Short Sandringham


The Short S.25 Sandringham was a British civilian flying boat produced during the Second World War by the demilitarized conversions of Short Sunderland military flying boats previously operated by the Royal Air Force.

Design and development

From late 1942, six RAF Sunderland IIIs were stripped of their armament and fitted with bench-type seats, gaining civil markings and registrations and joining the airline BOAC. Six more Sunderlands were converted for transport use in 1943, with a further 12 following in 1944. Following the end of the Second World War, BOAC converted its Sunderlands to a less-austere standard, more suitable for peace-time operations, and known as the "Hythe". The primitive bench seats were removed, with seats fitted for sixteen passengers on one deck in the initial H.1 configuration, with the addition of a promenade deck giving the H.2 configuration, while the H.3 layout had an additional eight seats. of mail could be carried. Engines were standardised as the Bristol Pegasus 38.
In November 1945, Shorts flew a further refined conversion of one of BOAC's Sunderlands from their Rochester works, with revised low-drag fairings on the aircraft's nose and tail, and a refurbished interior, which was known as the Sandringham. All the Sandringhams were civil conversions of former Royal Air Force Coastal Command Short Sunderlands. The first prototype retained the Pegasus engines of the Sunderland III and Hythe, and was designated the Sandringham 1 by Shorts, but later Sandringhams, converted by Short and Harland Ltd at Belfast Harbour, were based on the Sunderland V, and were powered by Pratt & Whitney "Twin Wasp" engines.
In 1963 an additional conversion of a former Royal New Zealand Air Force Sunderland V was carried out by Ansett to a similar standard to the Sandringhams. The aircraft, named Islander, was fitted with a 43-seat interior.

Operational use

The converted Sunderlands commenced operations with BOAC on the Poole Harbour, Dorset and Lagos, Nigeria in March 1943. Following a proving flight to British India, the Sunderlands were transferred in October 1943 to flights between Poole and Karachi, via Gibraltar and Cairo. As Egypt was under military control, the aircraft were given military serial numbers and operated as part of RAF Transport Command. The service was extended to Calcutta in May 1944, while VE-Day, the end of the war in Europe, allowed the aircraft reverted to BOAC control. They continued on the India route, which was extended again to Rangoon in Burma following VJ-Day.
BOAC's Hythes took on flights to Australia in 1946, starting flying the Poole–Sydney route in conjunction with Qantas on 12 May 1946. In August that year, BOAC's Hythes were also deployed on services to Hong Kong on what was known as the Dragon route.

The Sandringham 5 was operated by BOAC from 1947 as the "Plymouth class" on the Far East routes from Southampton via Alexandria to Hong Kong and Tokyo. These were replaced by Lockheed Constellation land planes during 1949. TEAL used Sandringhams on the Auckland to Sydney route and flights to Pacific Islands. In 1950, Qantas introduced the first of five aircraft which flew from the Rose Bay flying boat base on Sydney Harbour to destinations in New Caledonia, New Hebrides, Fiji, New Guinea and Lord Howe Island. Two of these were purchased from TEAL and the other three were purchased from BOAC. These were in service through to 1955.
The type was used by Ansett Flying Boat Services on the Sydney to Lord Howe Island scheduled service until 1974. One of Ansett's Sandringhams was converted from a S-25 Sunderland previously owned by the Royal New Zealand Air Force. It was also used in Norway by DNL – Norwegian Airlines 1946–1952 on the domestic service from Oslo to Tromsø, and in Uruguay by Compañía Aeronáutica Uruguaya S.A. on the passenger services between Montevideo and Buenos Aires.
In October 1954, Captain Sir Gordon Taylor flew his newly acquired Sandringham 7 from the UK to Australia to begin a series of flying boat cruises of the south Pacific. The aircraft later passed to Réseau Aérien Interinsulaire in Tahiti and is now stored at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Paris Le Bourget.
One of the last operators of the Sandringham was Antilles Air Boats in the Virgin Islands of the Caribbean which flew the aircraft in scheduled passenger service during the 1970s with flights from the Charlotte Amalie Harbor Seaplane Base on St. Thomas and the Christiansted Harbor Seaplane Base on St. Croix among other destinations.

Variants

;Hythe
;Sandringham 1
;Sandringham 2
;Sandringham 3
;Sandringham 4
;Sandringham 5
;Sandringham 6
;Sandringham 7
;Islander

Operators