The Sandringham was produced by the demilitarized conversions of Short Sunderland military flying boats previously operated by the Royal Air Force. From late 1942, six RAF Sunderland IIIs were stripped of their armament and fitted with bench-type seats, gaining civil markings and registrations and joining the airline BOAC. Six more Sunderlands were converted for transport use in 1943, with a further 12 following in 1944. Following the end of the Second World War, BOAC converted its Sunderlands to a less-austere standard, more suitable for peace-time operations, and known as the "Hythe". The primitive bench seats were removed, with seats fitted for sixteen passengers on one deck in the initial H.1 configuration, with the addition of a promenade deck giving the H.2 configuration, while the H.3 layout had an additional eight seats. 6,500 pounds (2,900 kg) of mail could be carried. Engines were standardised as the Bristol Pegasus 38. In 1963 an additional conversion of a former Royal New Zealand Air Force Sunderland V was carried out by Ansett to a similar standard to the Sandringhams. The aircraft, named Islander, was fitted with a 43-seat interior. The type was used by Ansett Flying Boat Services on the Sydney (Rose Bay) to Lord Howe Island scheduled service until 1974. One of Ansett's Sandringhams was converted from a S-25 Sunderland previously owned by the Royal New Zealand Air Force. It was also used in Norway by DNL – Norwegian Airlines 1946–1952 on the domestic service from Oslo to Tromsø, and in Uruguay by Compañía Aeronáutica Uruguaya S.A. (CAUSA) on the passenger services between Montevideo and Buenos Aires (1950–1962). In October 1954, Captain Sir Gordon Taylor flew his newly acquired Sandringham 7 from the UK to Australia to begin a series of flying boat cruises of the south Pacific. The aircraft later passed to Réseau Aérien Interinsulaire in Tahiti and is now stored at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Paris Le Bourget. One of the last operators of the Sandringham was Antilles Air Boats in the Virgin Islands of the Caribbean which flew the aircraft in scheduled passenger service during the 1970s with flights from the Charlotte Amalie Harbor Seaplane Base on St. Thomas and the Christiansted Harbor Seaplane Base on St. Croix among other destinations. For more information on the operational history of the Sandringham, and details of the nine variants, click here.
