A GIANT SEAPLANE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3352, 20 December 1926, Page 2

A GIANT SEAPLANE.

Tin 1 .time when great air liners with heavy loads oh’ passengers and goods will cross the Atlantic, Just as regular services now cross the Phannel, would appear to have been brought appreciably nearer by the launching at >St. Xazaire of the largest seaplane in the world (states the Paris correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph”). The machine, which weighs twenty tons, and has a wing span of 120 ft, is driven by five engines, developing 2100 horsepower Piloted by Andre Duhamel, one of the most experienced of French airmen, it has Just passed through very satisfactory tests off the mouth of the River Poire, and was found to behave splendidly, both in high winds and on rough seas.

Secrecy had hitherto been maintained concerning the design of this giant .seaplane, on which engineers have been at work for seven years, but a number of interesting details are now revealed, Of the five engines, only one is fixed in the nose of the machine, the other four being mounted in its thick, hollow wings, in such a way as to be easily accessible fo the mehanics. All five are electrically controlled from the pilot 's seat, which is situated on the upper decl< of the cabin section, which, divided into three stories, is --"iff high. Find and oil are carried in the wings as far away as possible from the cabins, the tanks being fitted with fire extinguishers, which act automatically in case of overheating. The machine, which is fitted to carry twenty passengers and their luggage, is believed to be capable of flying the Atlantic at a speed of eighty or ninety miles an hour, even if only three of its five engines are working.