Empire Flying Boat Manual

by Brian Cassidy

The Short C Class Empire flying boats were designed in 1934 to implement the Empire Air Mail Scheme, carrying un-surcharged letter mail throughout the British Empire and Dominions between the terminals at Southampton, Durban and Sydney - later continuing to Auckland, New Zealand. Some of the payload was also available for small numbers of passengers and freight. Short Brothers built forty-two - nearly forty-three - Empire flying boats at their works on the river Medway at Rochester in Kent. The 43rd was nearly three-quarters complete when it was scrapped. Sixteen of the original 42 Empires survived the war, to be broken up for scrap. The very last Empire 'boat remained as a landlocked exhibit in Auckland until it, too, was hauled off for scrapping sometime in 1954.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0857331582
• ISBN13: 9780857331588
• Release Date: April 2013
• Publisher: Haynes Publishing UK
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.5" x 10.8"