- Flying boat
Infobox Aviation
name=Flying boat
caption=Short S23 'C' Class or 'Empire' Flying BoatA flying boat is a specialised form of
aircraft that is designed to take off from and land on water, using itsfuselage as a floating hull. Suchaircraft are sometimes stabilised on water by underwingfloat s or by wing-like projections from the fuselage. It is the use of the fuselage to provide the mainbuoyancy of the aircraft which distinguishes flying boats fromfloatplane s, which use one or more floats attached below the fuselage or the wings to keep the fuselage clear of the water.Flying boats were some of the largest aircraft of the first half of the 20th century. Their ability to alight on water allowed them to break free of the size constraints imposed by general lack of large, land-based runways, and also made them important for maritime patrol and air-to-sea rescue, capabilities put to great use in
World War II . Following World War II, their use gradually tailed off, with many of the roles taken over by land aircraft types.In the 21st century, flying boats maintain a few niche uses, such as for dropping water on forest fires and for air transport around archipelagos.
History
Origins
In 1911 Curtiss unveiled a development of his earlier floatplane and landplane model D, this time fitted with a hull, and designated as the Model E.In 1913, the boat building firm
J. Samuel White ofWest Cowes on theIsle of Wight , set up a new aircraft division and produced a flying boat. This was displayed at the London Air Show at Olympia in 1913Flying Boats of the Solent, Norman Hull. ISBN 1-85794-161-6] . In that same year, a collaboration between the S.E. Saunders boatyard ofEast Cowes on theIsle of Wight and theSopwith Aviation Company produced their "Bat Boat", an aircraft with aconsuta laminated hull that could operate from land or on water . The "Bat Boat" completed several landings on sea and on land and was duly awarded the Mortimer Singer Prize. It was the first all-British aeroplane capable of making six return flights over five miles within five hours.Before
World War I the American pioneer aviatorGlenn Curtiss , who had been experimenting withfloatplanes , joined with EnglishmanJohn Cyril Porte to design a flying boat that could take the prize offered by the British "Daily Mail " newspaper for the first aerial crossing of theAtlantic ocean . [Enhanced by a further sum from the "Women's Aerial League of Great Britain" [http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/aircraft/felixstowe.htm] ] Porte developed a practical hull design with the distinctive 'step' which could be married to Curtiss' airframe and engine design. The resulting large aircraft would be able to carry enough fuel to fly long distances and could berth alongside ships for refuelling. The war interrupted Porte's plans.World War I
From 1914 Curtis produced his "America" flying boat, several examples of which were acquired by the
Royal Naval Air Service and tested at theirSeaplane Experimental Station , now run by Porte. Porte developed an improved hull, resulting in the Felixstowe F.1 and its larger derivatives, used for coastal patrols and huntingU-boats .The
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company independently developed its designs into the small model 'F', the larger model 'K' several of which were sold to the Russian Naval Air Service, and the Model 'C' for theUS Navy . Curtiss among others also built theFelixstowe F5 as theCurtiss F5L , based on the final Porte hull designs and powered by American Liberty engines.Between the wars
A Curtiss
NC-4 became the first aircraft to fly across theAtlantic Ocean in 1919, crossing via the Azores. Of the four that were to make the attempt, only one completed the flight.In the 1930s, flying boats made it possible to have regular air transport between the U.S. and
Europe , opening up new air travel routes toSouth America ,Africa , andAsia .Foynes ,Ireland and Botwood,Newfoundland and Labrador were the termini for many early transatlantic flights. Where land-based aircraft lacked the requiredairfield s to land, flying boats could stop at smallisland ,river ,lake or coastal stations to refuel and resupply. The Pan AmBoeing 314 "Clipper" planes brought exotic destinations like theFar East within reach of air travellers and came to represent the romance of flight.In 1923, the first British commercial flying boat service was introduced with flights to and from the
Channel Islands . The British aviation industry was experiencing rapid growth. The Government decided that nationalization was necessary and ordered five aviation companies to merge to form the state-ownedImperial Airways of London (IAL). IAL became the international flag-carrying British airline, providing flying boat passenger and mail transport links between Britain andSouth Africa using aircraft such as theShort S.8 Calcutta .In 1928, a new world achievement in aviation attracted the attention of the Australian public when four
