Short Solent

File:Short Solent ZK-AMO on water.jpg

The Short S.45 Solent was a high-wing monoplane flying boat of aluminium construction. Power was provided by four Bristol Hercules[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATLN=6&CATID=1729832 National Archives Airworthiness Division Type Records] engines.

The aircraft could be fitted for 24 passengers with day and night accommodation or 36 day passengers. The cabins (four on the lower deck and two on the upper) could be used to sleep four or seat six. The upper deck included a lounge/dining area next to a kitchen; the lower deck had two dressing rooms, toilets and three freight compartments.

The flight crew was five (two pilots, navigator, and radio operator with the flight engineer in a separate compartment behind the flight deck opposite crew rest berths) and there were two stewards to attend to the passengers.Flight 3 January 1946 p10

File:Short Solent at Poole.jpg

The Solent II introduced by BOAC could carry 34 passengers and 7 crew. Between 1948 and 1950, BOAC operated their Solents on the three-times weekly scheduled service from Southampton to Johannesburg taking a route down the Nile and across East Africa. The journey took four days, including overnight stops. The Solents replaced Avro Yorks running the service.[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1948/1948%20-%200765.html "To South Africa on the First Springbok Flying-boat Service"] Flight 1948

The last Solent-operated service on the route departed from Berth 50 at Southampton on 10 November 1950, bringing BOAC's flying-boat operations to an end.{{Harvnb|Jackson|1988|p=160}}

Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL) operated four Solent IVs and one Solent II between 1949 and 1960 on their scheduled routes between Sydney, Fiji, Auckland and Wellington. The last TEAL Solent service was flown between Fiji and Tahiti on 14 September 1960 by ZK-AMO, RMA Aranui, which is now preserved. The TEAL Solents could carry 45 passengers and all versions of the type provided a great deal of space and luxury compared with contemporary or modern land-based aircraft.

File:Short Solent 4 of Aquila Airways.jpg

Several Solents served Aquila Airways on their routes from Southampton to Madeira and the Canary Islands using ex BOAC and TEAL aircraft. On 15 November 1957, Aquila Airways G-AKNU, a Solent III, crashed near Chessell, Isle of Wight, after it experienced loss of power to two engines.[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1958/1958-1-%20-%200204.html Flight, 8 August 1958, p. 208] The crash killed 45 out of the 58 on board. British commercial flying-boat operations ceased on 30 September 1958 when Aquila Airways withdrew its Madeira service.

• Solent II

: Civilian version for BOAC of the Short Seaford, 12 aircraft built at RochesterBarnes and James, pp. 407–409

• Solent III

: Converted S.45 Seaford. 7 aircraft – 6 at Queen's Island, Belfast, 1 at Hamble

• Solent IV

: Powered by Bristol Hercules 733, four aircraft built at Belfast

; {{AUS}}

• Trans Oceanic Airways

; {{NZL}}

• Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL)

; {{UK}}

• Aquila Airways
• British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC)

; {{USA}}

• South Pacific Air Lines

The only military use of the Solent was for trials at the United Kingdom Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment in 1951, the former BOAC Solent 3 was scrapped after the trials.

15 November 1957 – Aquila Airways Solent G-AKNU crashed on the Isle of Wight. The aircraft took off at around 10:40 pm from Southampton Water for Lisbon, Madeira and Las Palmas. Around 20 minutes later, the crew reported the failure of number 4 engine and turned back. Soon after, number 3 engine also stopped and around one minute after the radio report, the aircraft crashed into a chalk quarry near Chessell, killing 45 of the 58 people on board.{{cite web |url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19571115-1 |title=ASN Aircraft accident Shorts S.45 Solent III G-AKNU Chessel Down |last=Ranter |first=Harro |website=aviation-safety.net |access-date=11 October 2019}}{{cite news | title=45 Dead in Flying Boat Crash| work=The Times | date=18 November 1957 | location=London | pages=12 | issue=54001}} No cause for either engine failure was established in the subsequent investigation.{{cite journal |date=28 September 1933 |title=Civil Aviation: Solent Accident Report |journal=Flight |volume=74|id=No. 2585 |pages=971 |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1933/1933%20-%200653.html |accessdate=10 October 2019 }}

A memorial to those killed is in St Mary's Church, Brook. A tree and a plaque mark the crash-site.{{Cite web |url=http://isle-of-wight-memorials.org.uk/others/brookshortsolent1957.htm |title=Memorials and Monuments on the Isle of Wight – Brook Short Solent air disaster |website=isle-of-wight-memorials.org.uk |access-date=11 October 2019}}

File:Aircraft Short S45 Solent Mk 4 Aranui ZK-AMO.jpg

File:Short Solent III ‘G-AKNP’ “City of Cardiff” (29954786913).jpg

• Short Solent IV ZK-AMO, RMA Aranui, was firstly used by TEAL between Mechanics Bay on Auckland Harbour and Rose Bay Sydney, Australia until superseded on scheduled services by the land based propliners. ZK-AMO was redeployed on the iconic Coral Route from Auckland New Zealand to Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga and Tahiti, until once again superseded by propliners in September 1960. ZK-AMO has been fully restored and preserved at the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland. It was briefly overhauled outside when the Keith Park Memorial Aviation Display at MOTAT was enlarged in 2010–2011.
• An ex-BOAC Solent III, later owned by Howard Hughes, has been rescued and is in the United States at the Oakland Aviation Museum in Oakland, California.;{{Cite web |url=http://oaklandaviationmuseum.org/solent_flying_boat_32.html |title=Solent at the Oakland Aviation Museum, Oakland, California |access-date=14 March 2015 |archive-date=19 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160619044717/http://oaklandaviationmuseum.org/solent_flying_boat_32.html |url-status=dead }} it is this Solent which appears briefly (and anachronistically) in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark, though through matte effects is made to resemble a more historically accurate Boeing 314 Clipper.Verschuere, Gilles. [http://www.theraider.net/films/raiders/making_6_postproduction.php "The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark: Concluding the Adventure."] The Raider.Net, 2009.

{{Aircraft specs

|ref=Barnes and JamesBarnes and James, p. 412

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|capacity=34 passengers

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|height note=Jackson 1988, p.160.

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|wing area sqft=1487

|empty weight kg=

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|gross weight kg=

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|eng1 number=4

|eng1 name=Bristol Hercules 637

|eng1 type=14-cylinder radial engines

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|cruise speed mph=244

|cruise speed note=

|range km=

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{{reflist}}

• {{cite book | last = Barnes| first =C.H.|author2=James D.N. | title =Shorts Aircraft since 1900| publisher =Putnam | year =1989 | location =London | isbn = 0-85177-819-4}}
• {{cite book |last= Jackson|first= A.J |title= British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 3|year= 1988|publisher= Putnam|location= London|isbn=0-85177-818-6}}
• {{cite magazine|last=Warner|first=Guy|title=From Bombay to Bombardier: Aircraft Production at Sydenham, Part One|magazine=Air Enthusiast |date=July–August 2002|issue=100 |pages=13–24 |issn=0143-5450}}

{{commons category|Short Solent}}

• [http://theflyingboatforum.hostingdelivered.com/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=985&start=20 Short Flying Boats in New Zealand]
• [http://www.teal.co.nz/teal/default.htm Tasman Empire Airways Limited] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050827114607/http://www.teal.co.nz/teal/default.htm |date=27 August 2005 }}
• [http://www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation%20history/coming%20of%20age/flying%20boats/Short%20Solent.htm Century of Flight]

{{Short Brothers aircraft}}

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