Flying Boats: Air Travel in the Golden Age sets out to do justice to a
time of glamorous, unhurried air travel, unrecognisable to most of
today's air travellers, but sorely missed by some.During the 1930s,
long-distance air travel was the preserve of the flying boat, which
transported well-heeled passengers in ocean-liner style and comfort
across the oceans.But then the Second World War came, and things
changed. Suddenly, landplanes were more efficient, and in abundance:
long concrete runways had been constructed during the war that could be
used by a new generation of large transport aircraft; and endless
developments in aircraft meant they could fly faster and for further
distances. Commercial flying boat services resumed, but their days would
be numbered.