlands gave BOAC good service, the corporation wasRight, the flight deck of @ Short Sondringham. not the first customer for Sandringhams. ‘The first order was placed for Dodero for four ‘boats with Pratt & Whitney ‘Torin Wasp R-1830-92 engines. Two were Sandringham 2s and two Sandringhs 3s, The first was launched at Belfast on November 17, 1945, as G-AGP2 ‘Argentina and the second was G-AGPT Uruguay.’The two Sandringham 3s were G-AGPY Brazil andG-AGIZ Inglaterra — iin service they were respectively LV-AAO, "P,'R and °Q. Horo I will only rolate the historice of the South American Sandringhams and follow with brief details of other Sandringham operations, the entire ‘Sandringham production being eovered im the table on page 57. ‘The four Dodero "boats all passed to ALKA, a Dodero subsidiary, and oper- ated local services. A Short Brothere and Short & Harland leaflet stated “Short Sandringhams operating regu- larly between South America and England. 7,400 miles (statute) Buenos Aires—Montevideo—Rio de Janeiro— Natal—Bathurst—Lishon—Poole.” ‘This was Dodero's intention but I can find no evidence that such aservice was ever operated. A third Sandringham 2, LV-ACT, was ordered by Dodero and operated by ALFA; all but LV-AAP passed to Aerolineas Argentinas, it having crashed in fog at Buenos Aires on July 29, 1048, with 18fatalitios. LV-AAR sank: afiera forced alighting at Buenos Aires December 81, 1957, with nine occu: pants boing drowned. Aerolineas Argentinas ccasod flying boat opera. tions in 1962 but the survivors, including LY-AHM Almirante Zar acquired from S, saw some service as freighters with Co-operativa Argentina de Acronavegantes, LV-AAO having been Right, DNZ's Sondringham 6 Bakken Bruse ‘The ASV radar may be seen beneath the scar board wingtip. Below, TEAL's Sandringham fAistrali, renamed Rio Aguilera and LV-AAR Formosa, the latter having been beached ‘and repaired after ite 1997 accident ‘The. second customer for Sandringhams was Tasman Empire Airways (TEAL) which ordered four Sandringham 43, The first, ZK-AMB Tasman, was delivered on July 17, 1946, andthe other three during 1946 and 1947 ‘Thay were usedon the trans-Tasman ser- vvices but suffered engine cooling prob Tomsand were withdrawn from February 28, 1948, until midsTune. They hegan to be replaced by Solents on Novernber 14, 1949, and TRAT’s last Sandringham ser vice, from Sydney to Auckland, was oper ated by ZK-AME on December 19, 1919, ‘Two of them, ZK-AMB and ’D, went to Qantas as VH-EBW and VH-EBX, the latter passing to Ansott Flying Boat Servicesas VH-BRE;ZK-AMEalso went to Ansett, as VH-BRD. 'BOAC acquired nine Sandringham 5s in 1947 and operated them as the Plymouth class, cupplementing them with three Bermuda-class Sandringham Aeroplane Menibly, Api 1993‘7s in 1948. The Plymouths went into operation on May 2, 1947, flying weekly Poolo—Bahrainand Bahrain Kara services and on June 2 began a week Poole—Hong Kong service to supple. ment the Hythe-class Sunderlands, ‘On March 19, 1918, G-AJMZ inousu- rated the extension from Hong Kong to Twakuni in Japan and the 10,625-mile journey from Poole was scheduled to take seven days, On April 7 the Plymouths opened a Singapore—Hong Kong service. The Iwakuni route was extended to Tokyo on November 20 and a short-lived Hong Kong—Shanghai operation began on December 30. Plymouths were replaced by Solents onthe Southampton—Karachi services ‘on May 26, 1549, and on August 26-28 Plymouths were withdrawn from the Far East routes G-AHZB was lost in an accident at Bahrain on August 22, 1947, and the others were put up for sale. In Apr 1950 deposits had bean paid on the ‘boats but only throo were sold at that period — to Qantas, Later one of the Bermuda class went to Sir Gordon Aeroplane Monthly, Azeil 1993 ‘Taylor and two went to CAUSA. The only othor customor for now Sandringhams was DNL-Norwegian Air Lines which ordered three Sandringham 65 to operate the Oslo—Trondheim —Bodo—Harstad—Tromsa route into the Arctic, These were extensively equipped for the difficult terrain and weather conditions and retained the Sunderland V's ASV.6e radar but even thisdid not ensuresafety and three were Jost in accidents including flying into high ground, Two further ‘boats wore acquired as replacemente. LN-IAV was lostvat Tielesund on August 28, 1947; LN-JIAW at Hommelvik near Trondheim on Oetober 2, 1948; and LN-IAU near Harstad on May 15, 1950. ‘The two remaining ‘boats passed to SAS. One of them, LN-LAI, waschartered to France- Hycro and sank at Bangui and tho other, LN-EMK (the last Sandringham conver