Supermarine Southampton flying boats of the RAF Far-East flight arrived inMelbourne on a circumnavigation and flag-waving mission. The RAF crews were warmly welcomed by the waterside crowds, and the flight was considered proof that flying boats had evolved to become reliable means of long distance transport.Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services , better known asQantas , had been registered inBrisbane during November 1920. With good levels of public support for the new faster public transport and agreements to carry domestic mail, the outback airline grew. By 1931, Qantas was trialling land plane flights connecting with Imperial Airways services. Mail was now reachingLondon in just 16 days - less than half the time taken by sea.Government tenders on both sides of the world invited applications to run new passenger and mail services between the ends of Empire, and Qantas and IAL were successful with a joint bid. A company under combined ownership was then formed, Qantas Empire Airways. The new ten day service between
Sydney 's Rose Bay andSouthampton was such a success with letter-writers that before long the volume of mail was exceeding aircraft storage space. A solution to the problem was found by the British Government, who in 1933 had requested aviation manufacturerShort Brothers to design a big new long-range monoplane for use by IAL. Partner Qantas agreed to the initiative and undertook to purchase six of the new Short S23 'C' class or 'Empire' flying boats.Delivering the mail as quickly as possible generated a lot of competition and some innovative solutions. A variant of the
Short Empire flying boats, Maia and Mercury, was a strange-looking solution where a four-enginedfloatplane Mercury was fixed on top of Maia, a heavily modifiedShort Empire flying boat. The idea was to use the larger Maia to get the smaller Mercury (the winged messenger) off the ground at weights that would have been impossible otherwise, so that it could carry sufficient fuel for the trip. Unfortunately this limited the usefulness, and after crossing to New York the Mercury had to be returned by ship. The Mercury was to set a number of distance records beforein-flight refuelling was adopted.Sir Alan Cobham devised a method of
in-flight refuelling in the 1930s, so that theShort Empire flying boats serving the transatlantic crossing could be refuelled overFoynes on theRiver Shannon inIreland allowing them to carry more fuel than they could take off with, so as to enable them to make the trans-Atlantic flight. AHandley Page H.P.54 Harrow was used as the fuel tankerThe German
Dornier Do-X flying boat was noticeably different to its UK and US built counterparts, using wing-like protusions from the fuselage to stabilise on the water. It was powered by 12 engines and carried 170 persons. >. It flew to America in 1929 crossing the Atlantic via an indirect route. It was the largest flying boat of its time but was severely underpowered and was limited by a very low operational ceiling. Only three were built with a variety of different engines installed, in an attempt to overcome the lack of power. Two of these were sold to Italy.World War II
The military value of flying boats was well recognized and every country bordering on water operated them in a military capacity at the outbreak of the war. They were utilized in various tasks from
anti-submarine patrol to maritime search and rescue and gunfire spotting for battleships. Aircraft such as thePBY Catalina ,Short Sunderland andGrumman Goose recovered downed airmen and operated as scout aircraft over the vast distances of the Pacific Theater and Battle of the Atlantic during World War II, as well as sinking numerous submarines, and finding enemy ships. TheGerman battleship Bismarck was found during a routine patrol by aPBY Catalina .The largest flying boat of the war was the
Blohm und Voss Bv 238 which was also the heaviest plane to fly during the Second World War.In November 1939, the structure of
Imperial Airways was changed to createBritish European Airways andBritish Overseas Airways Corporation with the change being made official in 1 April 1940. BOAC continued to operate flying boat services from the (slightly) safer confines ofPoole Harbour during wartime, returning toSouthampton in 1947.Post World War II
The
Hughes H-4 Hercules in development in the U.S. during the war was even larger than the Bv238, but it did not fly until 1947. The "Spruce Goose", as the H-4 was nicknamed, was the largest flying boat ever to fly. That short 1947 hop of the 'Flying Lumberyard' was to be its last however, a victim of post-war cutbacks and the disappearance of its intended mission as a transatlantic transport. [Its claim to true flying status is disputed as it made but one short flight in its life]Following the end of World War II, the use of flying boats rapidly declined, though the U.S. Navy continued to operate such aircraft (notably the
