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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 1334.PDF
i6o FLIGHT AUGUST 14TH. 1947 Seabeein the Air An Opinion of its Performance Off Land and Water Illustrated by BECAUSE of its many interesting features and novelconstruction, the Republic Seabee has justified morecomment in Flight than most light four-seater American aircraft. At the time of the description published in our issue of September 5th, 1946, I had not been able to arrange to fly the Seabee as pilot, but had examined the embryo production lines and some of the first machines to be built at Farmingdale, the Republic aviation plant on Long Island. At that time the unusual simplified construction, the enormous output planned, and the very low production costs of airframe and engine were all '' eye-openers '' in this country. Figures of 3,500 aircraft in the first year and a run of 5,000 were anticipated by the Corporation. It now seems that the Seabee was one of the chief victims of over- selling in the American light aircraft world, that the assessors employed by the Republic Corp. took an over- rosy view of the market, and that, as we, too, have found in the automobile industry, orders are not the same thing as sales, and figures for orders do not always give a true basis foi estimating sales. It is a pity that things have not gone according to Republic plans. One admires the enterprise of the manu- facturers of the Rainbow, Thunderjet and Seabee. How- ever, it is with the flying characteristics of their little amphibian that I am here concerned. Short Bros, own a Seabee, supplied by Rollasons, and keep it at Rochester. It was purchased in order to learn as much as possible about its construction and about the behaviour of a small amphibian. This machine they were kind enough to place at my disposal. Their own Sealand, now being built at Belfast, will be more than twice as big and has a lot more than twice the power; however, it will still be quite small as amphibians go. S/L. John Booth, Short's test pilot, showed me round the controls and briefed me on speeds and settings. I was In level flight the Republic Seabee settles down to a cruising speed of just over 100 m.p.h. again impressed by the clean, car-like layout of the four- seat cabin. (It may be remembered that many Seabee fittings, instruments, etc., are bought in quantity from automobile suppliers.) An ingenious and apparently effec- tive detail which I had previously overlooked was the friction device for the airscrew pitch lever. This is a loose- fitting rod in a tubular guide, both of which are slightly oval. A small twist of the control knob causes the rod to grip in the guide and so remain at any given setting. I confirmed my dislike of the small, thin-rimmed control wheels. Before discussing details of the handling characteristics, I should state in general that if Seabees were intended to be turned loose by the thousands on the American or any other public, it is as well that there has been a regression to prevent it. It would not be normal or natural to get " owt for nowt," and the simplification of structure, in par- ticular the adoption of the slab-like, rectangular, even- thickness wing, must have had a detrimental effect on performance. The fact remains that the Seabee is not, in my opinion, suitable for operation at full or near full load except in very wide open spaces. Any idea that the business man with a hundred or so hours of flying should pile luggage and family into a Seabee, hop off the local airstrip and land out in the country on some lake or river for a week-end's fishing, can be ruled out. I flew the machine with one passenger, three-quarter fuel load, and with quite a strong wind blowing. The altitude was sea level for water take-off and 400ft for take-off from land. Under these conditions the figures obtained were not even in spite of its angular tail but rounded nose, the Seabee looks well on the tarmac at Rochester. and the installation is very neat. The Franklin engine is smooth and flexible
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