The Flying Boat 'coral' route continued until 1960 when a new airport was finished in Tahiti allowing TEAL to fly Douglas DC-6 aircraft.
The Douglas DC-6
was flown by TEAL between 1954 and 1961.
Three were
transferred to TEAL after the break-up of British
Commonwealth Pacific Airlines and came from the QANTAS takeover of BCPA who had owned the DC-6 fleet.
These DC-6 aircraft started replacing the flying
boats in May 1954 which meant the transfer of Auckland's Flying Boats only
International Airport, from Mechanics Bay located in Auckland’s Waitemata
harbour, to RNZAF Whenuapai,
which was an military airbase that shared civil airline operations until 1965 when
Auckland International Airport opened at Mangere.
In September 1956, work was completed on the skin
of the DC-6s to allow a 2000 lbs increase in payload.
By 1961, they were handed over to the RNZAF to be
used as troop transports.
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USE THE SCROLL ACROSS BAR LOCATED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WINDOW TO VIEW THESE LARGE SHEETS
NZ SOUTHERN ALPS
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