Flying Boats to East Africa
I know there has been previous discussion on flying boat service to East Africa, but I am still unable to trace any photos or details of the BOAC flying boat station on Lake Naivasha.
In August ( I think it must have been August) 1949, I was a 5 year old passenger on Solent Flying Boat G-AKNO. I know that it was this plane as my mother told me that it was the aircraft's second commercial trip and it had been named 'City of London'. A BA historian filled in the details for me.
I have press cuttings of G-AKNO taxing through Tower Bridge into the Pool of London for the naming ceremony.
I know that once we reached Naivasha, we were taken up the Escarpment to Nairobi in station wagons and spent the night at a hotel on Delamere Avenue before flying down to Mombasa the next day where my father was waiting for us. Even after all these years I remember the fried eggs and tomato sauce we had for supper - luxury following the after the war rationing!! My father had travelled out to Tanganyika some 18 months previously to work on the 'ill fated' Ground Nut Scheme'.
I'm a retired Master Mariner who has been fascinated by planes all my life - G-AKNO was my first flight and I have a record of all my 1,319 commercial flights since then. Sorry for the length but would like any info on that wonderful short lived flying boat service.
Thanks
Steve