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The Short Solent is a passenger flying boat that was produced by Short Brothers in the late 1940s. It was developed from the Short Seaford, itself a development of the Short Sunderland military flying boat design.
The first Solent flew in 1946. New Solents were used by BOAC and TEAL, production ending in 1949. Second-hand aircraft were operated until 1958 by a number of small airlines such as Aquila Airways.
Design and development
thumb|Solent IV TEAL ZK-AMO Aranui
The Short S.45 Solent was a high-wing monoplane flying boat of aluminium construction. Power was provided by four Bristol Hercules engines.
The aircraft could be fitted for 24 passengers with day and night accommodation or 36 day passengers. The cabins (four on the lower deck and two on the upper) could be used to sleep four or seat six. The upper deck included a lounge/dining area next to a kitchen; the lower deck had two dressing rooms, toilets and three freight compartments.
The flight crew was five (two pilots, navigator, and radio operator with the flight engineer in a separate compartment behind the flight deck opposite crew rest berths) and there were two stewards to attend to the passengers.
Operational history
thumb|right|Solent II BOAC G-AHIN Southampton served the Johannesburg route between 1948 and 1950
The Solent II introduced by BOAC could carry 34 passengers and 7 crew. Between 1948 and 1950, BOAC operated their Solents on the three-times weekly scheduled service from Southampton to Johannesburg taking a route down the Nile and across East Africa. The journey took four days, including overnight stops. The Solents replaced Avro Yorks running the service.
The last Solent-operated service on the route departed from Berth 50 at Southampton on 10 November 1950, bringing BOAC's flying-boat operations to an end.
Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL) operated four Solent IVs and one Solent II between 1949 and 1960 on their scheduled routes between Sydney, Fiji, Auckland and Wellington. The last TEAL Solent service was flown between Fiji and Tahiti on 14 September 1960 The crash killed 45 out of the 58 on board. British commercial flying-boat operations ceased on 30 September 1958 when Aquila Airways withdrew its Madeira service.
Variants
- Solent II
: Civilian version for BOAC of the Short Seaford, 12 aircraft built at Rochester
- Solent III
: Converted S.45 Seaford. 7 aircraft – 6 at Queen's Island, Belfast, 1 at Hamble No cause for either engine failure was established in the subsequent investigation.
A memorial to those killed is in St Mary's Church, Brook. A tree and a plaque mark the crash-site.
Surviving aircraft
thumb|Solent IV TEAL ZK-AMO Aranui on display
thumb|Solent III BOAC G-AKNP City of Cardiff on display
- Short Solent IV ZK-AMO, RMA Aranui, was firstly used by TEAL between Mechanics Bay on Auckland Harbour and Rose Bay Sydney, Australia until superseded on scheduled services by the land based propliners. ZK-AMO was redeployed on the iconic Coral Route from Auckland New Zealand to Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga and Tahiti, until once again superseded by propliners in September 1960. ZK-AMO has been fully restored and preserved at the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland. It was briefly overhauled outside when the Keith Park Memorial Aviation Display at MOTAT was enlarged in 2010–2011.
- An ex-BOAC Solent III, later owned by Howard Hughes, has been rescued and is in the United States at the Oakland Aviation Museum in Oakland, California.; it is this Solent which appears briefly (and anachronistically) in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark, though through matte effects is made to resemble a more historically accurate Boeing 314 Clipper.