ATLANTIC AIR LINERS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3439, 5 March 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

ATLANTIC AIR LINERS

MONSTER FLYING BOAT FOR BRITAIN.

ACCOMMODATION FOR 120 PASSENGER& The British Air Ministry plans to build tjhe largest flying beat in the world.

Not content with holding the world record for speed, the Ministry's Civil Aviation Department seeks to lead in the transport of passengers, mail, and cargo. Specifications prepared by the technical department of the Ministry call for a flying boat which will be able to carry 120 passengers across the Atlantic, thus completing the' air routes of the Empire by linking up Canada and England.

The new craft will be an all-metal flying boat, and will be nearly twice the size of the German Do.X. Fuelled for its journey, it will weigh more than sixty tons, and its speed will be not less than two miles a minute.

The Air Ministry's specification demands a high degfee of seaworthiness. The craft has to be able to land in mid-ocean without any danger of being disabled, and the hull has to be treated so that sea water can have no corrosive action. Electric light and power have to be supplied for illumination and cooking. The kitchens are planned at the back of the hull. Sleeping accommodation is designed for sixty. PROBLEM OF COST. The technical staff of the Ministry have been engaged on the details of the specification for some Their work is practically finished, but because of the high cost, which inevitable, no tenders can be invited for the present. A contract is already in hand for a 35-ton Supermarine-Napier flying boat with six engines, which is expected to equal at least the perform ance of the Do.X. It is nearing completion at Southampton.