A sea plane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft. Seaplanes and amphibians are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteristics: floatplanes and flying boats; the latter are generally far larger and can carry far more. These aircraft were sometimes called hydroplanes.

The word “seaplane” is used to describe two types of air/water vehicles: the floatplane and the flying boat.

A floatplane has slender pontoons, or floats, mounted under the fuselage. Two floats are common, but other configurations are possible. Only the floats of a floatplane normally come into contact with water. The fuselage remains above water. Some small land aircraft can be modified to become float planes, and in general floatplanes are small aircraft. Floatplanes are limited by their inability to handle wave heights typically greater than 12 inches (0.31 m). These floats add to the empty weight of the airplane, and to the drag coefficient, resulting in reduced payload capacity, slower rate-of-climb, and slower cruise speed.

In a flying boat, the main source of buoyancy is the fuselage, which acts like a ship’s hull in the water. Most flying boats have small floats mounted on their wings to keep them stable. Not all small seaplanes have been floatplanes, but most large seaplanes have been flying boats, their great weight supported by their hulls.

The term “seaplane” is used by some instead of “floatplane”. This is the standard British usage, which treats both flying boats and floatplanes as types of seaplane, in the US fashion.

An amphibious aircraft can take off and land both on conventional runways and water. A true seaplane can only take off and land on water. There are amphibious flying boats and amphibious floatplanes, as well as some hybrid designs, e.g., floatplanes with retractable floats. Modern production seaplanes are typically light aircraft, amphibious, and of a floatplane design.

The first manned and controlled (though unpowered) seaplane flight was established by French aircraft designer, builder and pilot Gabriel Voisin in June 1905, on the river Seine (Paris); it was a towed flight, at 15 to 20 m altitude (50 to 66 ft), and 600 meters (2000 ft) long. The aircraft was a biplane configuration with an aft tail and a front elevator, supported at rest by 2 planing floats (catamaran).

The first autonomous flight by a seaplane was made by the French engineer Henri Fabre in March 1910. Its name was Le Canard (‘the duck’), and took off from the water and flew 1,650 feet on its first flight on March 28, 1910. These experiments were closely followed by the aircraft pioneers Gabriel and Charles Voisin, who purchased several of the Fabre floats and fitted them to their Canard Voisin airplane. In October 1910, the Canard Voisin became the first seaplane to fly over the river Seine, and in March 1912, the first seaplane to be used in military exercises from a seaplane carrier, La Foudre (‘the lightning’).

In the United States, early development was carried out at Hammondsport, New York by Glenn Curtiss who had beaten Alexander Graham Bell and others in the Aerial Experiment Association. The first American seaplane flight occurred on January 26, 1911 by Curtiss in his “hydroaeroplane” from the waters of San Diego Bay.

In June 1911, in co-operation with Edouard Perrot (Edouard Perrot & Cie), Emile Taddéoli started to design the seaplane “La Mouette” in Switzerland, and before, began tests with a Dufaux 4 biplane equipped with swimmers. On March 26, 1912, a first takeoff was not successful, and “La Mouette” was destroyed. In summer 1912, René Grandjean replaced the skis of his aircraft by floats designed and engineered by himself, resulting in the first takeoff of a Swiss hydroplane (seaplane) on August 4, 1912. The first British seaplane flight, by Sydney Sippe, also took place in 1912.

The first in history combat missions of a seaplane was probably those of a Greek “Astra Hydravion” between December 1912 and January 1913, during the Balkan Wars. In one of them, on January 24, 1913, the seaplane with two Greek pilots flew at 1200 meters over the Dardanelles from the European to the Asian coast, did a reconnaissance of the Turkish fleet, dropped 4 bombs and after 2 hours flight landed at sea near the island of Imbros. The plane was targeted by canons and rifles unsuccessfully.

Englishman John Cyril Porte joined with Curtiss to design a transatlantic flying boat, and developed a more practical hull for Curtiss’ airframe and engines with the distinctive ‘step’ which enabled the hull and floats to cleanly break free of the water’s surface at take-off. In the UK the Curtiss flying boat was developed into the Felixstowe series of flying boats, which were used in the First World War to patrol for German submarines. Curtiss N-9 seaplanes were used during World War I as primary trainers, and over 2,500 Navy pilots learned to fly in them. A handful of N-9s were used in the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane project to develop an “aerial torpedo” or flying bomb, an early RPV.

On March 27, 1919, the first transatlantic flight was completed by a U.S. Navy NC flying boat piloted by Albert Read, from Canada to Portugal via the Azores Islands.

The first flight over the south Atlantic was made by Portuguese naval pilots Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral in 1922, from Lisbon, Portugal to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They used a Fairey III-D MkII.

On May 12, 1930, Jean Mermoz made a flight across the South Atlantic Ocean from Dakar in French West Africa to Natal, Brazil, in a Latecoere 28 floatplane.

Because of the lack of runways and the perceived safety factor over water, many commercial airlines including Imperial Airways (fore-runner of BOAC), and Pan-American World Airways used large seaplanes to provide service for long distance service across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Aircraft specially built for these routes included some of the largest aircraft built between the wars.

The Naval Aircraft Factory further redesigned the Felixstowe F.5 for American production with numerous modifications made, including fitting 400 hp Liberty 12A engines. The American-built version was also known as the Curtiss F5L and (in civilian operation) as the Aeromarine 75.

The F5L was built by the US Naval Aircraft Factory (137), Curtiss (60) and Canadian Aeroplanes Limited (30). Some were converted for civilian use by the Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company in 1919.

