Qea Catalina For New
p. 35 · Read in the full issue
Guinea
AQANTAS Empire Airways’ Catalina flying-boat will depart from Sydney in May for service in New Guinea and adjacent territory.
It will be based on Port Moresby, and supplement the QEA fleet of 12 land planes engaged on operations in the New Guinea area. It will serve the east and west coast of Papua, Buka, Rabaul, and on other routes where good alighting areas are available on the water, but not on land.
Administration outposts as well as com mercial interests will benefit when the Catalina commences on regular services and charter flights over routes never previously flown.
Before going into regular use, the Cata lina will be used to survey routes for the future services. Captain Hugh Birch will be in command, with a crew com prised of first officer, engineer and purser.
In addition to the crew of four, the aircraft has seats for 24 passengers. The seats are collapsible, permitting the Catalina to be quickly converted for use as a freighter.