Love the old slides!
From 1950 to 1955 Qantas also flew Sandringhams, from Rose Bay and Brisbane to Lord Howe Island, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Fiji, New Hebrides and other south Pacific destinations. They operated five boats. Pacific Warrior, Pacific Explorer and Pacific Voyager all came from BOAC, and all three were scrapped at Rose Bay in 1955. RMA Tasman came from TEAL, and was wriitten off after hitting a reef at Port Vila in 1951. Pacific Chieftan came from TEAL and served until 1955 when it was sold to Ansett (VH-BRE). It was blown ashore at Lord Howe in a storm in 1963, and written off. It was stripped of parts and the hull towed out and scuttled just outside the reef, where it still lies today.
If you look at the larger photo above, the one in the forground (Beachcomber) has a streamlined nose, while the one taking off (Islander) has a more bulbous, slab-like nose. Beachcomber (VH-BRC) is the traditional Sandringham shape, as converted by Shorts in 1945-46. Beachcomber was conveted to seat 30 passengers and bought by TEAL in 1947; she was known then as RMA Auckland. In 1950 she was sold to Barrier Reef Airways, reconfigured for 42 passengers and renamed Coral Clipper. Ansett took over Barrier Reef Airways in 1952 and moved Coral Clipper to Rose Bay, where she was refitted and repainted, and named Beachcomber. Ansett operated her until 1974, when she flew the last service to Lord Howe in September (she was washed ashore in June - see the slide above - but not seriously damaged). She was sold to Antilles Air Boats in the Caribbean, aand also flew charter flights in Ireland in the late 1970s. In 1982 she was sold to the Science Museum UK, and her flight to Calshot was her last. She was barged to Southhampton and dismantled for restoration to static display. She has been repainted in Ansett's 1970s 'delta' livery and renamed VH-BRC Beachcomber. She is on display at the Solent Sky Museum at Southampton.
http://www.solentskymuseum.org/
Islander also began as a Sunderland miltary flying boat, serving with the RAF until 1945 but placed in storage in Scotland until 1952 when she was purchashed by the RNZAF. The Kiwis used her as a patrol aircraft until 1956, when she was placed in storage at the TEAL base in Auckland. When Ansett lost Pacific Chieftan in 1963, they purchased the stored NZ Sunderland as a replacement. She was started and flown to Rose Bay, the last time a miltary flying boat ever landed in Sydney. At the Ansett base at Rose Bay she was stripped to bare metal, the military equipment removed (such as the nose and rear gun turrets) and new nose and tail panels fabricated. The military interior was stripped out and a civilian two-deck 42-passenger layout - with cocktail bar - installed. She was finished and painted in Ansett silver livery, named Islander and launched on the Lord Howe run in October 1964. She was also blown ashore at Lord Howe in 1965 but not seriously damaged. She also did charter work for Ansett in Queensland. She flew to Lord Howe for the last time in August 1974 and sold to Antilles Air Boats. She flew the Caribbean for several years (once with Maureen O'Hara as the stewardess - her husband was the Captain). She was sold and returned to the UK in 1982, renamed the Sir Arthur Gouge. She was repainted several times for movie shoots, including Pan Am livery for the movie Mr and Mrs Edgehill in 1985. She was damaged in a wind storm in 1987 and had a new wing fitted - from a spare in the Imperial War Museum. She was sold to wealthy US aircraft collector Kermit Weekes in 1993 and was flown to Florida via Iceland and Lake Ontario. She is currently in an all-white paint scheme but has been renamed Islander. She is no longer airworthy, but now a static exhibit in the Fantasy of Flight museum in Florida - "the World's Greatest Aircraft Collection."
http://www.fantasyofflight.com/
