Short Solent – Fotos e Vídeos

O Solent Curto is a passenger flying boat that was produced by Short Brothers in the late 1940s. It was developed from the Short Seaford, itself a development of the Short Sunderland military flying boat design, which was too late to serve in World War II. The first Solent flew in 1946. New Solents were used by BOAC and TEAL, production ending in 1949. Second-hand aircraft were operated until 1958 by a number of small airlines such as Aquila Airways.

Fonte: Solent curto na Wikipédia

O Solent Curto was a passenger flying boat that was produced by Short Brothers in the late 1940s. It was developed from the Short Seaford, itself a development of the Short Sunderland military flying boat design. The first Solent flew in 1946. New Solents were used by BOAC and TEAL, production ending in 1949.
The Short Solent had a high-wing Monoplano configuration and an aluminium construction. It was powered by four Bristol Hercules engines, which could be replaced by Bristol Centaurus engines on some models. It could carry 34 to 45 passengers and seven crew members in its basic version. The passengers enjoyed spacious and luxurious cabins, a lounge/dining area, a kitchen, dressing rooms, toilets and freight compartments. The flight crew consisted of two pilots, a navigator, a radio operator and a flight engineer.
O Short Solent operava em várias rotas pela Europa, África, Ásia e Oceania. Foi usado principalmente pela BOAC e TEAL, mas também por algumas companhias aéreas menores, como a Aquila Airways. O Solent fornecia um serviço confortável e confiável para seus passageiros, mas enfrentava a concorrência de aeronaves terrestres que eram mais rápidas e baratas de operar. O último serviço operado pela Solent foi realizado em 1960 pela TEAL entre Fiji e Taiti. Dois Solents estão preservados hoje, um no Museu de Transporte e Tecnologia em Auckland, Nova Zelândia, e outro no Oakland Aviation Museum, na Califórnia, EUA.