The F5L entered USN service at the end of the war and was the US Navy’s standard patrol aircraft until 1928, when it was replaced by the PN-12. In civil service, named the Aeromarine 75, the Felixstowe F5L could accommodate 10 passengers and was operated by Aeromarine Airways on flights from Key West to Havana, carrying the first US Post Office international air mail on flights from New York City to Atlantic City, and from Cleveland to Detroit.

The Boeing 314 Clipper was a long-range flying boat produced by the Boeing Airplane Company between 1938 and 1941 and is comparable to the British Short S.26. One of the largest aircraft of the time, it used the massive wing of Boeing’s earlier XB-15 bomber prototype to achieve the range necessary for flights across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Twelve Clippers were built for Pan Am, three of which were sold to BOAC in 1941 before delivery.

The 314 was a response to Pan American’s request for a flying boat with unprecedented range capability that could augment the airline’s trans-Pacific Martin M-130. Boeing’s bid was successful and on July 21, 1936, Pan American signed a contract for six. Boeing engineers adapted the cancelled XB-15’s 149 feet (45 m) wing, and replaced the original 850 horsepower (630 kW) Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp radial engines with the more powerful 1,600 horsepower (1,200 kW) Wright Twin Cyclone. The first flight was carried out with a single, conventional tail before experiments with twin tail and triple tail configurations led to the choice of a triple tail to provide more rudder area for controllability. Pan Am ordered an additional six aircraft with increased engine power and a larger carrying capacity of 77 daytime passengers as the Boeing 314A. The first prototype of the series flew on March 20, 1941.

Internally, the 314 used a series of heavy ribs and spars to create a robust fuselage and cantilevered wing. This sturdy structure obviated the need for external drag-inducing struts to brace the wings, something other flying boats of the day could not boast. Boeing addressed the flying boats’ other drag-inducing issue, stabilizing pontoons, by incorporating Dornier-style sponsons into the hull structure. The sponsons, which were broad lateral extensions placed at the water line, on both the port and starboard sides of the hull, served several purposes: they provided a wide platform to stabilize the craft while floating on water, they acted as an entryway for passengers boarding the flying boat and they were shaped to contribute additional lift in flight. With weight an extremely sensitive concern, passengers and their baggage were weighed, with each passenger allowed up to 77 pounds (35 kg) free baggage allowance (in the later 314 series) but then charged $3.25 per lb ($7.15/kg) for exceeding the limit. To fly the long ranges needed for trans-Pacific service, the 314 carried 4,246 US gallons (16,070 l; 3,536 imp gal) of gasoline. The later 314A model carried a further 1,200 US gallons (4,500 l; 1,000 imp gal). To quench the radial engines’ thirst for oil, a capacity of 300 US gallons (1,100 l; 250 imp gal) was required.

Pan Am’s “Clippers” were built for “one-class” luxury air travel, a necessity given the long duration of transoceanic flights. The seats could be converted into 36 bunks for overnight accommodation; with a cruise speed of only 188 miles per hour (303 km/h) (typically flights at maximum gross weight were carried out at 155 miles per hour (249 km/h)), many flights lasted over 12 hours. The 314s had a lounge and dining area, and the galleys were crewed by chefs from four-star hotels. Men and women were provided with separate dressing rooms, and white-coated stewards served five and six-course meals with gleaming silver service. Although the transatlantic flights were only operated for three months in 1939, their standard of luxury has not been matched by heavier-than-air transport since then; they were a form of travel for the super-rich, at $675 return from New York to Southampton, comparable to a round trip aboard Concorde in 2006. Most of the flights were transpacific with a one-way ticket from San Francisco to Hong Kong, via the “stepping-stone” islands posted at $760 (or $1,368 round-trip).

Equally critical to the 314’s success was the proficiency of its Pan Am flight crews, who were extremely skilled at long-distance, over-water flight operations and navigation. For training, many of the transpacific flights carried a second crew. Only the very best and most experienced flight crews were assigned Boeing 314 flying boat duty. Before coming aboard, all Pan Am captains as well as first and second officers had thousands of hours of flight time in other seaplanes and flying boats. Rigorous training in dead reckoning, timed turns, judging drift from sea current, astral navigation, and radio navigation were conducted. In conditions of poor or no visibility, pilots sometimes made successful landings at fogged-in harbors by landing out to sea, then taxiing the Clipper into port.

The first 314, Honolulu Clipper, entered regular service on the San Francisco-Hong Kong route in January 1939. A one-way trip on this route took over six days to complete. Commercial passenger service lasted less than three years, ending when the United States entered World War II in December 1941.

At the outbreak of the war in the Pacific, the Pacific Clipper was enroute to New Zealand. Rather than risk flying back to Honolulu and being shot down by Japanese fighters, it was decided to fly west to New York. Starting on December 8, 1941 at Auckland, New Zealand, the Pacific Clipper covered over 8,500 miles (13,700 km) via such exotic locales as Surabaya, Karachi, Bahrain, Khartoum and Leopoldville. The Pacific Clipper landed at Pan American’s LaGuardia Field seaplane base at 7:12 on the morning of January 6, 1942.

The Yankee Clipper flew across the Atlantic on a route from Southampton to New York with intermediate stops at Foynes, Ireland, Botwood, Newfoundland, and Shediac, New Brunswick. The inaugural trip occurred on June 24, 1939.

