Pan-American Clipper at Southampton, 1939. The Boeing 314 of Pan-American Airways made its inaugural trans Atlantic flight on June 24, 1939
Distinct from other warplanes of its time, the British Short Sunderland was equipped with a galley and a designated area for dining. It also featured heating to maintain crew comfort during the chilly anti-submarine missions. The Sunderland was our biggest combat aircraft in WWII – used for anti-shipping and anti-submarine work. One Sunderland captured a German surface ship, which it handed over to the Royal Navy. Subsequently the Sunderland crew claimed and got Prize Money for the capture. Second pic is a crewman in the Sunderland’s galley.
Flying Boats
1980 BOAC Flying Boat ‘Somerset’ taking off on the Last Scheduled Flying Boat Service from Southampton Water
Simon William Fisher
Hampshire County Council Arts and Museums Service
Flying Boat History – By David Dawkins
We were walking in the Southampton old cemetery on the Common the other day and stumbled on the grave of Edwin Moon (8 June 1886 – 29 April 1920), who was an English aviation pioneer who served in the Royal Navy air service and the RAF during the First World War. He was a prisoner of war and he was twice awarded a DSO. The Moon family owned a boat-building business based at the Wool House near the Royal Pier in Southampton . The Moonbeam Engineering Company Limited built motor launches and later expanded to include the sale of wrought iron propellers and marine engines for export around the world. Edwin Moon, possibly inspired by the 1903 Wright brothers’ flight, took a corner of the workshop to realise his dream of constructing and flying an aircraft of his own design. He tested his first plane, Moonbeam I, in the Fawley area, near the home of his future bride. His first short “hop” took place on Webster’s Field at Ower Farm, near Calshot and at Moulands Field, Regents Park. Following these test flights on the prototype plane, he built a second plane, Moonbeam II. Moonbeam II was monoplane weighing 260 lbs, of which 160 lbs was engine and propeller. A V-4 cylinder, 20 h.p. J.A.P engine was fitted, and it had a 6 ft wooden propeller. Moonbeam II was first tested at Beaulieu Heath (close to the Royal Oak public house at Hill Top) on 3 February 1910. On 29 April 1920, Moon was at the controls of a flying boat on an instructional cruise when it crashed into the sea. Moon and three other crew members were killed, while two were rescued, slightly injured.
