It's all ‘Plane’-sailing in Durban

An old boat plane takes off from Durban, which was once a maintenance centre for the aircraft.

An old boat plane takes off from Durban, which was once a maintenance centre for the aircraft.

Published Jan 20, 2018

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Durban - A  property in Congella was once the maintenance hub of sea planes.

Sea planes are fixed wing aircraft capable of landing on water. The hangar on the property fitted two planes at once – one requiring long-term maintenance and the other for short-term work, according to aviation history enthusiast and orthopaedic surgeon John Buchan.

He will give a presentation on “A History of Durban’s Flying Boat Service” at the Royal Natal Yacht Club on Tuesday.

Buchan became an aviation enthusiast while reading engineering magazines during his national service, and then built his own two-seater plane. The late military historian, Ken Gillings, got him interested in the history of aviation when they met through the Natal Field Artillery Unit.

“It just struck me how much technical advance there has been in the last century, with the Wright Brothers getting off the ground in 1903, to man going to the moon and back, and the invention of jumbo jets,” said Buchan. “I started my research in 1999.”

Buchan said he was also lucky to make e-mail contact with people all over the world, such as the daughter of the chief pilot of boat planes on the Sydney-Auckland route.

Durban was host to various military flying boats from about 1942. A full-time presence was established early in 1943 when 262 Squadron of the Royal Air Force moved into a base complete with hangar and slipway adjacent to the BOAC facility at Bayhead, according to the website, Facts About Durban.

The squadron flew reconnaissance patrols out to sea from this facility and from lakes, St Lucia and Umsingazi in Zululand, in their American Consolidated PBY Catalinas, it added.

Buchan said the Congella boat plane hangar was moved to Louis Botha Airport, now known as the old Durban Airport, and had bays added to  house South African Airways’ DC-4 aircraft. It still stands to this day.

The talk is at 5pm for 5.30pm, and entrance is free. For more information, contact David Hughes at 031 304 9390.

The Independent on Saturday

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