The Clipper fleet was pressed into military service during World War II, and the flying boats were used for ferrying personnel and equipment to the European and Pacific fronts. In actual fact, only the markings on the aircraft changed: the Clippers continued to be flown by their experienced Pan Am civilian crews. American military cargo was carried via Natal, Brazil to Liberia, to supply the British forces at Cairo and even the Russians, via Teheran. The Model 314 was then the only aircraft in the world that could make the 2,150-statute mile (3,460 km) crossing over water and were given the military designation C-98. Since the Pan Am pilots and crews had extensive expertise in using flying boats for extreme long-distance, over-water flights, the company’s pilots and navigators continued to serve as flight crew. In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt traveled to the Casablanca Conference in a Pan-Am crewed Boeing 314. Winston Churchill also flew on them several times adding to the Clippers’ fame during the war.

After the war, several Clippers were returned to Pan American hands. However, even before hostilities had ended, the Clipper had become obsolete. The introduction of long-range airliners such as the Lockheed Constellation and Douglas DC-4, together with a prodigious wartime runway construction program, made the flying boat all but obsolete. The new landplanes were relatively easy to fly, and did not require the extensive pilot training programs required for seaplane operations. One of the 314’s most experienced pilots said, “We were indeed glad to change to DC-4s and I argued daily for eliminating all flying boats. The landplanes were much safer. No one in the operations department… had any idea of the hazards of flying boat operations. The main problem now was lack of the very high level of experience and competence required of seaplane pilots”.

The Consolidated Commodore was a flying boat built by Consolidated Aircraft and used for passenger travel in the 1930s, mostly in the Caribbean operated by companies like Pan American Airlines. A pioneer of long haul passenger aircraft industry, the Commodore “Clipper” grew out of a Navy design competition in the 1920s to create an aircraft capable of nonstop flights between the mainland of the United States and Panama, Alaska, and the Hawaiian Islands. In response to these requirements, Consolidated produced the prototype XPY-1 Admiral designed by Isaac M. Laddon in January 1929 but lost the contract to the Martin aircraft company. The aircraft represented a marked change from earlier patrol boat designs such as the Curtiss NC.

In response to losing the Navy contract, Consolidated offered a passenger-carrying version of the XPY-1, which became known as the Commodore. The monoplane all-metal hull could accommodate 32 passengers and a crew of 3. The full complement of passengers, located in three cabins, could only be carried on relatively short-route segments. For a 1000-mile flight, the boat probably could accommodate no more than 14 people including the crew. Wing and tail construction consisted of metal-frame structure covered with fabric except for metal-covered leading edges.

With a first flight in 1931, a total of 14 Commodore boats were built. They were used in airline service from the United States to South America where routes extended as far south as Buenos Aires, a distance of 9000 miles from Miami. They were out of service by 1935, having been superseded by more efficient aircraft such as the Sikorsky S-42, Boeing 314, and Martin 156, (the China Clipper). The Commodore may be considered as a first step in the United States along a road that was to lead to the highly efficient monoplane-type patrol and transport flying boats later in the 1930s. The XPY-1 and its civil counterpart. the Commodore, may be considered as progenitors in a series of flying-boat developments that led to the famous Consolidated PBY Catalina of World War II fame.

The Dornier Do J (later designated Do 16 by the Reich Air Ministry) was better known as the Wal (“whale”).

The Do J was a fairly modern (compared to World War I types) flying boat with a high-mounted strut-braced monoplane wing. Two piston engines were mounted in tandem in a nacelle above the wing and in line with the hull; one engine drove a tractor propeller and the other drove a pusher propeller. The Do J made its maiden flight on 6 November 1922. The flight, as well as most of the production until 1932, took place in Italy because a lot of aviation activity in Germany was prohibited after World War I under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Dornier started producing Whales in Germany in 1931, with the production lasting to 1936.

In the military version (Militärwal in German), a crew of two to four rode in an open cockpit near the nose of the hull. There were one MG-position in the bow in front of the cockpit and one to two amidships. Beginning with Spain, military versions were delivered to Argentina, Chile, the Netherlands for use in their colonies, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union and to the end of the production Italy and Germany. The main military users, Spain and the Netherlands, manufactured their own versions under licence. Several countries, notably Italy, Norway, Portugal, Urugay, Great Britain and Germany, used the Wal for military raids.

The civil version (Kabinenwal or Verkehrswal) had a cabin in the nose, offering space for up to 12 passengers, while the open cockpit was moved further aft. Main users of this version were Germany, Italy, Brazil, Colombia.

The Do J was first powered by two 265 kW (355 hp) Rolls-Royce Eagle IX engines. Later versions used nearly every available engine on the market from makers like Hispano-Suiza, Napier Lion, Lorraine-Dietrich, BMW, and even the Liberty Engine. The 10 to-Whales used by Lufthansa for their mail service across the South Atlantic fom 1934 to 1938 had a range of 3,600 km (2,240 mi), and a ceiling of 3,500 m (11,480 ft).

Over 250 Wals were built by CMASA and Piaggio in Italy, CASA in Spain, Kawasaki in Japan, Aviolanda in the Netherlands, and Dornier in Germany.

Numerous airlines operated Dornier Wals on scheduled passenger and mail services with great success. The source Gandt, 1991 (pages 47-48) lists the following carriers: SANA and Aero Espresso of Italy; Aero Lloyd and Deutsche Luft Hansa of Germany; SCADTA of Columbia; Syndicato Condor of Brazil; Nihon Koku Yuso Kaisha of Japan. According to Nicolaou,1996 the Dornier Wal was “easily the greatest commercial success in the history of marine aviation”.

