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The Flying Boat
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4O8 FLIGHT OCTOBER 9TH,
The Flying Boat
Some Problems in Fitting it into the Transport Picture The
Question of Bases
By CAPTAIN DAVID BRICE, A.R.Ae.S.
C ING causes have always had their champions, and
flying boats are no exception. Right now Capt.
Just to prove how many headaches this would give an
airline operator, let us look at the suitable bases from
Neville Stack and Flight are raising the flag, but in here to Singapore. Southampton is O.K. except in strong
doing so are rather obscuring many of the almost insuper- northerly or southerly winds, and then Southampton Water
able problems which confront this type of aerial carriage. might do, provided a south-westerly swell wasn't running
May I, as one who has spent quite a few years flying Marseilles (Lake Marignane) is O.K. Augusta (Sicily) Js
marine craft of all shapes and sizes, from Boeing A314S O.K. Rod-el-Farag, at Cairo, is on the Nile and would *
and " G " boats to Catalinas and Calcuttas, point out just be too narrow, but Kasfereit, sixty miles away, would be
a few of the snags? all right.
To begin with, you can always build an airfield where The next good base is Habbaniya, in the Iraq desert,
you want to, or, in other words, where the traffic demands which is not very near anywhere. Basra Is no good, since
one. It has yet to be proved that you can construct an it is on a river, but Bahrein would be all right. In India
artificial marine base. Thus, the things , are bad. Korangi Creek at
flying boat has always followed the Karachi might just do, but elsewhere
lakes and rivers ; and the passengers there is not much. The Hooghly river,
have followed in buses and trains.
This fact eliminates most of the
7 HE attitude of this journal towards
the flying boat is well known, but we at Calcutta, would not be suitable,
but Bangalore, in Southern India, has
are always willing to listen—and give
capital cities of the world from con- space—to " the other fellow's point of a good inland lake, and Madras is a
venient flying-boat services. The land- view. "possible." Any passengers, then, on
plane, on the other hand, is amply Capt. Brice paints a gloomy picture of a mammoth flying boat to India would
supplied with airfields. the handicaps suffered by the flying boat. have a lot of connecting travel to do,
His logic, however, does not always because I've-listed all the bases suit-
Apart from this, there are very few appear faultless. For instance, the flying
good flying-boat bases in the world. able for a 200-ton flying boat for all-
boat has, as he admits, done good work
No greater fallacy exists in aviation in spite of the absence of proper bases.
the year-round operation.
than the one which insists that, since The londplane could not have done that. East of India, the Irrawaddy, at
the greater portion of the world is And why assume that the operator must Rangoon, might just do. Akyab,
covered by water, the flying boat has always continue to foot the bill for farther north is a possible, and
an infinite number of alighting areas marins bases ? Penang and Singapore would be all
to choose from. To begin with, you There are other points which can be right. Bangkok would be no good.
challenged, but doubtless our readers At first glance it seems like a lot of
cannot land a large flying boat in the will not need to have them pointed out.
open sea, except on the few occasions bases; until you learn that these are
when the sea is calm; and, believe the only bases. No others exist. So
me, the open sea is seldom calm. you're a bit short on alternatives, and
Those who really believe that the mammoth flying boat very short of bases near to where people want to go.
will be able to ignore the swell and twelve-foot seas should Take the North Atlantic. Foynes is all right; Botwood
watch a 1,000-ton ship coping with such conditions at a and Stephenville are all right. New York and Baltimore
steady ten knots, and then visualize a 200-ton aluminium are good, a t least in the summer. In the winter every-
flying boat doing the same thing at 100 knots. No flying where north of New York is iced-up, including New York
boat could stand it. on many occasions. In the hey-day of the boat, when it
As an example of the sort of sea with which a normal was the only aerial machine operating across the Atlantic,
flying boat can safely contend, the 87,000 lb Boeing A314 they stopped the service in October and re-opened in May.
had a swell limitation of about 3^ to 4ft, and Freetown No Facilities
(which was adequate for Catalinas and Sunderlands) was
banned to Boeings because the alighting area was in a All these bases, except Baltimore, have another very
river, which was open to the sea and consequently had serious snag. There's nobody there! So an operator who
frequent swells. reverted to boats would have to provide launches, dock
facilities, personnel, control, housing, engineering facilities,
Sea Unusable night-flying equipment, radio equipment and communica-
tions.
The sea, therefore, must be excluded from all considera- Compared with a /12 12s landing a t London Airport for
tions of all-year-round flying-boat bases, except in a very a more fortunate York, with S.B.A., control, tarmac, tele-
few cases such as Athens, Singapore and Southampton. phones, radio, met. and refuelling bowsers all thrown in,
This leaves us the rivers, the lakes and the harbours. the boat operator is going to find life expensive.
For the large boat the harbour is obviously '' out.'' As True, if there were enough airlines operating boats, they
for the rivers, in most cases they would be quite inadequate could all share the expense, or at least make it worth the
because they seldom possess the necessary width in which while of the appropriate State to provide the facilities.
to turn round. True, reversible airscrews will greatly in- But there aren't any airlines, except B.O.A.C., D.N.L. and
crease the manoeuvrability of flying boats, but you still possibly Air France, who are operating boats, or even in-
can't just back up, like a goods train, because you can't tend to, so it is an expensive hobby for an operator to
see where you're going. Similarly, turns in a narrow river indulge in wishful thinking, and modify his balance sheet
would not be practical. And apart from this, the bow with overheads borne by fictitious competitors.
wave put up by a 200-ton boat would drown all the local The plain fact is that B.O.A.C. has, almost entirely un-
inhabitants who were unfortunate enough to be living on aided, to provide the facilities for its flying-boat operations.
the barilcs. Then there is the problem of blind approaches. No suc-
This leaves us the lakes and the inland or sheltered cessful blind-approach system is in operation which permits
waterways, such as Rio de Janeiro or Kasfereit, on the a flying boat to land safely in J-mile visibility and 100ft
Suez Canal. ceiling. With S.B.A., SCS.51, G.C.A. or I.L.S., an ex-
