Calcutta To London Flight By Flying Boat, 1946 Print

Calcutta To London Flight By Flying Boat, 1946 Print

Clipping from a 1946 magazine of a flying boat that completed a Calcutta to London flight. This gives another rare glimpse of early aviation in India. This time about the remarkable flying boats that once operated in India. Shown here is a BOAC-operated Sunderland that arrived from Calcutta.

The crew members attempt to disembark passengers into a waiting ferry boat. BOAC or British Overseas Airways Corporation was a British-owned airline company. Formed by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd in 1939. The massive aircraft had two decks. The upper deck was for the flight crew and postal mail., and the lower deck had luxury passenger accommodations.

The route consisted of connecting England with the faraway locations of the British Empire: South Africa, India, Singapore, and Australia. Flying along the water bodies. BOAC obtained slightly more advanced flying boats with better accommodations for 24 passengers. Which included sleeping berths for 16 passengers. These were given the name “Hythe”, BOAC would own around 30 of Hythes by 1944. The Calcutta class biplane flying boats operated in British India in 1930. Its flight limited up to Karachi in then undivided India. Click on the photo for better view.

Read more about British Overseas Airways Corporation 1940 – 1950 And Its Legacy.

Did you know – because of its intermittent faults the once promising flying boats were scrapped by the 1950s. 

For the collection – India Raj Elephant Battling Lion Watercol. Sketch, 1837.,  Charming Mount Road Madras, 1975 Postcard.,  Mountbatten’s Farewell Inspection of Regiment, Photo 1947.,  New Delhi Inauguration & Vintage Car – Old Print 1927.

The images are of the actual items from my collection. And Not a photocopy, pirated, reproduced, stock photos, or taken from other sources.

 

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