sion) went to Aerolineas Argentinas as LV-AHM, Tn Australia Qantas operated five, two ex TEAL Sandringham 4s and three ex- BOAC Sandringham 5s. They wer introduced on Sydney—Noumea—Fiji Left, part of @ Sandrinzham’s passenger ‘eccoramodation —-almact certainly the upper ech of Dedero ‘eat (Suva) sorvices on May 2, 1950, and tho last operation took place in June 1965. On dune 1 VH-EBY left its Rose Bay base at Sydney for tho round trip to Noumea, Vila, EepirituSantoandSuva, arriving back at Sydney on June 4. In August 1953 Ansett took over the Sydney—Lord Howe Island route pre- viously worked by Trans Oceanic Airways and Ansett Flying Boat Services used three 43-seat Sandringhams on the route, VH-BRC Beachcomber (formerly TEAL's ZK- AMID, VE-BRD (TEAL'sZK-AMB) and VH-BRE Pacific Chiefiain (ex-ZK-AMD, and VH-EBX), VA-BRD was written off at Brisbane. At some time VH-BRC and VILBRD were owned by Barrier Reet Airways which would aecount for thelr rogistrations and VH-BRC was named Cora! Clipper. VE-BRE was wrecked by a cyclone while on thelagoon at Lord Howe Island in July 1963. To replace this last loss the previouslymentioned RNZAF ‘Sunderland NZ4108 was flown to Rose Bay and converted tonearSandringham standard aa VH-BRF Ialender with ‘accommodation for 43 passengers. When ‘Ansett withdrew the flying-boats in 1974 they both went to Antilles Air Boats in the Virgin Islands. VH-BRC became VP. LYE Excalibur and VH-BRP was re-ree: istered VP-LVF and named Excalibur IIL, Both flying-boats have survived, VH-BRC in the Hall of Aviation Southampton while the — near. Sandringham, G-BJHS, is the only air. worthy Sunderland. It has recently boon sold in the USA. As earlier mentioned Capt Sir Gordon, ‘Taylor acquired BOAC’s G-AKCO for Paeifie tours as VH-APG. It then went to RAL (Réseau Aérien Interinsulaire) in Tahiti as F-OBIP, flying up to 1968, and is now a Musée de I'Air exhibit at Below, BOACs Sandringham § G-AHZC Pembroke ching off from Southampton Water in 1997, 55Above, TEAL’: Sandringham 4 Tasman, Right, the Bermuda-clase Sandringham 1 G-AKCO after being prepared for Cept Sir Gordon Taylor's Pacific eruses, Le Bourget. The two other BOAC jermuda-class ‘boats G-AKCP and G-AKCR, went to Uruguay for CAUSA’s River Plate services and became CX-ANI and CX-ANA. To conclude I give brief details of my personal experience of tho big Short Alying-boats. I did fly in four RAF Sunderlands on NATO exercises and Hew round the lale of Wight in BOAC’s Hythe C-AGIA — all enjoyable exper ences, but some of the most enjoyable Hights were in Sandringhams, In May 1949 my wif and T had the good fortune to fly on DNL’s LN'JAU From Oslo to Tromso and back. We left from Fornebu’s seaplane station and went vie Hommelvik, a delightful spot near Trondheim, crossed the Arctic Circle on the way to Bode and made a call at Harstad before passing the ‘upturned hull of the Tirpits and alight. Right, de Qantas Sendringhan 4 VILEBX ad been TEALSZK-AMD. Below, an evoca- tive vlew of BOACS Short Sandringham 5 G-AHZDPortmarnock, taken in October 1948, Aoroplane Monthly, Api! 1993ing off Tromso. The flight was over and among spectacular scencry we saw something of the weather and terrain problems posed by the route, The out- ‘ward journey involved dhr sein flying ‘and the couthbound Shr 17min, I well remember the watertight doors between the cabins being shut for each take-off. Then in Novomber1959 I had the plea sure of flying from Rose Bay to Lord Hove Island and back in Ansett’s VH. BRC. At Lord Howe the water in the Jagoon is such bright green thatit made the whole Sandringham look green. On Mk Me pppropriatoly and alightod on ge MEA MBB CAME Cosa FACT AIR Sydney Harbour at last light. The out | Ste Nike. Maa IAL ON Bond Baar Sabena seat ieh Tinos igs Mey AR ee With shes aioe andthe retin HE ME ted fevtoriceeciass? eM SA 9s eee ke : Bah iat ication act a eo Betagtony ater gat ander oho A a Ge eee, Sifts ond oceans gc HE SSS AN eee tet sorry for people who have never expe- rienced the pleasure of tale-offs and alightings in them — that was some- thing very special. RAL = Réseau Adrien Ierinalsie TEAL = Thaman tmp Aways Don’t miss next month’s — May issue on sale April 21: see page 35 for details The Aviation Hobby Shop 7 Wigccir RAnceAvcano/ACcessiInensy aang uiocon Parade, Honoo! Road TELEPHONE ORDERS WELCOME yrayton,, | sex UBT ALL MAIL ORDER WITHIN THE UK SENT POST FREE aay id Bas es i] i i iY t te i i if i if it site ti t a i i : ij i a a 8 i i : ! : i i i i | ig SSS SCSSsS Betie eres i i ! i fl i esis fete epee a it a rye He i it h gig