FLYING BOATS FOR SERVICE OVERSEAS.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 February 1920, Page 4

FLYING BOATS FOR SERVICE OVERSEAS.

Flying boats may suggest to the average reader nothing more than Jules Verne at his best, but, as Major W. T. Blake shows in a recent issue of Aeronautics, they are Likely to take a notable part in the future of aviation for commercial purposes. Indeed, it is claimedo that the flying-boat, even in its pre sent state presents for certain kinds of work such advantages over every, ofher type of arcraft that the business man cannot afford to overlook it.

Flying-boats it is explained are boats built on the lines of sea-going craft with planes and engines attached They are therefore much more solid in construction than, most aeroplanes or seaplanes, ■(indeed; the latter are only too frequently* aeroplanes with floats attached instead of landing wheels), and have the disadvantage of considerable extra "weight. They are, however, capable of greater development than aeroplanes and even at present flving-boats exist which have lifts equal or greater than that of any aeroplane.

In the realm of the future is the giant boat designed by Blackburns, a | monster with a span of nearly 200, feet, 1 a length of 100 feet, six engines of 600 j h.p. each, and a. speed of 106 m.p.h. j The designers claim that she will carry | a load of 32 i tons, more than six times that of the V. 1,500 Handley Page aero-j plane. Less distant are the Gosport . “Fire Fighter” which, with a speed of ] 89 m.p.h., has a revenue load of 15001 b. and the Phoenix “Cork,” with a speed of 106 m.p.h., and a revenue load of 2,3001b5. The latter firm have under construction a machine capable of caiijing a revenue load of 6f tons at a speed of 80 m.p.h, for a period of twenty hours, or over a distance of 1,600 miles. Accommodation for fifty passengers is provided, sleeping bunks and a smoking room being fitted in the hull. The boat should occasion considerable interest when it makes its tral trip. If th's giant is successful there is no reason why the Blackburn 32. V tonner . should not prove its worth, and if this does all that is claimed for it the problem o making flying a commercial proposition with machines capable of carrying many passengers and big loads, as well as pos sessing high speeds, will be in a fair towards satisfactory solution. Flying-boats could safely make the voyage across the Atlantic with laigc loads, provided that two or three depot ships were stationed on the route, to send out help in case of emergency and to provide supplies of fuel and oil to the boats. A forced landing with a flying boat means delay and nothing more under normal circumstances. The ma : chine descends upon its own propet element, repairs can be, made whilst passengers and goods remain comfoit- ■ a ble and dry in their appointed places and, in the extremely unlikely event of the boat being unable to rise again from the water it can quite well taxi hundreds of miles to its destination, as was proved by the American boats which made the Atlantic flight under Commander Reid. These boats will offer the most useful method of transport on all rivers with a width of a hundred yards in every part of the world. They will be equally useful on the Rhine, the Danube, the Nile, the Amazon, the -vlississippi, amongst the islands of the South Seas, and around the coasts of almost every country. They can land when and where required without the necessity of preparing large aerodromes; intermediate emergency landing-grounds are unnecessary; direction marks on the ground are not required when a broad river marks the way. Through unexplored countries, like Africa and South America, where thick forests and huge swamps make the provision of . aerodromes works of tremendous labour, ingenuity and cost, and where a forced landing would probably mean death or starvation, or worse, for the whole crew, or at least the loss of. cargo carried, run wide rivers like the Nile, the Zambesi, and Congo in Africa, and the Amazon, with its many large tributaries, the Orinoco and the Parana in South America. The. huge lakes of Central Africa and the inland seas of North America are other ideal spots for flying-boats. On almost,any inch of thdse huge waterways a flving-boat. could descend with ease and safety. It is, however, the practical elimination of aerodromes in the case of flying-boats that ensures the future of these craft.