FLYING BOATS FOR TURKEY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21906, 18 March 1933, Page 14

FLYING BOATS FOR TURKEY

BIG NEW CONTRACT SUCCESS OP THE “ SOUTHAMPTON * TYPE. (From Oub Own Correspondent.) LONDON, February 9. British aeroplanes have been chosen, in the face of severe competition, by yet another important foreign Government —the Turkish. A contract has been signed for the supply to Turkey of six large twin-engined “ Southampton ” flying boats, which will be built at the Super-marine works of the Vickers Company*. The total value of the order runs into six figures sterling. It is the first contract passed by the Turkish Government with a British aircraft firm for several years.

Standard equipment of Eoyal Air Force squadrons for some years past, “ Southampton ” aircraft are probably the best known military flying boats in the world and possess a record in longdistance formation cruising which is unequalled by any other marine aircraft. ; They have carried the'British flag into many parts of the world. Their longest and finest flight—2B,ooo miles from England to the Far East and Australia in 1927-28—remains the supreme achievement of aeroplanes flying in formation.

Other formations of these craft have flown up into the Baltic Sea, through the Mediterranean, between Calcutta and Rangoon, by way of the Nicobar and Andaman Islands, along the shores of the Persian Gulf to Iceland and back, and over many other of the world’s waterways. They have proved conclusively the ability of the bigger types of flying boat to remain at sea and away . from the base for long periods of time. - The standard “ Southampton ” boat as employed in the R.A.F. is fitted with two 530 h.p. Napier “ Lion ” water-cooled motors. Normally each boat carries a crew of five. Two 18-inch torpedoes may be lifted in slings one on either side of the hull; other armaments consist in three machine-guns. Fully laden, the standard boat weighs nearly seven tons. Its maximum speed is 110 miles an hour and service “ceiling” is 14,000 feet. Later versions of the type, which . was first designed in 1925, arc still more efficient in speed, climb and practical range, but details of performance of these newer machines may not yet * be published.