a supermarine southampton
in september 1919, british company supermarine started operating first flying-boat service in world, woolston le havre in france, short-lived.
a curtiss nc-4 became first aircraft fly across atlantic ocean in 1919, crossing via azores. of 4 made attempt, 1 completed flight.
in 1923, first successful commercial flying-boat service introduced, flights , channel islands. british aviation industry experiencing rapid growth. government decided nationalization necessary , ordered 5 aviation companies merge form state-owned imperial airways of london (ial). ial became international flag-carrying british airline, providing flying-boat passenger , mail-transport links between britain , south africa using aircraft such short s.8 calcutta.
in 1928, 4 supermarine southampton flying boats of raf far east flight arrived in melbourne, australia. flight considered proof flying boats had evolved become reliable means of long-distance transport.
flying boats of ad astra aero s.a. @ zürichhorn water airport, uetliberg in background (~1920)
in 1930s, flying boats made possible have regular air transport between u.s. , europe, opening new air travel routes south america, africa, , asia. foynes, ireland , botwood, newfoundland , labrador termini many transatlantic flights. in areas there no airfields land-based aircraft, flying boats stop @ small island, river, lake or coastal stations refuel , resupply. pan boeing 314 clipper planes brought exotic destinations far east within reach of air travelers , came represent romance of flight.
by 1931, mail australia reaching britain in 16 days − less half time taken sea. in year, government tenders on both sides of world invited applications run new passenger , mail services between ends of empire, , qantas , ial successful joint bid. company under combined ownership formed, qantas empire airways. new ten-day service between rose bay, new south wales, (near sydney) , southampton such success letter writers before long, volume of mail exceeding aircraft storage space.
a solution problem found british government, in 1933, had requested aviation manufacturer short brothers design big new long-range monoplane use ial. partner qantas agreed initiative , undertook purchase 6 of new short s23 c class, or empire, flying boats.
dornier do-x on seaport town in baltic, 1930
delivering mail possible generated lot of competition , innovative designs. 1 variant of short empire flying boats strange-looking maia , mercury. four-engined floatplane mercury (the winged messenger) fixed on top of maia , heavily modified short empire flying boat. larger maia took off, carrying smaller mercury loaded weight greater take off with. allowed mercury carry sufficient fuel direct trans-atlantic flight mail. unfortunately, of limited usefulness, , mercury had returned america ship. mercury did set number of distance records before in-flight refuelling adopted.
sir alan cobham devised method of in-flight refuelling in 1930s. in air, short empire loaded more fuel take off with. short empire flying boats serving trans-atlantic crossing refueled on foynes; fuel load, make direct trans-atlantic flight. handley page h.p.54 harrow used fuel tanker.
the german dornier do-x flying boat noticeably different uk , u.s.-built counterparts. had wing-like protrusions fuselage, called sponsons, stabilize on water without need wing-mounted outboard floats. feature pioneered claudius dornier during world war on dornier rs. giant flying boat , perfected on dornier wal in 1924. enormous x powered 12 engines , carried 170 persons. flew america in 1929, crossing atlantic via indirect route. largest flying boat of time, severely underpowered , limited low operational ceiling. 3 built, variety of different engines installed, in attempt overcome lack of power. 2 of these sold italy.
Comments
Post a Comment