Flying Boats

I’ve just posted an article on trifter.com about flying boats. To be honest, it’s an article I’ve had on my files for a long time. Several years ago I did a lot of research on the subject and was keen to get the thing published, but could never quite find the right home for it. Anyway, this version of it now has a home and that’s satisfying enough for the moment.
My mother had a lot of interest in flying boats. If my memory serves me right, she flew to Australia in one, around 1939. One of her old scrapbooks has pictures from the local newspaper showing flying boats landing here in Dunedin harbour, something that’s rather hard to imagine now.
I always liked the idea of those great ships of the air and their luxurious, roomy cabins; the fact that you could sleep onboard if you wanted to, in proper beds, and that you’d be waited on by proper stewards, and fed at real tables.
Having been in a few planes over the last six months or more, most of which were unutterably cramped and unpleasant, it’s nice to dream of what it would be like in a classy flying boat.
I see that you can get a DVD of British RAF seaplanes and flying boats on one of the NZ sites. I’m almost tempted to check it out further!