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Old 26th Apr 2009, 21:03
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WHBM
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
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I just have some detail for the BOAC Australia route in summer 1946 as well. Not on web pages I'm afraid so details here :

A notably rapid and long-ranged Lancastrian operated 3 times a week. Just 6 sleeping passengers in lower and upper berths. No galley, refreshments in Thermoses.

Heathrow 1145 Thu
Lydda (Tel Aviv) 0200/0400 Fri
Karachi 1530/1730
Singapore 0930/1130 Sat
Darwin 2300/0130 Sun
Sydney 1030 Sun

More capacity was in the flying boats. These were Shorts Hythes, converted Sunderlands. 6 times a week as far as Singapore, two per week continuing to Australia.

Poole 0600 Thu
Marseilles 1000/1100
Augusta (Sicily) 1640/1740
Cairo 2359/0230 Fri
Basra 0930/1030
Bahrain 1340/1440
Karachi 2240/0200 Sat
Calcutta 1140/1240
Rangoon 1710
(Nightstop)

Rangoon 0545 Sun
Penang 1205/1305
Singapore 1555
(Nightstop)

Singapore 0600 Mon
Surabaya 1145/1245
Darwin 2330/0130 Tue
Bowen (N Queensland) 1000/1100
Sydney 1700 Tue

A couple of things. Firstly those legs done by the Lancastrian are notably long. My father (WW2 bomber crew) said their Halifaxes were pushed for range on Yorkshire to Munich and (hopefully) return, this is much longer. Must have had very little payload.

Secondly, the grand old days of elegant travel and nightstops in hotels every night are obviously long gone. That initial leg in the flying boat, Britain to Rangoon with nearly 60 hours without a rest must have absolutely knocked the passengers for six. Presumably the crews slipped every 12 hours or so. But it was spartan flying, which the war had doubtless prepared everyone for. Also a lot of night-time water takeoffs and landing, which must have been challenging in poor weather.

The BOAC operations to the Middle East and beyond were in a state of flux in 1946. The Sydney route had previously been Yorks, but changed to Lancastrians, which sounds retrograde for accommodation. There were still other Yorks heading for intermediate points along the way, as well as Dakotas and a few Lockheed Lodestars, while the Hythe flying boats were still being supplemented on shorter runs by the last of the pre-war Empires (it was their last year of service).
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