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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0446.PDF
MAY IO, 1917. THE "TOTALLY ENCLOSED" AEROPLANE. (Continued from page 417.) ALTHOUGH the seaplane as a type, lends itself extremely yet the distance from the floor boards to the roof of the cabinwell to closing in the occupants, it was not until 1914 that was about <; ft., so that bv stonninir =ii«ht1v th* nmmantsnbinwuua me seaplane as a type, lenas ltseu extremely t tne distance tro the floor boards to the roof of the cabin well to closing in the occupants, it was not until 1914 that s about 5 ft., so that by stooping slightly the occupantsany serious attempt was made to provide the " totally were able to move about in the cabin with comparative enclosed feature on a seaplane of the flying boat type. freedom. Since the machine was to have been flown over stretches of sea where meeting other machines were scarcely m Shortly before war broke out Lieut. Porte, R.N., now a The cabin of the Curtiss flying boat "America," on which Commander J. C. Porte, R.N., was to have at- tempted to cross the Atlantic in the summer of 1914. m m Commander in the R.N.A.S., it may be remembered, con-templated a flight across the Atlantic in the Curtiss flying boat, " America." In view of the duration of the trip it wasdeemed advisable to protect the pilot andfpassenger as much as possible against the weather, andjto this end a cabin-likesuperstructure was added to the main hull of the machine. The latter was a biplane flying boat with two Curtiss motorsplaced on Vee struts between the wings. The upper plane to be expected, the windows did not extend very far behindthe pilot's seat, those curving round in front being the most important. Access to the cabin was through a hatch.thatcould be closed once the machine was on her way, and through which, if necessary, the passenger might reach the engin*to make any adjustments. Should the machine come down low enough to make signals to passing ships, the passengerwould have to lean over the gunwales by the hatch^as the Xm m The Laurence tractor flying boat, built and flown near Chicago during 1915-16. had a span of 74 ft., and the overall length of the machinewas 34 ft. Fully loaded the weight was about 5,000 lbs., and the speed somewhere in the neighbourhood of 65 m.p.h. Owing to the great depth of the boat itself the cabinWalls only projected some 18. inches above^the deck, and windows in the cabin did not provide a view in a downward direction. Since the war the Curtiss firm have built a great number of large flying boats, following more or less along the lines of the " America," from which some have, however, differed 446
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