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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0958.PDF
532 FLIGHT MAY 17TH, 1945 SHORT SHETLAND furnished with lavatory basins, dressing table, full- and half-length mirrors and a built-in bucket seat; aft of the dressing room is the ladies' toilet.A central door in the aft bulkhead of the vestibule gives access to the main forward passenger cabins. These arearranged on each side of the central aisle, and each seats four passengers in massive side-by-side armchairs facingfore and aft. Generously wide windows are placed at each seat station and above them, and so -beautifully concealedthat one would never guess at their existence are the upper berths. For night travel, the upper berths arehinged down and stayed' by universally jointed tubular struts, folding, tubular lee boards being provided, whilstthe spring mattresses are supported on spring steel ribbons. A concealed hinged valance in the roof can be opened to pro-vide full-length curtains by which each berth is ensured privacy. To provide the lower sleeping berth, each pair of armchairs1 is pivoted on its lower frame so that the normally raking backs become flush against the wall. An extensible frame on eachoutboard chair is swung forward to complete the berth frame; and the seat cushions of the inboard chairs go to make thefull mattress; finally the central, wide armrests dividing each pair of seats are swung up "flush with the seat backs, and eachseparate cabin is in this fashion transformed into a really luxuriously comfortable double sleeper. Private Suites There are eight of these compartments forward of amidships,and aft of the rear pair are four toilets, two each side. It should be pointed out that in all probability the starboard rearlavatory here may instead be employed as a servery for pas- sengers desiring food served at their seats rather than ascendingto the dining saloon on the upper deck ; in this event a light service lift can be installed to link the servery with the galleyimmediately above. • Continuing our progress rearward through the lower deck,we next enter the rear passenger cabins which, owing to the narrowing of the hull, are arranged to accommodate only twopassengers each, and, as there are two cabins port and star- board, eight people are accommodated here either during theday or at night. In order to cater for the person who is willing to pay for such things, each of the foremost of these cabins canbe made into private suites complete with private toilet, the latter being the two aftermost of the four toilets previouslymentioned; in the event, however, of the starboard toilet being deleted in favour of a servery, only the port front cabin canbe arranged as a private suite. Rearward of the after-cabins we come to the rear-entryvestibule with access doorway to port and, to starboard, a toilet. Aft of the toilet is the purser's office, which is neatlyarranged beneath the passengers' staircase leading up to the top deck. To port opposite the staircase is a commodious ward-,robe with sliding doors and, aft of the vestibule, the gentle- men's dressing room; this compartment, similarly to the ladies'version forward, is equipped with lavatory basins, mirrors, dressing table and built-in seat. In the extreme tail of thelower.part of the hull aft of the dressing room, and with access from it, is a good-sized storage space for passengers' handbaggage. WING SPAN 150 ft LENGTH 110 ft. MAX. BEAM 12 ft. 6 in MAX. HEIGHT -40ft. 2Jin. four Bristol 18 cyl. 2,500 h.p. radial, sleeve-valve Centaurus engines driving de Havilland 4-blave Hydromatie 15ft. 9 in.diai metal airscrews- Now let us climb up the staircase to the upper deck. Thisstairway is conveniently furnished with slim hand rails, but owing to the narrowness of this part of the hull and the quicktumblehome of the topsides, the stair well is rather narrow; this cannot, of course, be helped and, in actuality, will prob-ably be found to occasion very little inconvenience. Refreshment Provision The stair landing at the top is in the cocktail bar where,doubtless, beer as well as wines and spirits will be obtainable. Arrangement of the bar proper frankly delighted us, for neverbefore have we seen so neat a layout. When the bar is closed, there might well be no bar there for all one can see. Centrally,in the rear bulkhead, is a door giving access to the cellarette and, further aft, to a 185 cu. ft. mail and freight compartment.When the bar is open for trade, this central door is swung back and a further door opening athwartships makes a recess and,at the same time, discloses the cellarette, the walls and inside surface of the door of which are fitted with bottle racks. Additionally, a flap like the lower half of a stable door fittedwith a shelf on top also open athwartships across the front of the cellarette recess and, by so doing, forms the bar, the interiorof the stable-door flap and the space it encloses being fitted with racks for holding wine glasses, tumblers, etc. There should,however, be some separate provision for a sink in which to rinse glasses without this having to be done in the galley. Along >)the port wall of the bar is a shelf and four high stools; the^S" Starboard side of Shetland giving a eood idea of the hull size and proportions. Scale is given by the 15ft. oin. diameter airscrews."
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