The Colombian Air Force used Dornier Wals in the Colombia-Peru War in 1932-1933.

The Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen

The Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen accompanied by Lincoln Ellsworth, pilot Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, and three other team members used two Dornier seaplanes in his unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole in 1925. His two aircraft, N-24 and N-25, landed at 87° 44′ north. It was the northernmost latitude reached by any aircraft up to that time. The planes landed a few miles apart without radio contact, yet the crews managed to reunite. One of the aircraft, the N-24 was damaged. Amundsen and his crew worked for over three weeks to prepare an airstrip to take off from ice. They shoveled 600 tons of ice while consuming only one pound (454 g) of daily food rations. In the end, six crew members were packed into the N-25. Riiser-Larsen took off, and they barely became airborne over the cracking ice. They returned triumphant when everyone thought they had been lost forever.

On 18 August 1930, Wolfgang von Gronau started on a transatlantic flight in the same Dornier Wal (D-1422) Amundsen had flown, establishing the northern air route over the Atlantic flying Sylt(Germany)-Iceland-Greenland-Labrador-New York (4670 miles) in 47 flight hours. In 1932 Wolfgang von Gronau flew a Dornier Wal (D-2053) called the “Grönland Wal” (Greenland Whale) on a round-the-world flight.

In 1926 Ramón Franco became a national Spanish hero when he piloted the Dornier Plus Ultra on a trans-Atlantic flight. His co-pilot was Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz; the other crew members were Teniente de Navio (Navy Lieutenant) Juan Manuel Duran and the mechanic Pablo Rada. The Plus Ultra departed from Palos de la Frontera, in Huelva, Spain on 22 January and arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 26 January. It stopped over at Gran Canaria, Cape Verde, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo. The 10,270 km journey was completed in 59 hours and 39 minutes.

The event appeared in most of the major newspapers world wide, though some of them underlining the fact that the airplane itself plus the technical expertise were foreign. Throughout the Spanish-speaking world the Spanish aviators were glamorously acclaimed, particularly in Argentina and Spain where thousands gathered at Plaza de Colón in Madrid. (Wikimedia Commons has media related to Plus Ultra – see below.)

In 1929 Franco attempted another trans-Atlantic flight, this time crashing the airplane to the sea near the Azores. The crew was rescued days later by the aircraft carrier Eagle of the British Royal Navy.

The Portuguese military aviator Sarmento de Beires and his crew made the first night aerial crossing of the South Atlantic in a Dornier J named Argos. The crossing was made on the night of 17 March 1927 from Portuguese Guinea to Brazil.

Two Dornier Wals (D-ALOX Passat and D-AKER Boreas) also played an important role in the Third German Antarctic Expedition of 1939.

The biggest and last versions of the Wal, the 8-tonne Wal and 10-tonne Wal (both versions also known as Katapultwal), were operated by Deutsche Lufthansa on their South Atlantic Airmail service from Stuttgart, Germany to Natal, Brazil. On route proving flights in 1933, and scheduled service beginning in February 1934, Wals flew the trans-ocean sector of the route, between Bathurst, The Gambia in West Africa and Fernando de Noronha an island group off South America. Launched by catapult from converted merchant ships. The Wals had to be catapulted due to the sea states in the mid-Atlantic and because they could not take off from the water under their own power with enough fuel to fly the distance. The first merchant converted as a mid-Atlantic refueling stop was the Westfalen a passenger liner which became out dated shortly after World War I to carry mail and passengers due to its small size and cruising speed. Wals made over 300 crossings of the South Atlantic in regular mail service.(Gandt, 1991, pages 47–48) The 8-tonne Wal was not a success, only two being built. The six 10-tonne Wals remained in use on the South Atlantic until 1938, although aircraft of more recent design began replacing them from 1937.

From 1925 the French airline Compagnie Générale Aéropostale operated an airmail service on much the same route, from France to Brazil. Originally the mail was flown only as far as Dakar in West Africa, and then shipped across the South Atlantic by steamer. In 1930 the Aéropostale began making ocean crossings by air, but was not able to fly regularly because their planes were too unreliable. Air France, which Aéropostale had become a part of, only began operating a regular all air service from Europe to South America in December 1935, nearly two years after Lufthansa (if we can trust the information on the Transatlantic flight page). That Lufthansa succeeded, where Aéropostale failed, in establishing the worlds first regular intercontinental airline service, was due in no small part to the Wals reliability, ruggedness and seaworthyness.

The Grumman HU-16 Albatross is a large twin-radial engine amphibious flying boat. Originally designated SA-16, it was renamed HU-16 in 1962.

An improvement of the design of the Grumman Mallard, the Albatross was developed to land in open ocean situations to rescue downed pilots. Its deep-V cross-section and substantial length enable it to land in the open sea. The Albatross was designed for optimal 4 ft seas, and could land in more severe conditions, but required JATO for takeoff in 8-10 ft seas or greater.

Since the aircraft weighs over 12,500 pounds, pilots of US-registered Albatross aircraft must have a type rating. There is a yearly Albatross fly-in at Boulder City, Nevada where Albatross pilots can become type rated.

The majority of Albatrosses were used by the U.S. Air Force, primarily by the Air Rescue Service, and initially designated as SA-16. The USAF utilized the SA-16 extensively in Korea for combat rescue, where it gained a reputation as a rugged and seaworthy craft. Later, the redesignated HU-16B (long-wing variant) Albatross was used by the U.S. Air Force’s Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service and saw extensive combat service during the Vietnam War. In addition a small number of Air National Guard Air Commando Groups were equipped with HU-16s for covert infiltration and extraction of special forces from 1956 to 1971.

