Sikorsky XPBS
As the US Navy was beginning to receive the first prototypes of the aircraft that would become the PBY Catalina, it simultaneously began to solicit proposals for the eventual replacement of this flying boat. The […]
flying boat
Boeing 314 Clipper
Pan Am approached several companies with a request for a large flying boat to augment their existing fleet of Sikorsky S-42s and Martin M-130s. The requirements specified an aircraft with enormous range, but still capable […]
Short S.23 Empire
In 1935 Imperial Airways, the British- government-backed service for air travel to the Empire, issued a requirement for a medium range flying boat capable of carrying up to 24 passengers, plus airmail and freight, at […]
Martin M-130
1931, Pan Am president Juan Trippe requested proposals for a passenger aircraft capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, a distance of around 2,000 miles from Newfoundland to Ireland. This was just 4 years […]
Sikorsky S-42
In 1931 Pan Am president Juan Trippe solicited designs from six different companies for an aircraft to fly long distance, transoceanic passenger and airmail routes. Of the six companies, only Martin with their ambitious M-130 […]
Kawanishi H8K Type 2 “Emily”
As soon as the Kawanishi H6K entered service, the Imperial Japanese Navy began the search for an improved flying boat to eventually supplant the Type 96. The 13-Shi specifications called for a new flying boat […]
Short Singapore
The Short Singapore was a flying boat that was originally designed as a twin-engine aircraft in the mid-1920s which was not ordered by the RAF, with the sole Singapore Mk I being used for survey […]
Dornier Do 24
The Dornier Do 24 was a long range reconnaissance flying boat designed for the Dutch Marine-Luchtvaartdienst (MLD) to operate in the Netherlands East Indies. There it would replace the older Dornier Do J Wal flying […]
Kawanishi H6K Type 97 “Mavis”
The Japanese Navy’s requirements for new aircraft in 1934 included a request for a new long-range, multi-engined reconnaissance flying boat capable of patrolling the huge distances of the Pacific Ocean. Kawanishi, building on their experience […]
Consolidated PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was one of the legendary aircraft of World War II. In the late 1920s and into the 1930s the US Navy was interested in procuring long range patrol aircraft in order […]