Rare footage - 1970's Flying Boat action

[@a24-45]

Wow, the captain smoking a pipe onboard at 5:03! The days when smoking was allowed seem so far away now. Apparently the Rose Bay to Lord Howe Island trip was the final test for trainee navigators in RAAF Catalinas (seaplanes) during WWII. A WWII veteran navigator told me that on one occasion, when a Catalina was already well into the trip and hundreds of miles out over the open sea, the trainee navigator was asked as usual to give the aircraft's position. The young man broke down sobbing that he had no idea where they were. Fortunately, the supervising navigator was able to salvage the situation and get them safely to Lord Howe. My parents went on their honeymoon to Lord Howe Island in one of these planes in 1948. 6:42 the takeoff from Lord Howe lagoon looks pretty scary with that big steep hill dead ahead: the captain has to make a very steep right hand turn to avoid a collision. The takeoff in another direction still has the plane banking sharply at 8:22 to clear another hill. It must have been thrilling on board, with so little room for error in this location.

[@belperflyer7419]

And Francis Chichester managed to find Lord Howe Island flying solo in an open cockpit biplane (Gipsy Moth) back in 1929. Arguably a greater feat of navigation than his later circumnavigation in his yacht Gipsy Moth IV for which he was knighted. Great video - not so sure about the music :)

[@keithgoldsmith4815]

Flew to Lord Howe island on this very plane in the early seventies, beautiful way to fly , still have the movie i took of the trip, only surpassed by a flight in Germany in a Zeppelin from Friedrichaven.

[@markgordon2260]

Beautiful. I was lucky enough to fly on both BRF and BRC as a 10 year old kid. This almost brought me to tears.

[@andysvehiclehistorychannel]

Back in 2019 i was sitting in the captain's seat of this beautiful flying boat in the Solent sky Museum the staff are amazing there it also helped that my cousin is married to Michael Ansett who is the grandson of the founder of this airline 😉

[@alc6799]

Flew in one to Lord Howe Island in the Summer of 70/71. Had to return in one too. Damn.

[@21jlxi]

They have one of these on display at MOTAT in Auckland. I've always wished I was around to see it fly. Air New Zealand (Tasman Empire Airways Limited) used to fly these on 'The Coral Route' around the Pacific Islands. Very majestic ladies of the sky. Thanks for the video and cheers from NZ.

[@clive373]

majestic is the right word, strange, but true.

[@legalmexican]

I sat in a vacant copilot seat of a Grumman Goose seaplane on a flight from San Juan to the U.S. Virgins in the mid-1970s. It was fun.

[@Posttrip]

Magnificent! What an era it was, I suppose. It’s just a shame that cellphones didn’t exist at the time or the ability to ‘video’ such operations routinely. What a great legacy to have been able to view from all around the world.

[@sidefx996]

Actually it's never a shame to have lived in a time when cellphones didn't exist lol

[@clive373]

I still have the image in my memory of seeing a flying boat, a civil version of a sunderland, landing in Southampton. It was 1956, it was very impressive to a 4 year old, but it would still impress.

[@rogerhardy6481]

My father used to fly them and the Catalina's for Ansett

[@mauriceupton1474]

Lovely find.

[@bigerosk]

fantastic and nice document thank you for sharing

[@glenmolloy2709]

My girlfriend flew to Lord Howe Island from Rose Bay airbase in one of these

[@nickmckay4292]

Would’ve loved to been around when these beauties were around

[@nikolasjeffery3225]

Sorry to be so off topic but does anybody know of a trick to log back into an instagram account?? I was dumb forgot the password. I would appreciate any help you can give me

[@cairomarcellus977]

@Nikolas Jeffery instablaster ;)

[@clive373]

you really would! I only saw one land, once....but I will never forget! We had steam trains too, an express going through a station at speed was something to behold, like an earthquake, a cacophony of sound, a pressure wave passing, and all in zero visibility as it belched smoke and steam! My first time I grabbed hold of a big old set of scales, just to make sure I remained on the platform. As they approached they went from side to side, I didn't trust them to stay on the tracks...hahaha

[@davestambaugh7282]

Alaska has a sizable fleet of regional sea plane service to this day.Ten or twenty passengers though.

[@stephenhobbs1052]

Rose Bay is still a registered international airport!

[@tonywhite1624]

Remember them in Rose Bay,well ..

[@cliffleigh7450]

This is from an ABC doco called "The Ships That Flew".

[@Posttrip]

Unfortunately, Amazon Prime says it is currently unavailable in my areas, which is the States🤔 Looks like it would be worth the effort to find a way around this.

[@cliffleigh7450]

@@Posttrip It's available on DVD: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nIm3iKmhrd6firc

[@Posttrip]

@@cliffleigh7450 Excellent. Thank you. Now, I need to either pick up the DVD, or find the documentary on line, maybe from one of the streaming services.

[@hanshintiger1564]

What music is it please?

[@manuwilson4695]

J.S. Bach...The God of music 🎶!

[@markgordon2260]

I think the pilots were WW11 Sunderland crew.

[@grahamthebaronhesketh.]

I feel sick already I am only at 49 seconds.

short sunderland .....sub killer , rescue , transport ....and dead sexy

[@syedahmed8015]

🤩😇❤️👍🇧🇩

[@pcowdrey]

Nice video, but horrible choice of music. =PC=

[@markgordon2260]

What is wrong with, I think Vivaldi. It matches the gracefulness of the boats.

[@saeidkharrat4397]

MUSIC ON VIDEO WAS ANNOYING AND STUPID

[@daveogarf]

*Saeid Kharrat* - Agreed. They always manage to drown out the music of the engines of a classic aircraft. This whole piece seems to be an exercise in self-importance.

[@manuwilson4695]

Maybe Indian or Arabic music 🎶 would be better...yeah?