Short Sandringham - Civil Operational Use

Civil Operational Use

.

Following VE-Day, the BOAC Sunderlands were stripped of camouflage, their Pegasus engines upgraded to Mark 38 (later 48) and interiors modified to carry 24 day or 16 night passengers plus 6,500 lb (2,830 kg) of mail. This initial conversion was known by BOAC as their "Hythe" Class.

The Sandringham 5 was operated by BOAC from 1947 as the "Plymouth class" on the Far East routes from Southampton via Alexandria to Hong Kong and Tokyo. These were replaced by Lockheed Constellation land planes during 1949. TEAL used Sandringhams on the Auckland to Sydney route and flights to Pacific Islands. In 1950, Qantas introduced the first of five aircraft which flew from the Rose Bay flying boat base on Sydney Harbour to destinations in New Caledonia, New Hebrides, Fiji, New Guinea and Lord Howe Island. Two of these were purchased from TEAL and the other three were purchased from BOAC. These were in service through to 1955.

The type was used by Ansett Flying Boat Services on the Sydney (Rose Bay) to Lord Howe Island scheduled service until 1974. Some of Ansett's Sandringhams were converted from S-25 Sunderlands previously owned by the Royal New Zealand Air Force. It was also used in Norway by DNL - Norwegian Airlines 1946–1952 on the domestic service from Oslo to Tromsø, and in Uruguay by Compañía Aeronáutica Uruguaya S.A. (CAUSA) on the passenger services between Montevideo and Buenos Aires (1950–1962).

In October 1954, Captain Sir Gordon Taylor flew his newly acquired Sandringham 7 from the UK to Australia to begin a series of flying boat cruises of the south Pacific. The aircraft later passed to Réseau Aérien Interinsulaire in Tahiti and is now stored at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Paris Le Bourget.