Flying boat
Though a flying boat’s fuselage provides buoyancy, it may also utilize under-wing floats or wing-like hull projections (called sponsons) for additional stability.
Ascending into common use during the First World War, flying boats rapidly grew in both scale and capability during the interwar period, during which time numerous operators found commercial success with the type.
In the 21st century, flying boats maintain a few niche uses, such as dropping water on forest fires, air transport around archipelagos, and access to undeveloped areas.
Austrian Wilhelm Kress is credited by some with attempting to build the first successful seaplane Drachenflieger, a floatplane, in 1898, although its two 30 hp Daimler engines were inadequate for take-off and it later sank when one of its two floats collapsed.
The latter's first attempts to fly attracted large crowds, though the aircraft failed to take off and required a re-design of the floats incorporating features of Borwick's successful speed-boat hulls.
Wakefield's pilot however, taking advantage of a light northerly wind, successfully took off and flew at a height of 50 feet to Ferry Nab, where he made a wide turn and returned for a perfect landing on the lake's surface.
Recognising that many of the early accidents were attributable to a poor understanding of handling while in contact with the water, the pair's efforts went into developing practical hull designs to make the transatlantic crossing possible.
In the U.S. Wanamaker's commission built on Glen Curtiss' previous development and experience with the Model F[6] for the U.S. Navy which rapidly resulted in the America, designed under Porte's supervision following his study and rearrangement of the flight plan; the aircraft was a conventional biplane design with two-bay, unstaggered wings of unequal span with two pusher inline engines mounted side-by-side above the fuselage in the interplane gap.
The design (later developed into the Model H), resembled Curtiss' earlier flying boats, but was built considerably larger so it could carry enough fuel to cover 1,100 mi (1,800 km).
While the craft was found to handle "heavily" on takeoff, and required rather longer take-off distances than expected, the full moon on 5 August 1914 was selected for the trans-Atlantic flight; Porte was to pilot the America with George Hallett as co-pilot and mechanic.
The combination of the new Porte-designed hull, this time fitted with two steps, with the wings of the H-12 and a new tail, and powered by two Rolls-Royce Eagle engines, was named the Felixstowe F.2 and first flew in July 1916,[11] proving greatly superior to the Curtiss on which it was based.
Smaller than the Felixstowes, several thousand FBAs served with almost all of the Allied forces as reconnaissance craft, patrolling the North Sea, Atlantic and Mediterranean oceans.
In September 1919, British company Supermarine started operating the first flying boat service in the world, from Woolston to Le Havre in France, but it was short-lived.
IAL became the international flag-carrying British airline, providing flying boat passenger and mail transport links between Britain and South Africa using aircraft such as the Short S.8 Calcutta.
In areas where there were no airfields for land-based aircraft, flying boats could stop at small island, river, lake or coastal stations to refuel and resupply.
In that year, government tenders on both sides of the world invited applications to run new passenger and mail services between the ends of the British Empire, and Qantas and IAL were successful with a joint bid.
The new ten-day service between Rose Bay, New South Wales (near Sydney), and Southampton was such a success with letter-writers that before long the volume of mail was exceeding aircraft storage space.
[19] Originally intended 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 as well.
Flying boats such as the PBM Mariner patrol bomber, PBY Catalina, Short Sunderland, and Grumman Goose were procured in large numbers.
They would recover downed airmen and operate as scout aircraft over the vast distances of the Pacific Theater and the Atlantic, locating enemy vessels and sinking numerous submarines.
[35] On 3 April 1940, a single Sunderland operating off Norway was attacked by six German Junkers Ju 88C fighters; during the engagement, it shot one down and damaged another until it retreated and drove off the rest.
[36][37] Sunderlands in the Mediterranean theatre proved themselves on multiple high-profile occasions, flying many evacuation missions during the German seizure of Crete, each carrying as many as 82 passengers.
[5] When Italy entered the war in June 1940, the Mediterranean was closed to allied planes, and BOAC and Qantas operated the Horseshoe Route between Durban and Sydney using Short Empire flying boats.
Once it was realized it was missing, it was searched for, and the first to arrive was an amphibious PBY-5A Catalina patrol plane flown by Lieutenant Commander (USN) Robert Adrian Marks.
Furthermore the commercial competitiveness of flying boats diminished, as their design compromised aerodynamic efficiency and speed in order to accommodate waterborne takeoff and landing.
It was projected to be capable of attaining speeds of up to 520 mph at 40,000 ft.[59] Due to the SR.A/1's perceived value in the war against Imperial Japan, measures taken at an early stage of development towards immediate quantity production.
[62] During late 1950, shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War, interest in the SR.A/1 programme was briefly resurrected amongst British and American officials, with whom data had been shared in the project.
[71] During the 1950s, the Japanese aircraft manufacturer ShinMeiwa Industries conducted internal design studies into developing flying boats that would exhibit greater levels of seaworthiness than their predecessors.
[72] Over the following decade, the company developed the Shin Meiwa US-1A, a new generation flying boat, to meet Japan's requirement for a maritime patrol aircraft capable of ASW operations.
Shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union two separated scientific production associations (NPO) in Samara started to make flying boats for a new developing russian general aviation.
