Flying boats landed in Bluff Harbour
Your About the South columnist, Lloyd Esler, is at it again – insulting his readers. He does so by neglecting to identify the source of information he quotes.
His latest transgression occurs in the item headed International flyingboat? (October 4).
He begins by saying: ‘‘Southland’s international flying boat base was proposed for Paterson Inlet in October 1937 as this is the closest sheltered harbour to Australia (1480km to Hobart).’’
A Google search reveals the distance between Paterson Inlet and Hobart is 1689km, or 209km longer than Mr Esler suggests.
He then proceeds to quote verbatim an anonymous proponent before limply concluding: ‘‘The flying boat era passed with no large aircraft landing at Stewart Island.’’
It would appear Mr Esler is artfully oblivious to a rather inconvenient truth – Bluff, (42.3km from Paterson Inlet) was, briefly, such a flying boat base. I cite Wikipedia:
‘‘Original flying boat alighting area in Bluff Harbour, Bluff, Southland, New Zealand. Controlled by the Bluff Harbour Board, [the harbour] was used by the RNZAF for flying boat operations . . . Short Sunderlands and Consolidated Catalina aircraft types were regular visitors.
‘‘In the late 1950s, Ansett Australia operated four chartered international flights using Short Sandringham flying boats. A local launch, small jetty and customs terminal were provided . . .
‘‘Eventually [1966] the flying boat era was replaced by more efficient land-based airliners and the alighting area delisted as an airport.’’
I believe Mr Esler is obliged, even belatedly, (and, one trusts, suitably chastened), to identify his source. And I’m obliged to ask why he chose to highlight an absurdity at the expense of a real-deal slice of Bluff’s history. Brent Procter
Lloyd Esler replied:
I am obliged to Mr Procter for correcting the measurement between the ports. 1480km is actually the shortest distance between Tasmania and New Zealand.
The source of the information is a newspaper from that time, as is much of the material used in About the South.
I can provide the exact dates and page numbers if required but that’s a degree of detail that most readers don’t demand in a column of this nature.
The flying boat era petered out two decades later after a bit of enthusiasm for using Bluff Harbour as the base.
This has been covered in this column previously but this article was about the Paterson Inlet base.
Incidentally Bluff Maritime Museum has a range of pictures of flying boats in the harbour, and two are preserved in MOTAT in Auckland.
A Walrus from the Achilles in 1938 was the first to land in Bluff Harbour, a Sunderland landed on Lake Te Anau once and no doubt other waterways were tried.
I would be very grateful for further stories and photos relating to Southland’s aviation history.