Corsairville

It was the obscure legend of the flying boat Corsair, rescued from the Belgian Congo in an epic salvage operation, that fired Graham Coster's quest for the lost world of the flying boat. Half boat, half aeroplane, and now virtually extinct; luxurious as ocean liners, their illustrious captains resplendent in white linen - for a brief era flying boats were the most romantic way to travel to Britain's far-flung dominions. Coster's journey begins in Southampton, from where Imperial Airways' 'Empire' boats departed to fly up the Nile on their way to South Africa, and takes him to the flying boats' old haunts in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe, from Lake Naivasha to Victoria Falls. Retired pilots explain to him the 'seat-of-the-pants' challenge of flying Sunderlands and Solents and he meets countless former passengers. And from the men themselves, who sixty years ago salvaged a stricken flying boat in a forgotten corner of Africa, he pieced together the true story of Corsair. Corsairville is a remarkable piece of secret history.