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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0009.PDF
FLIGHT, JANUARY 1, 1932 1 Oiw ^Jra report < The Latecoere LcA. 300 France is pursuing a vigorous policy of flying boat development. Recently we announced that Bleriot is building a 20-ton flying boat, and below we give particulars of a new Latecoere of approximately the same weight which has already made its first test flights. The machine is intended, if it comes up to expectations, for the South Atlantic mail service. [Since this article was written and set in type we have had news that Lat. 300 was sunk during a test flight. Details are not at present available.—EdA G1 REAT BRITAIN has, for a number of years, held a leading position in the production of seaworthy all-metal flying boats. That this position would not remain unchallenged for long was a foregone conclusion, and among the nations which are striving seriously to catch up with us is certainly France. For many years the French policy was to design marine air craft intended to operate from fairly sheltered waters, and the types produced under that policy could not, indeed were not, intended to compete with British flying boats for seaworthiness. Lately, however, there appears to have been a decided change in policy where French marine air craft is concerned, and an endeavour is now being made to meet the new conditions. It may, perhaps, be recol lected that some time ago France bought from Short Brothers a " Calcutta " flying boat fitted with Gnome- Rhone " Jupiter " engines. That the purchase was made in order to provide data and information for French flying- boat designers was fairly obvious, and was actually sound common sense from the French point of view. The firms on the other side of the Channel have now had time to get going, and as the French Government has now given them the opportunity for which they had been waiting, progress may be expected to be rapid. The Latecoere type 300 described below is quite ob viously not in any sense a copy of the Short " Calcutta," and whatever influence the British machine may have had on design, it is not visible in such external views as have been published. If it is a question of " copying," as in fact it scarcely seems to be, there is more similarity between the Lat. 300 and the Dornier machines, in that there is a flying-boat hull surmounted by a monoplane wing on which the engines are carried, while lateral stability is obtained by short wing stumps springing from the sides of the hull. This general type of layout has been used by the Latecoere firm for many years, and the present machine is, in fact, a development of an earlier type, the 380, but fitted with four instead of two engines. ^ •U"^ LENGTH 84-9 SPAN 145'- 0' WING AREA 3,600 SO. FT. LAT. 300 4. HISPAN0-SUIZA ENGINES, 650 H.P. EACH. 11
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