The Potez-CAMS 161 was a large, French six-engined flying boat airliner, designed to operate on the North Atlantic routes that were opening up in the late 1930s.

The engines were mounted on a constant chord central section but the outer panels were tapered,[3] with ailerons interconnected to Handley Page slots near the wing tips.

[1] The tail unit was of the twin endplate fin type with the tailplane, mounted with marked dihedral, on a fuselage pedestal and externally braced from below.

[4] Ten square windows on each side lit the passenger cabin, where twenty were provided with seating and sleeping compartments and flown and looked after by six crew.

Gun camera footage from this period clearly shows the aircraft, identifiable by its distinctive D-shaped tails, under fire and partially submerged.