Short Sandringham

The Short S.25 Sandringham is a British civilian flying boat designed and originally produced by Short Brothers. They were produced as conversions of the widely used Short Sunderland, a military flying boat that was commonly used as a maritime patrol aircraft.

Prior to the Sandringham, numerous Sunderlands which had been built for the Royal Air Force (RAF) had been converted to a civilian configuration as early as 1942 to fulfil a requirement of the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) for additional long range airliners. This need led to the development of the Short Hythe, which was a somewhat austere conversion due to its development taking place amid the Second World War. Around the conclusion to the conflict, Shorts was keen to produce a more refined and capable conversion of the Sunderland; the first prototype of which, performed its maiden flight during November 1945, became known as the Sandringham I.

The BOAC quickly sought to procure the Sandringham for its fleet, the demand for which led to production of the Sandringham II along with multiple further improved versions. Being operated initially alongside the Hythes, the more comfortable conditions onboard the Sandringhams led to them being given greater priority for usage and routing alike. Various other operators also procured the type, including TEAL, Qantas and Ansett. The Sandringham soon became outclassed by land-based airliners, including the arrival of faster jetliners, thus their operations curtailed substantially during the late 1950s. The final scheduled service performed by the type was ended during the 1970s. A total of three Sandringhams are believed to have survived to the present day in preservation.

Design and development

Background

At the height of the Second World War, it was recognised that the UK's flagship airline, the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), required new aircraft in its inventory.

The initial batch having been determined to be satisfactory, a further six Sunderlands were converted for similar purposes in 1943, along with a further batch of 12 during the following year. Following the end of the Second World War, BOAC opted to convert its Sunderlands to a less-austere standard, making them more suitable for peace-time operations; they became known as the Short Hythe. Specific changes including the replacement of the somewhat primitive bench seats with individual seats, initially permitting up to sixteen passengers to be accommodated on one deck in the initial H.1 configuration. Improved models, such as the H.2 variant, featured the addition of a promenade deck, while the H.3 configuration, featured an additional eight seats. Up to of mail could also be carried. Engines were standardised as the Bristol Pegasus 38.

Post-war conversions

thumb|Short Sandringham 7 VH-APG at Cowes in 1954

Even prior to the end of the conflict, it had been identified that, while the converted Sunderlands had proved to be successful, there were areas for improvement. Along with the revised low-drag fairings that were installed on both the nose and tail, a refurbished interior was installed. This flying boat was referred to as the Sandringham; it subsequently became known as the Sandringham 1 to distinguish it from the more advanced conversions which had interiors customized to each customer, which followed it. Every Sandringham was converted from surplus Sunderlands that had been formerly operated by RAF Coastal Command. Its conversion had been necessitated following the loss of an earlier Sandringham due to a cyclone that had torn it from its moorings.

Operational history

thumb|right|Short Sandringham 5 G-AHZE of BOAC at Hamworthy Quay, Poole, Dorset in September 1954

thumb|right|Ansett Sandringham at [[Rose Bay, New South Wales|Rose Bay Sydney in 1970]]

The converted Sunderlands commenced operations with BOAC on its route between Poole Harbour, Dorset and Lagos, Nigeria in March 1943. The service was extended to Calcutta in May 1944, while VE-Day, the end of the war in Europe, allowed the aircraft to revert to BOAC control. They continued on the India route, which was extended again to Rangoon in Burma following VJ-Day.

During 1946, BOAC's fleet of Hythes commenced long distance flights to Australia; on 12 May 1946, the Poole–Sydney route, which were operated in conjunction with the Australian airline Qantas, commenced. In August of that year, BOAC's Hythes were also deployed on services to Hong Kong on what was known as the Dragon route.

It was in 1946 that the initial production models of the Sandringham proved themselves to be capable performers in the South American market. Multiple airlines in Argentina, as well as the Uruguayan airline CAUSA, became early operators of the type. Aerolíneas Argentinas would operate Sandringhams in a passenger role up until 1962, after which they saw use as freighters up until the late 1960s.

In 1946, BOAC recognised that its existing fleet of flying boats was insufficient to perform all of the routes it envisioned, thus the airline placed its first order for the Sandringham. During the following year, the Sandringham 5 was introduced into service with BOAC, which referred to it as the "Plymouth class" and operated it mainly the company's Far East routes from Southampton via Alexandria to Hong Kong and Tokyo. The type quickly proved to be both reliable and popular with the travelling public, leading to BOAC ordering the improved Sandringham 6, which it called the Bermuda Class, in 1948. However, these operations were quickly overshadowed by other developments, with BOAC choosing to replace its flying boats on several routes with land-based Lockheed Constellation airliners during 1949.

