page_title: Horseshoe route
section_title: End of through route to Sydney
hierarchical_section_title: Horseshoe route / End of through route to Sydney
caption_attribution_description: English: 1940 British Straits Settlements colonial war-time passport issued to a BOAC pilot flying on the Horseshoe route.
context_page_description: The Horseshoe route was a flying boat route between Sydney, Australia, and Durban, South Africa, via Singapore and Cairo during World War II. Mail could then be sent by sea between South Africa and Britain. Using Short Empire C Class S23 and S33 flying boats, British Overseas Airways Corporation operated the section between Durban and Singapore while Qantas Empire Airways operated the section between Singapore and Sydney. In October 1941, Qantas took over the Karachi - Singapore section as BOAC were short of pilots.
  This emergency route was necessitated by Italy entering the war in June 1940, which made it impossible for mail to be flown between Britain and Egypt via the Mediterranean. The Horseshoe Route to Australia was suspended after the loss of Singapore in February 1942 after which it was restricted to being between Durban and Calcutta.
context_section_description: The entry of Japan into World War II in December 1941 was not unexpected and reserve routes between Rangoon and Batavia had been prepared. Reserve Route 1 avoided Bangkok, but due to the rapid Japanese advance, it was only used once on 8 December and Reserve Route 2 which also avoided Penang was used. It was via Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. After 30 December, Reserve Route 3 was used in which Singapore was also avoided although shuttle flights continued between Batavia and Singapore.
  In early February 1942, the Batavia - Darwin (Australia) section was changed from having an overnight stop at Sourabaya to having overnight stops at Tjilatjap and Broome, but the last through service was shortly afterwards; the last flying boat left Singapore on 4 February 1942 and from 6 February the shuttle service ceased. On 3 March fifteen flying boats and seven aircraft, some of which had been used on the horsehoe route, were ready to depart Broome, evacuating men, women and children, were all destroyed with considerable loss of life during the Japanese attack on Broome.
  A much shortened, twice-weekly, route from Durban to Calcutta was initiated in April.
caption: 1940 British Straits Settlements colonial war-time passport issued to a BOAC pilot flying on the Horseshoe route.
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