The U.S. Navy also employed the HU-16C/D Albatross as a Search and rescue (SAR) aircraft from coastal naval air stations, both stateside and overseas. It was also employed as an operational support aircraft worldwide and for “skunk runs” from the former NAS Agana, Guam during the Vietnam War. Goodwill flights were also common to the surrounding Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in the early 1970s. Open water landings and water takeoff training using JATO was also conducted frequently by U.S. Navy HU-16s from locations such as NAS Agana, Guam; Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii; and NAS Pensacola, Florida, among other locations.

The HU-16 was also operated by the U.S. Coast Guard as both a coastal and long-range open ocean SAR aircraft for many years until it was supplanted by the HU-25 Guardian and HC-130 Hercules.

The final USAF HU-16 flight was the delivery of Serial 51-5282 to the National Museum of the USAF at Wright Patterson AFB, OH in July, 1973 after setting an altitude record of 32,883 ft earlier in the month. The final Navy HU-16 flight was made 13 August 1976 when an Albatross was delivered to the Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola. The final USCG flight of the Albatross was at USCG Cape Cod in March, 1983, when the aircraft type was retired by the USCG. The Albatross continued to be used in the military service of other countries, the last being retired by the Hellenic Navy (Greece) in 1995.

In the mid-1960s the U.S. Department of the Interior bailed 3 military Grumman HU-16’s from the U.S. Navy and established the Trust Territory Airlines in the Pacific to serve the islands of Micronesia. Pan American World Airways and finally Continental Airlines’ Air Micronesia operated the Albatrosses serving Yap, Palau, Chuuk (Truk) and Pohnpei from Guam until 1970, when adequate island runways were built, allowing land operations.

In 1970, Conroy Aircraft marketed a remanufactured HU-16A with Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop engines as the Conroy Turbo Albatross, but only one prototype (registration N16CA) was ever built.

Many surplus Albatrosses were sold to civilian operators, mostly to private owners. These aircraft are operated under either Experimental – Exhibition or Restricted category and cannot be used for commercial operations, except under very limited conditions.

In the early 1980s Chalk’s International Airlines owned by Merv Griffin’s Resorts International had 13 Albatrosses converted to Standard category as G-111s. This made them eligible to be used in scheduled airline operations. These aircraft had extensive modification from the standard military configuration, including rebuilt wings with titanium wing spar caps, additional doors and modifications to existing doors and hatches, stainless steel engine oil tanks, dual engine fire extinguishing systems on each engine and propeller auto feather systems installed. The G-111s were only operated for a few years and then put in storage in Arizona. Most are still parked there, but some have been returned to regular flight operations with private operators.

The Latécoère 631 was a civil transatlantic flying boat built by Latécoère, the largest ever built up to its time. The last Latécoère 631 was withdrawn from service in 1955 after the losses of aircraft no.7 (owned by Latécoère, lost at sea), 6 (Air France, lost in the Atlantic), 3 (SEMAF, off Cap Ferret) and 8 (France-Hydro, in Cameroon).

The Martin M-130 was a commercial flying boat designed and built in 1935 by the Glenn L. Martin Company in Baltimore, Maryland, for Pan American Airways. Only three M-130s were built: the China Clipper, the Philippine Clipper and the Hawaii Clipper. A fourth flying boat (designated as M-156) called the Russian Clipper was built for the Soviet Union which was essentially identical to the three Pan Am models except that it had a larger wing (giving it a longer range) and twin vertical stabilizers.

Martin designated them as the Martin Ocean Transports, but to the public they were all referred to as the China Clipper, a name which evolved into a generic term for Pan Am’s entire fleet of large flying boats – the Martin M-130, Sikorsky S-42, and Boeing 314.

Designed to meet Pan American Airways President Juan Trippe’s desire for a trans-Pacific aircraft, the M-130 was an all-metal flying boat which employed streamlined aerodynamics and powerful engines, selling at US$417,000 a copy, to achieve Pan Am’s specifications for range and payload. The M-130’s first flight was on December 30, 1934. On November 22, 1935, the China Clipper, piloted by Captain Edwin C. Musick and First Officer R.O.D. Sullivan flew the first trans-Pacific airmail route. As illustrated on this page, a postage stamp, Scott Catalog C-20, was printed for use on the transpacific service. With extended service two more denominations were later issued. All three have the same design showing the M-130 in flight.

The Philippine Clipper inaugurated passenger service between the United States and Hong Kong on October 14, 1936. while later the same month, the Hawaii Clipper inaugurated scheduled trans-Pacific passenger service between California and the Philippines. The flight departed the United States on October 21, 1936, and the round trip to and from Manila required two weeks to complete. In July 1938, the Hawaii Clipper disappeared over the Pacific on a flight between Guam and Manila with the loss of nine crew and six passengers. No cause for the loss was determined.

Their range and capacity made them prime candidates to fulfill the over ocean hauling needs of the military during World War II. Beginning in 1942, the two remaining planes were pressed into transport roles for the United States Navy. The Philippine Clipper which survived the Japanese attack on Wake Island following Pearl Harbor crashed in January 1943 when it hit the side of a mountain as it descended to land in San Francisco. It was in this accident COMSUBPAC Admiral Robert H. English was killed, along with 18 others. The final M-130, the China Clipper, was wrecked at Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago during landing on January 8, 1945.

