Here are some photographs of TEAL's flying-boat operations at Evans Bay in Wellington between 1950 and 1954. There are also some images of Imperial Airways' S.23 Empire flying-boat “Centaurus” at Wellington on New Year's Eve 1937 and New Year's Day 1938, plus a couple of photographs of TEAL's S.30 Empire 'boat ZK-AMA “Aotearoa” visiting Wellington in 1940. Also some photographs of BOAC's Short S.25 Hythe-class flying-boat G-AGJL “Hobart” during a visit to Wellington in February 1946.
Most of these photos were taken by photographers from Wellington's Evening Post newspaper, although some came from other sources including Whites Aviation. High-resolution copies of all images are available online from The National Library of New Zealand. Click on each individual photograph to view the source and a photo caption. Note that the dates on some of the captions at the National Library website are inaccurate.
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On 31st December 1937, Wellington received a visit from Imperial Airways Short S.23 Empire flying-boat “Centaurus” (commanded by Captain John Burgess) as seen here at the Port of Wellington, with the crew welcomed ashore, then the flying-boat was watched by spectators while taxiing past Point Jerningham on Wellington Harbour. “Centaurus” was enroute to Lyttleton Harbour, then on to Dunedin.





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On 1st January 1938 “Centaurus” was back on Wellington Harbour after flying up from Dunedin and was being refuelled from the launch “Wild Duck” in Evans Bay prior to taking-off and flying on to Auckland.














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On 19th January 1940, TEAL's Short S.30 Empire Boat ZK-AMA “Aotearoa” alights on Evans Bay bringing dignitaries to visit the Centennial Exhibition — the exhibition site can be seen in the second photograph.


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On 28th February 1946, Wellington received a visit from BOAC's Short S.25 Hythe-class flying-boat (civil Sunderland) G-AGJL “Hobart” conveying the British Minister for Civil Aviation, Lord Winster (Reginald Fletcher), to a meeting of the South Pacific Air Transport Council. The Sunderland flying-boat was moored in the bay, then the minister and his official party disembarked into a launch and were transported to the Evans Bay wharves.



