The Air Yacht was built for A. E Guinness for pleasure cruising in the Mediterranean. The aircraft was underpowered, so Guinness bought a Saro Cloud instead. The Air Yacht , which has been re-engined for more power, went into storage until acquired by a wealthy American named June Jewett James in October 1932 . She wanted to use it to cruise the Mediterranean too. The Air Yacht, named Windward III, set off from Southampton to cruise to Egypt but was damaged taking off at Capri in January 1933. The damaged G-AASE was scrapped. Photo from: Air Force Museum of New Zealand

Crashed into Lake Habbaniyah, Iraq on 27 November 1938.

Cassiopeia crashed at Sabang on 29 December 1941, hitting debris on take-off while carrying a load of ammunition from India to Singapore following the outbreak of the Pacific War. The flying boat is seen with a type of embarkation raft first used in April 1937, designed to prevent damage to the hull. From 1938, passengers boarded straight from the shore at Berth 108 in the port of Southampton, rather than from the Hythe facility.

Castor flying the light blue Civil Air Ensign before its first commercial flight to Alexandria, which took two and a half days according to schedule. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

'Air France announce that the Latécoère 631 will go into service on the route to the West Indies for which three have been ordered. On July 25th an initial flight started from Bordeaux... 631-04 was flown over last week from Biscarrosse to the BOAC base at Hythe, and was made available for flying experience and examination.' The visit reassured the Brits about the future of the Saro Princess but of course, the days of the flying boat were numbered. The six-engined Laté 631 had first flown in 1942 with German consent. Ten examples were built. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

In 1937, Imperial Airways rented some of the Supermarine buildings at Hythe for the maintenance of the new Empire flying boats. G-ADUY Capella was damaged beyond repair at Batavia (Jakarta) in 1939, see other photo. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)