The Sikorsky VS-44 was a large four-engined flying boat built in the USA in the early 1940s. The VS-44 was designed primarily for the trans-Atlantic passenger market, with a capacity of 40+ passengers. Only three aircraft were produced: Excalibur, Excambian, and Exeter.

In the early 1930s, the primary mode of long distance air travel over oceans was the flying boat design, due to the ease of constructing docking facilities on shore without having to construct runways and the very real possibility of equipment malfunctions forcing a sea landing. Among the top flying boat designers was Russian immigrant Igor Sikorsky who had founded Sikorsky Aero Engineering Company when he came to the US in 1919. In 1930, his company became a subsidiary of United Aircraft.

In March 1935, the United States Navy was making plans for a new patrol bomber that would have increased performance and weapon load capability from their newly procured Consolidated YP3Y-1. Prototypes were ordered from Sikorsky in June 1935 and Consolidated Aircraft in July 1936. Sikorsky’s entry, the XPBS-1 (BuNo. 9995), made its first flight on 9 September 1937, the Consolidated XPB2Y-1 on 17 December of the same year.

The XPBS-1 was evaluated by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1938, but the Navy contract ultimately went to Consolidated. The XPBS-1 remained in naval service, temporarily operated by Patrol Wing Five at Norfolk, Virginia in 1939, then by Patrol Wing Two at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, until it was finally assigned to transport squadron VR-2 at Naval Air Station Alameda, in 1940. On 30 June 1942, the XPBS-1 hit a submerged log upon landing at NAS Alameda. Among its passengers was CINCPAC Admiral Chester W. Nimitz who suffered minor injuries, while one member of the flight crew, Lt. Thomas M. Roscoe, died. The XPBS-1 sank and was lost.

By 1940 Sikorsky had merged with Chance Vought under the umbrella of United Aircraft and hoped to regain the Pan Am Clipper routes once serviced by their S-42 with the new Vought-Sikorsky VS-44, based on the XPBS-1.

A single deck seaplane with four twin-row Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasps rated at 1,200 horsepower (895 kW) each, the new aircraft was 80 feet (24 m) in length and weighed in at 57,500 pounds (26,100 kg) for takeoff. The Boeing 314 Clipper was larger and boasted more powerful Wright Twin Cyclones of 1,600 horsepower (1,193 kW), but the VS-44 was 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) faster and could fly an average payload more than 4,000 miles (6,400 km), out distancing the big Boeing by 500 miles (800 km) and earning bragging rights with the longest full-payload range of any aircraft in the world. The VS-44 brought home several new world records after it went into operation, but, missing out on a Pan Am contract, who instead purchased the Martin M-130 and later the Boeing 314 Clipper. The VS-44’s limited production would never even recoup the development costs.

American Export Airlines (AEA) ordered three VS-44s, dubbed ‘Flying Aces’ and named Excalibur (NX41880; later as NC41880), Excambian (no NX; later as NC41881), and Exeter (no NX; later as NC41882) after the parent company’s Four Aces passenger liners. AEA had grown out of the American Export Lines steamship line, so naturally these planes gave nothing away to cruise ships. Sikorsky’s standard of luxury boasted full-length beds, dressing rooms, full galley, snack bar, lounge and fully controlled ventilation.

The outbreak of World War II put civilian transatlantic air services on hold. Now under a Navy contract, with the Navy designation JR2S-1, AEA’s three VS-44’s continued flying between New York, New York and Foynes, Ireland, carrying passengers, freight and materiel. The first VS-44, Excalibur, crashed on takeoff in 1942 at Botwood, Newfoundland, killing 11 of the 37 aboard.

After the war, the two remaining VS-44s continued to fly for AEA, now renamed American Overseas Airlines (AOA) and operated by American Airlines.

In 1946, Exeter was sold to TACI of Montevideo, Uruguay, as CX-AIR. It crashed on August 15, 1947 while landing in River Plate off Montevideo when (allegedly) returning from a smuggling flight to Paraguayan rebels. 4 out of the 5 crew were killed, but both passengers survived.

In 1949, AOA sold Excambian to Tampico Airlines. A short-lived effort to restore the only remaining VS-44 to run freight in the Amazon was unsuccessful, leaving the flying boat boat stranded in Ancon Harbor, Peru.

By the late 1950s, two Southern California businessmen had heard of the Excambian’s plight and had her ferried to Long Beach, where restoration work began. Dick Probert and Walter von Kleinsmid of Avalon Air Transport, (AAT) thought the big VS-44 would be perfect for the Catalina tourist trade. AAT named her Mother Goose, to complement the line’s Grumman Goose amphibians, and plans were made to utilize her to meet summer travel demands. In the winter, N41881 would undergo maintenance.

Excambian carried thousands of passengers for AAT until 1967 when it was sold to Charles Blair of Antilles Air Boats. Blair, husband of actress Maureen O’Hara, acquired Excambian to ferry passengers among the Virgin Islands. On January 3, 1969 she was extensively damaged by rocks while taxiing at Charlotte Amalie, US Virgin Islands. Assessed as being damaged beyond economic repair, it was beached in March 1972 and converted into a hot dog stand.

The Short S.17 Kent was a British 4-engined 15-seat biplane luxury flying-boat airliner, designed and built by Shorts to meet a requirement from Imperial Airways Limited for an aircraft with greater range than the Calcutta. The new aircraft was to have sufficient range to fly the stage from Mirabella, Crete, to Alexandria in Egypt without the need for refuelling stops in Italian colonial territory, there having been a political row which had led the Italian Government to ban British aircraft from its ports.