The New Zealand-based airline TEAL was another early operator of the Sandringham, using it primarily on the Auckland to Sydney route as well as flights to various 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. Qantas kept its Sandringhams in regular service through to 1955.

Variants

;Hythe

:Modification of Sunderland III for BOAC, with seats for 16–24 passengers.

;Sandringham 1

:Full civil conversion of Sunderland 3 for BOAC, accommodating 24 day or 16 sleeper passengers, and powered by four 1,030 hp (768 kW) Bristol Pegasus 38 engines. One converted.

;Sandringham 2

:Civil conversion of Sunderland 5 for Argentine airline Dodero, accommodating 45 day passengers. Powered by four R-1830-92 engines, three conversions.

;Sandringham 3

:Conversion of Sunderland 5 with dining room and galley on upper deck and seats for 21 on lower deck. Two converted. The aircraft had two decks and could accommodate a total of 30 passengers.

;Sandringham 5

:Nine converted for BOAC (Plymouth class), accommodating 22 day or 16 sleeper passengers. Three of these were sold to Qantas which operated them between 1951 and 1955.

;Islander

:An additional civil conversion by Ansett officially described as a Sunderland Mark V (Modified).

Operators

;

Aerolíneas Argentinas
Sociedad Mixta Aviación del Litoral Fluvial Argentino (ALFA)
Cooperativa Asociación Argentina de Aeronavegantes
Compañía Argentina de Aeronavegación Dodero

;

Ansett
Barrier Reef Airways
QANTAS

;

Reseau Aerien Interinsulaire (RAI) and successor Air Polynesie (now Air Tahiti) in French Polynesia

;

TEAL

;

Det Norske Luftfartselskap

;

BOAC

;

Compañía Aeronáutica Uruguaya S.A. (CAUSA)

;

Antilles Air Boats

Surviving aircraft

thumb|Spirit of Foynes moored off Hythe Pier, Southampton Water (1989). In [[Ryanair colors, painted for a proposed sponsor deal with the Foynes Flying Boat Museum that did not come to fruition.]]

Ex-Ansett Sandringham (RAF Serial ML814 Short Sunderland MR5) c/n SH.974b. To RNZAF No.5 Squadron 1953 Fiji and became NZ4108. Hobsonville, New Zealand 1956–1963. Sold 1963 to Airlines of New South Wales. Converted to passenger configuration and registered VH-BRF and named Islander. To Antilles Air Boats, Virgin Island as N158J in 1974. To Edward Hulton in the UK in 1979 as G-BJHS Spirit of Foynes. Storm damaged and repaired. Sold to Kermit Weeks in 1992 and re-registered N158J. On display at the Fantasy of Flight museum in Polk City, Florida, USA with Kermit Weeks and registered as N814ML on 16 September 1993.

thumb|right| Sandringham JM715 (VH-BRC), Solent Sky museum, Southampton, England, (2011)

Ex-Ansett Sandringham (RAF Serial JM715 Short Sunderland Mk III) flew for Tasman Empire Airways Ltd. (TEAL) of New Zealand purchased JM715 from the Air Ministry for conversion. After conversion at Short's Belfast factory, the aircraft was allocated the conversion number SH.55C and registered by TEAL as ZK-AMH and named Auckland. it was delivered from Southampton to Waitemata Harbour, Auckland on 29 October 1947 and was soon in service on the 1,300-mile Sydney–Auckland route. In May 1950, ZK-AMH, was sold to Barrier Reef Airlines of Australia who it renamed it Coral Clipper with the registration VH-BRC. Barrier Reef Airlines were subsequently taken over by the major Australian airline Ansett in 1952 and became Ansett Flying Boat Services and operated out of Rose Bay, Sydney, Australia until 1974 with the name Beachcomber. In that year she was acquired by Antilles Air Boats who in 1980 renamed her Southern Cross. By the time the company went out of business in 1978 the flying boat was in very poor condition. In 1981 the aircraft was purchased for the National Aeronautical Collection by the Science Museum and is now on display with the name Beachcomber at Solent Sky museum in Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom. Under restoration since 2008, and not currently viewable by the public.

Specifications (Sandringham 5)

thumb|Short Sandringham 3-view drawing from Les Ailes March 29, 1947

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

video of a Short Sandringham (misidentified as a Sunderland) landing on water from the old movie titled "el delito"