Tintin's Travels

[Dop]

To tell the truth, I'm not sure whether to post this here or to Jet Blast, so if the mods want to move it, that's fine...

A friend of mine is a big fan of Herge's Tintin, and asked me the following question.

"I have an obscure aviation question that I'm guessing you won't know the answer to but you may know somewhere I could find the answer.

I'm working on a project where I'm trying to map where Herge's Tintin travelled during his adventures. This is obviously sad and anal but having done most of it already, minor details I haven't been able to resolve with Google are seriously bugging me.

At the end of The Seven Crystal Balls, Tintin heads off for Peru and is seen leaving in what I believe to be a Short S.26 Sunderland Flying Boat. Herge tended to be very accurate about his depiction of planes so I suspect he would of based this drawing on a newspaper or magazine report about a flying boat service.

What I'm trying to find out is

1) In the immediate pre-war or post-war years, where around Europe were the Sunderland Flying Boat services operating from? Tintin was travelling from Brussels so a French service would be the most appropriate but one from the UK would be reasonable.

2) What routes did the flying boats take? Did they go over the Atlantic and down the coast of the Americas or did they go via Africa?

Herge never let facts and geography get in the way of his story telling so there is not going to be a historically accurate answer to where Tintin flew from or to. But I would like to create a credible route for someone travelling from Brussels to Peru at that time."

So I thought I'd ask here on behalf of my friend as there's bound to be someone who knows about flying boat services and can either comment or point out a good source of info.

Again, sorry if anyone thinks this is inappropriate for a factual forum.

[Corsairoz]

Hi there, apologies for vagueness of reply, I am at my office rather than home.

A number of Short Sunderland conversions (Sandringhams) were sold to Argentina in the late 1940's. I recall perhaps as many as 17.

There is a small article about what looks like a proving flight here:

south american | argentina | flying boat | 1946 | 0298 | Flight Archive (http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1946/1946%20-%200298.html)

England to Brazil by Sandringham. - 4,590 miles and 25 1/2 hours flying time.

I'll try to dig out more later. Come and see our Sandringham in Southampton if you really want to experience TinTin's adventure......

Cheers
Trevor

[WHBM]

At the end of The Seven Crystal Balls, Tintin heads off for Peru and is seen leaving in what I believe to be a Short S.26 Sunderland Flying Boat. Herge tended to be very accurate about his depiction of planes so I suspect he would of based this drawing on a newspaper or magazine report about a flying boat service.

What I'm trying to find out is

1) In the immediate pre-war or post-war years, where around Europe were the Sunderland Flying Boat services operating from? Tintin was travelling from Brussels so a French service would be the most appropriate but one from the UK would be reasonable.

2) What routes did the flying boats take? Did they go over the Atlantic and down the coast of the Americas or did they go via Africa?

Herge never let facts and geography get in the way of his story telling so there is not going to be a historically accurate answer to where Tintin flew from or to. But I would like to create a credible route for someone travelling from Brussels to Peru at that time."

So I thought I'd ask here on behalf of my friend as there's bound to be someone who knows about flying boat services and can either comment or point out a good source of info.

Again, sorry if anyone thinks this is inappropriate for a factual forum.
I have seen Herge's detailed knowledge of aviation and accuracy of drawing such subjects commented on before.

If you can let us non-Tintin enthusiasts know the dates the items were published we can probably comment some more.

The British flying boat services never got to Latin America. They went to Australia and South Africa, both pre- and immediate post-war. By 1939 the principal service across the South Atlantic was by Air France from Paris, routing via Dakar in Africa and Natal in Brazil to Rio, Buenos Aires and Santiago, but this was operated by landplanes, as were all postwar flights by various operators.

The pre-war boats were the S.23 Empire type. The S.26 Golden Fleece type were only prototypes used for development work. The post-war (only) Sunderland conversions for civil work were a range of further types.

There were Pan Am flying boat services from Miami to Latin America, along with landplane services as well (South America was regarded by Pan Am as its own back yard) but passengers across the North Atlantic went by ship apart from some experimental services. The main service to Peru in 1939 was a twice-weekly Pan Am operation with DC3s from Miami, which hopped southwards. On the third day it started from an overnight stop at Quayaquil, Ecuador, and then stopped in Peru at Talara, Chiclayo, Trujillo, Lima and Arequipa before getting to Arica in northern Chile where it spent another overnight on its wa to santiago and then Buenos Aires. It was such a Pan Am-handled operation that they even built and operated the navaids themselves.

A number of Short Sunderland conversions (Sandringhams) were sold to Argentina in the late 1940's.These flying boats were used for short hops across the River Plate estuary from BA to Montevideo.

[BelArgUSA]

Hello gentlemen -
xxx
Well, being a native of Brussels, I grew up with Tintin since age... 5 or 6...?
Do not call me a Tintinologist, but, I know Tintin quite well.
Still have my original albums, French language edition.
Correct, Hergé was accurate in travel depictions, although he himself was not a traveler.
xxx
Would he have presented a flight to Peru as it would be pre-war era, or post-war era...?
The 1946-1947 years were no longer the era of seaplanes.
However Belgian readers 1946, and himself would imagine Atlantic crossings with seaplanes.
Exactly as it was in 1937-1940...
Look at the cars illustrated in that album... Are they pre-war or post-war models...?
xxx
So he would depict the seaplane trip to "Peru" taking place in the late 1930s.
I live in Buenos Aires now, got some details about these Sandringhams.
Three Short S.25 Sandringhams Mk.2 were delivered to Argentina operator "DODERO".
They were delivered 1945-1946 by BOAC crews.
They were named "Argentina", "Uruguay" and "Paraguay".
xxx
In addition, two Sandringhams Mk.3 were delivered in 1946-1947.
Named "Brasil" and "Ingleterra".
The five airplanes remained in service in Argentina with CAAA until January 1964.
xxx
Greetings from "Moulinsart" castle.
:8
Happy contrails

[BelArgUSA]

DD864, became G-AGPZ, re-registered LV-AAO "Argentina"
DD834, became G-AGPT, re-registered LV-AAP "Uruguay"
ML843, became G-AHRE, re-registered LV-ACT "Paraguay"
DD841, became G-AGPY, re-registered LV-AAR "Brasil"
EF170, became G-AGTZ, re-registered LV-AAQ "Inglaterra"
xxx
:ok:
Happy contrails

[PPRuNe Towers]

So Daniel Craig as Red Hackham in the new Spielberg film in production.

Hope the aviation content meets your approval:ok: