ROYAL AIR FORCE.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20197, 27 March 1931, Page 10

ROYAL AIR FORCE.

FLYING-BOATS FOR IRAQ. (raox ova own conumpoxshit.) LONDON, February 12. , A few • days .ago three of the latest - type flying boats built for the Royal Air Force began a journey of 3600 miles in formation from Felixstowe to Basra, Iraq. There they are .scheduled to take the place of earlier type service boats belonging to No. 203 Squadron, which have been . employed for some years past' in coastal patrol work in the Persian Gulf and the. estuary of the Euphrates River. From Bordeaux to the Mediterranean the route selected traverse* ,250 miles of Southern Finance, taking themachines aa far as possible along; river valleys but inevitably involving many miles of flying oter: regiontf^where. a - descent could only be made on the,' land. British .flying boats have n\any' times accomplished successfully such traverses of land regions: eo sure" is'the faith of the' British pilot in the. trustworthiness of ..his aircraft and engines that he does not consider that risk is involved in such-flights.- From -the Etang de Berre, near Marseilles, .the boats will ,3y on to Malta/ andoontinue _ the voyage to the east 1 by way Mirabella in Crete. Alexandretta, and Bagdad, where the boat* ■ will alight on the surface of the River Tigris. Each of these new marine aircraft, which are styled the Short Rangoon, is equipped witjr three Bristol air-oooled ■ motors totalling -approxi- j mately 1500 h.p. With normal, military .load on board the range in still ; air is understood to be about one thousand miles; one of the stages of I the England-Basra; journey, indeed, 1 is 7PO miles, to be flown without alighting to refuel, x t No effort is spared in the design to make the boats comfortable for the crews in the torrid heat of the Persian | G«lf, and this consideration -i supreme over every detail ofi the inter- j construction and equipment. The result is a roopiy, comfortable hull which should assure comparativecom- ■■■! fort 'in , the hottest weather, a P«int of vital importance because Bri-1 tish living boat crews are expected frequently to eat and sleep 'on board, ~i , Commercial boats, very similar in ! design, called the Short Calcutta, have flown for some, timet, past oyer the j Mediterranean section? of the air mail route operated by , Imperial • Airways,. I carrying passengers, mails, and freight. <