Three aircraft were built, each receiving its own name: “Scipio”, “Sylvanus” and “Satyrus”; they were referred to collectively within Imperial Airlines as the “Scipio Class” boats. Each had an aircrew of three (two pilots and a radio operator/navigator) and a steward to prepare meals and light refreshments for the passengers.

The Short Kent Flying boat was essentially an enlarged, four-engined version of the Calcutta, with the same passenger carrying capacity but with an increased payload for mail. It was powered by four Bristol Jupiter XFBM radial engines mounted on vertical struts between the upper and lower planes.

The wings were constructed using corrugated duralumin box spars, tubular rib assemblies, with a fabric covering and Frise ailerons on all four wings. Duralumin walkways were provided to allow ready access to the engines for maintenance purposes. The tail unit comprised a braced monoplane tailpane with a single fin; the rudder was fitted with a Flettner trimming aerofoil on the Short Scylla which had the same aerostructure as the Kent.

The anodised duralumin fuselage was mounted below the lower wing, with the planing bottom of the hull made of stainless steel (as on the Singapore II) with a transverse main step. The use of stainless steel reduced the frequency of land inspections of the hull. The bimetallic corrosion problems experienced on the Singapore II hull had been solved, so Short Brothers became the first company to master the technique of building seaplane floats and flying-boat hulls in this combination of metals.

A quick-release hook (controlled by the pilots) was provided, which enabled the captain to start, warm up and (when required) run all four engines up to full power for take-off while the aircraft was still attached to the mooring buoy.

Maximum comfort was required for passengers and crew: the Kent’s passenger cabin was 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) wide and 14 ft (4.27 m) long. The seating was arranged in four rows of facing pairs, with a centre aisle, Pullman style. The steward’s pantry, situated on the port side aft of the passenger cabin, was equipped with twin-burner oil stoves on which IAL Stewards (and the valets of valued passengers) could cook meals in flight. The toilet and washroom were opposite the pantry; the mail and freight compartment was further aft.

Special attention was paid to sound levels in the passenger cabin and crew’s stations; accordingly the engines were fitted with exhaust collector rings and long tail pipes, to reduce exhaust noise inside the hull.

The cockpit, for two pilots, was fully enclosed with a separate Radio Officer’s station directly aft of the cockpit.

In October 1930, Short Bros. started building the first of the three S.17 Kent flying-boats (G-ABFA, named Scipio). It was launched and flown on 24 February 1931 by Shorts’ Chief Test Pilot J. Lankester Parker and was in service in the Mediterranean in May of that year. The second (G-ABFB, named Sylvanus) was launched on 31 March 1931; the third Kent (G-ABFC, Satyrus) was launched on 30 April 1931 and flown for the first time on 2 May 1931.

Imperial Airways used the Kent aircraft on the Mediterranean stages of its routes to India and beyond, also using them to survey planned routes to South Africa and Australia.

On 22 August 1936 “Scipio”, on its way back from India, flipped over and sank in “Mirabella Harbour” (between the mainland and the island of Spinalonga) after landing heavily, killing the two crew members. “Sylvanus” was destroyed by fire at Brindisi on 9 November 1935, killing all on board. Only “Satyrus” survived to be taken out of service and scrapped in June 1938.

In 1933 Imperial Airways placed an order for two landplanes based on the Kent; known initially as the S.17/L and later as the L.17, these became the Short Scylla, of which two were built and given the names “Scylla” and “Syrinx”.

The Short Empire was a passenger and mail carrying flying boat, of the 1930s and 1940s, that flew between Britain and British colonies in Africa, Asia and Australia. It was manufactured by Short Brothers and was the precursor to the more famous Short Sunderland of World War II.

The origins of the Empire boats lay in an Air Ministry requirement for passenger and mail carriers that could service the colonies particularly to make the connection to Australia.

The Empire was officially known as the C-class and each aircraft was christened with a name beginning with C. The first aircraft, G-ADHL Canopus, was completed in June 1936 and launched on 3 July. A total of 42 Empires were built, all at Short’s Rochester factory.

Imperial Airways (and its successor BOAC), Qantas and TEAL operated the Short Empire.

The first series of the Short Empires, the S.23, could carry 5 crew, 17 passengers, and 4,480 lb (2,035 kg) of cargo at a maximum speed of 174 knots (320 km/h).

The Short Empire was designed to operate along the Imperial Airways routes to South Africa and Australia, where no leg was much over 500 miles. After the design was finalized and production was started it was realized, with some pressure from the US, that it would be desirable to offer a similar service across the Atlantic. The range of the S.23 was less than that of the equivalent US Sikorsky “Clipper” flying boats and as such they could not provide a true trans-Atlantic service. Two boats (Caledonia and Cambria) were lightened and given long range tanks and experimented with in-flight refuelling so they could make the trip but that meant they could carry fewer passengers and cargo. In an attempt to manage the Altantic crossing a piggy-back approach was tried. Using a similar, the S.21, design as the main carrier and a smaller four-engined floatplane design, the Short S.20, mounted on its back. Only a single example was built of a carrier aircraft, the S.21 (known as Maia) and one S.20 (Mercury) together known as the Short Mayo Composite. A successful mid-air launch of Mercury was made in 1938, and it was to set a number of long distance records however a launch aircraft was required for both sides of the Atlantic and it was limited to carrying mail, and no further development of this concept occurred in the UK.

