Flying Boat
Simon Quail
- Regions:
- West Sussex, Surrey, East Sussex, Hampshire
- Notice Period:
- Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
- Type:
- Professional
- Fee:
- Paid: £100
- Category:
- Travel
- Updated:
- 5th October 2026
- Tagged:
- Flying Boat | Luxury Transport | Australia | History
To board an Empire flying boat in 1939 was to experience flight at the height of luxury. The flying boat harks back to the days when passenger transport was seen as the most glamorous form of transport ever devised. Flying Boat describes a 26,000 mile odyssey from England to Australia, a journey threatened by the shadow of war. My talk allows all to glimpse a past era, a luxury travel experience granted to very few, flying at the cutting edge. Of all the passengers that took off from Southampton on 24 May 1939 only one passenger flew all the way to Australia. And only one passenger completed the journey all the way back to England: James Morgan Fowler. My talk is a fascinating insight into a lost era of transport.
Views: 23 | Enquiries: 0About Simon Quail
Captain Simon Quail MA B.Ed Master Mariner
I have delivered fully illustrated talks in large lectures halls, meeting rooms and village halls, about Scottish Lighthouses, those amazing sentinels against the storm, about life at sea and about my travels around the world. I am most careful not to deliver death by PowerPoint...
I gave this talk as the monthly lecture for the Wellington Trust to a worldwide Zoom audience. To observe my delivery in action click on this link: https://www.thewellingtontrust.org/whats-on/events-past-lectures-and-exhibitions/
I am an Ambassador to the Wellington Trust. HMS WELLINGTON is the last warship of her kind surviving today and is on the National Historic Ships Register, no 502. https://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk. I deliver the Wheelhouse Augmented Reality Computer Simulation to school children and visitors. I am a WELLINGTON Tour Guide.
I joined the Merchant Navy in 1966, serving as a Deck Apprentice with Elder Dempster Lines. This life at sea is described in another talk, based on my book, 'Gangway – A Life at Sea’ published by Racing Rabbit Press. This maritime memoir is available from me direct: racingrabbitpress@gmail.com.
Travel Times Please note that travel times of over 1.5 hours is very demanding. One hour is better...I live 7 miles west of Horsham in West Sussex
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