What a wealth of experiences and it was a golden age of aviation according to passengers who flew on the boats! I've just come across the thread and will spend many an evening reading the accounts. I was too young to fly in the Sunderlands and before that the Pan Am Boeing 314s for which I also have an admiration.
I spent my childhood years on the island of Faial in the Azores from the late 1950’s, where the Clippers landed at the harbour in Horta en route from New York to Europe some 20 years earlier.
Sometime in the early 1960's I remember being fixed to the spot as I heard the thundering engines of a flying boat leaving the shelter of the harbour and heading out to sea for a take off. Unfortunately I can't remember much of the aircraft other than that it had 4 engines and was white in colour. I understand the Clippers had long since been lost or broken up by the early 50's so I wonder if I witnessed a Shorts departing perhaps for the UK?
I suppose it's unlikely that anybody will know (or recollect?!) but just in case, I thought I would post this.
There's also an edition of a series called "Speed Machines", once shown on Channel 4, entitled "Flying Boats" and the struggle to cross the Atlantic. The programme lasts an hour, features recollections by passengers and lots of footage, some of it previously unseen.
I recollect the series was made by a company called Flashback TV.