The Last African Flying Boat

4/11/2026

Setting off from Cairo, this quite interesting documentary attempts to follow the route taken by the Catalina flying boats of Imperial Airways from what was still largely British Egypt down the coast to the Cape. The crew consist of an entrepreneur who is paying the bills, a captain (Jim) who is possibly the least communicative man on the continent and journalist Alexander Frater who recalled travelling this route as a child. There are passengers too, some of whom also contribute informatively as they recall not just the colonial aspects of the early 20th century, but also of the effects on the local populations of such impressive and luxurious pieces of engineering. Departing is straightforward enough, as is refuelling in Luxor and farther south in Kenya, but after a birdstrike forces an