Originally Posted by
megan
QANTAS Lancastrians flew from Sydney to Gawler, stopping in Adelaide for refuelling, and on to Learmonth for the overnight stage. On the next leg of the trip, they flew to Ratmalana, where the aircraft refuelled, then on to Karachi, where BOAC crews took over for the final segment of the journey to the UK. The lengthening of the runway at Ratmalana enabled the diversion to Minneria to be eliminated, and soon Ratmalana was replaced by RAF Negombo. The service was renamed the Kangaroo Service and the passenger award became The Order of the Longest Hop. It was on this route that the Kangaroo logo was first used. After the war, the return trip could also go from Colombo to the Cocos Islands, then to Perth on to Sydney. These flights continued until 5 April 1946.
Thanks for the additional background.
Do you mean that the crews swapped at Karachi, or that the BOAC and Qantas flights connected there and both aircraft turned round? If the QF Lancastrians continued to the UK (Heathrow?) with BOAC crews, there should hopefully be some photos of them at London kicking around somewhere.
Time for a bit more research ...