The S.30 series were fitted with the slightly more efficient, but lower powered 815 hp Bristol Perseus sleeve valve engines and had a strengthened airframe allowing the take off weight to be increased to 46,000 pounds and giving a range of 1,500 miles. Cabot, Caribou, Clyde and Connemara were fitted with in-flight refuelling equipment and extra fuel tanks so they could be used for a regular trans-atlantic airmail service. The idea behind this was for the aircraft to take off and once airborne take on extra fuel to an all up weight of 53,000 pounds giving a range of over 2,500 miles. The extra fuel did reduce the payload to 4,270 pounds against the 6,250 pounds of the standard craft. The refuelling was by three converted Handley Page Harrow bombers, one operating out of Ireland and two out of Newfoundland. The S.33 was a further follow-on to the S.30 with a later version of the Pegasus to what had been fitted to the S.23

While originally deemed unable to takeoff with sufficient fuel, wartime experiences at operating in overload resulted in the realization that the Empires could be flown at considerably higher weights than the very conservative estimates provided by Shorts and by late in the war were flying across the Atlantic without resorting to in-flight refuelling, and while still carrying a reasonable cargo.

In addition to the C class flying boats there were also three S.26 type built; these were known as the “G class” and had names starting with “G”: Golden Hind, Golden Fleece and Golden Horn. They were considerably larger than the C class and benefited from improvements to hull design made after the finalization of the S.23 design but aside from a general resemblance were an entirely new design which had been intended for provide a regular trans-Atlantic service. They had a wing span of 134 ft (40.9 m) and a length of 101 ft. (30.9 m).

In 1937 Caledonia was flown experimentally from Foynes on the River Shannon west to Newfoundland while an American Sikorsky S-42 flew the opposite direction. Caledonia took just over 15 hours (including a period looking for landing spot) flying at an altitude of 1,500 to 5,000 ft (460 to 1,500 m) to cover 1,993 miles (3,207 km) – an average speed of about 130 mph (0.058 km). The Sikorsky took about half an hour less on flying at 10,000 ft (3,000 m).

During the Second World War the UK-Australia route was stopped and a new route was established which ran from Sydney to Durban via Cairo. This was stopped after the loss of Singapore but restarted when the Japanese were ousted from Burma and Malaya.

References

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Petrescu, FIT.; Calautit, JK.; 2016 About Nano Fusion and Dynamic Fusion, American Journal of Applied Sciences, 13(3):261-266.

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Petrescu, F.I.T., A. Apicella, R.V.V. Petrescu, S.P. Kozaitis and R.B. Bucinell et al., 2016b. Environmental protection through nuclear energy. Am. J. Applied Sci., 13: 941-946.

Petrescu, Relly Victoria; Aversa, Raffaella; Akash, Bilal; Bucinell, Ronald; Corchado, Juan; Berto, Filippo; Mirsayar, MirMilad; Apicella, Antonio; Petrescu, Florian Ion Tiberiu; 2017a Modern Propulsions for Aerospace-A Review, Journal of Aircraft and Spacecraft Technology, 1(1).

Petrescu, Relly Victoria; Aversa, Raffaella; Akash, Bilal; Bucinell, Ronald; Corchado, Juan; Berto, Filippo; Mirsayar, MirMilad; Apicella, Antonio; Petrescu, Florian Ion Tiberiu; 2017b Modern Propulsions for Aerospace-Part II, Journal of Aircraft and Spacecraft Technology, 1(1).

Petrescu, Relly Victoria; Aversa, Raffaella; Akash, Bilal; Bucinell, Ronald; Corchado, Juan; Berto, Filippo; Mirsayar, MirMilad; Apicella, Antonio; Petrescu, Florian Ion Tiberiu; 2017c History of Aviation-A Short Review, Journal of Aircraft and Spacecraft Technology, 1(1).

Petrescu, Relly Victoria; Aversa, Raffaella; Akash, Bilal; Bucinell, Ronald; Corchado, Juan; Berto, Filippo; Mirsayar, MirMilad; Apicella, Antonio; Petrescu, Florian Ion Tiberiu; 2017d Lockheed Martin-A Short Review, Journal of Aircraft and Spacecraft Technology, 1(1).

Petrescu, Relly Victoria; Aversa, Raffaella; Akash, Bilal; Corchado, Juan; Berto, Filippo; Mirsayar, MirMilad; Apicella, Antonio; Petrescu, Florian Ion Tiberiu; 2017e Our Universe, Journal of Aircraft and Spacecraft Technology, 1(1).

Petrescu, Relly Victoria; Aversa, Raffaella; Akash, Bilal; Corchado, Juan; Berto, Filippo; Mirsayar, MirMilad; Apicella, Antonio; Petrescu, Florian Ion Tiberiu; 2017f What is a UFO?, Journal of Aircraft and Spacecraft Technology, 1(1).

Petrescu, RV., Aversa, R., Akash, B., Corchado, J., Berto, F., Mirsayar, MM., Apicella, A., Petrescu, FIT., 2017 About Bell Helicopter FCX-001 Concept Aircraft-A Short Review, Journal of Aircraft and Spacecraft Technology, 1(1).

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Petrescu, RV., Aversa, R., Akash, B., Corchado, J., Berto, F., Mirsayar, MM., Kozaitis, S., Abu-Lebdeh, T., Apicella, A., Petrescu, FIT., 2017 Airlander, Journal of Aircraft and Spacecraft Technology, 1(1).

Petrescu, RV., Aversa, R., Akash, B., Corchado, J., Berto, F., Apicella, A., Petrescu, FIT., 2017 When Boeing is Dreaming – a Review, Journal of Aircraft and Spacecraft Technology, 1(1).