Martin P5M Marlin ) until the early 1970s, even attempting to build a jet-powered seaplane bomber, theMartin Seamaster . Several factors contributed to the decline. The ability to land on water became less of an advantage owing to the considerable increase in the number and length of land based runways, whose construction had been driven by the needs of the allied forces during the Second World War. Further, as the speed and range of land-based aircraft increased, the commercial competitiveness of flying boats diminished, as their design compromised aerodynamic efficiency and speed to accomplish the feat of waterborne takeoff and alighting. Competing with new civilian jet aircraft like thede Havilland Comet andBoeing 707 was impossible.BOAC continued to operate their flying boat services out of Southampton until November 1950.Bucking the trend, in 1948,
Aquila Airways was founded to serve destinations that were still inaccessible to land based aircraft. This company operatedShort S.25 and Short S.45 flying boats out of Southampton on routes toMadeira ,Las Palmas ,Lisbon ,Jersey ,Majorca ,Marseilles ,Capri ,Genoa ,Montreux andSanta Margherita . The airline ceased operations on 30th September 1958 .From 1950 to 1957,
Aquila Airways also operated a service fromSouthampton toEdinburgh andGlasgow .The flying boats of
Aquila Airways were also chartered for one-off trips, usually to deploy troops where scheduled services didn't exist or where there were political considerations. Three Aquila flying boats were used during theBerlin Airlift . The longest charter, in 1952, was from Southampton to theFalkland Islands . In 1953 the flying boats were chartered for troop deployment trips toFreetown andLagos and there was a special trip from Hull toHelsinki to relocate a ships crew.The technically advanced
Saunders-Roe Princess first flew in 1952 and later received acertificate of airworthiness . Despite being the pinnacle of flying boat development, none were sold, despiteAquila Airways reportedly attempting to buy them. Of the three Princess that were built, two never flew and all were scrapped in 1967Helicopter s ultimately took over the flying boat air-sea rescue role.The land-based
P-3 Orion and carrier-basedS-3 Viking became theUS Navy 's fixed-wing anti-submarine patrol aircraft.Qantas flew a flying boat service fromRose Bay NSW toLord Howe Island until1974 .Modern versions
The shape of the
Short Empire was a harbinger of the shape of later aircraft yet to come, and the type also contributed much to the designs of laterekranoplan s. However, true flying boats have largely been replaced byseaplane s with floats andamphibian aircraft with wheels. TheBeriev Be-200 twin-jet amphibious aircraft has been one of the closest 'living' descendants of the flying-boats of old, along with the larger amphibious planes used for fighting forest fires. There are also several experimental/kit amphibians such as theVolmer Sportsman , Glass Goose, the LSA SeaMax, Aeroprakt A-24, and the Seawind.The ShinMaywa US-2 (Japanese: 新明和 US-2) are large STOL aircraft designed for air-sea rescue (SAR) work.US-2 is operated by Japan Self Defense Force.
The
Canadair CL-215 and successorCanadair CL-415 are also examples of modern flying boats and are used for forest fire suppression.clree also
*
List of flying boats and seaplanes
*Seaplane
*Amphibious aircraft
*Floatplane
*Foynes
*Ekranoplan Notes and references
External links
* [http://www.seawings.co.uk/ The Flying Boat Web Site]
* [http://wio.ru/ww1a/fboat.htm Russian WWI and Civilian War Flying Boats]
* [http://www.flyingboatsonline.com/ Sunderland Flying Boats Windermere]
* [http://www.flyingclippers.com/ Flying Clippers Pan American's Fabulous Flying Ships]
* [http://www.flyingclippers.com/B314.html The Boeing B-314]
* [http://www.flying-contraptions.com/ Flying Contraptions]
* [http://www.msacomputer.com/FlyingBoats-old/ Flying Boats of the world - A Complete Reference]
* [http://www.flyingboatmuseum.com/ Foynes Flying Boat Museum]
* [http://www.martinmars.com/ Present Day Application of Flying Boats]
* [http://seamaxusa.com/ LSA seaplane SeaMax]
* [http://www.flug-revue.rotor.com/FRheft/FRH9906/FR9906d.htm The Dornier Do X]
* [http://www.centaurseaplane.com/centaur-introduction.htm Centaur Seaplane]
* [http://www.airliner.net/ Pan Am Clipper Airliners]
* [http://www.transatlanticflightpby.com/ TransAtlantic Re-enactment Flight]
* [http://www.filmaffaires.com.au/ Flying boat documentaries on DVD]
* [http://www.earlyaviators.com/eporte.htm Cyril Porte and Glenn H.Curtiss]
* [http://seamaxusa.com/seamax-usa.phtml SeaMax USA]
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