Oakland Air Museum, Part 2

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones takes a flying boat across the Pacific (the image above is a still from the movie). That plane is a Short Solent Mark III flying boat, one of three left in the world, and it lives at the Western Aerospace Museum in Oakland. You can see more photos, plans, and news clips of the plane here. On Sundays, the folks at the museum give guided tours of the plane. So we went.


Here's Ryan standing in front of the plane. In normal operation, the plane takes off and lands on the water, and it has no landing gear. Wheels can be bolted on when the plane needs to be moved on land for service or storage.


The Solent flying boat was built by the British in the 1930s. It was used to move VIPs and gold between England and South Africa, by way of the Mediterranean, the Blue Nile, and the White Nile. During WWII, most were converted into sub-hunters, with machine guns in the nose and tail and bomb racks under the wings. After the war, several were once more used for passenger service, but they were rapidly edged out by jetliners.

This plane has no more secrets from us. We went everywhere inside that a person could fit, and into a few areas where no sane person would probably go.


The seats are all original. They are roomier than most seats on modern jetliners. Vicki is in the last row on the upper deck. Behind her is the bulkhead that separates the passenger compartment from the tail of the plane. On the other side of the bulkhead is the secret compartment used for carrying gold. Behind that are a couple of tubes for dropping flares. When the crew spotted a German or Japanese submarine, they would drop flares to mark the target for warplanes.


London found the appointments to his liking. You can see a couple of metal bumps on the wall between the windows. Those are air conditioning vents, genuine 1930s vintage. The plane also has a full galley, a bar, a powder room for the ladies, and a small library. It is also surprisingly spacious. I'd take it over a 737 any day.