Суда түсетін ұшақтар тарихы және түрлері

Aircraft equipped with a boat hull for operation from water

A flying boat is a type of fixed winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage mounted floats for buoyancy. Though a flying boat’s fuselage provides buoyancy, it may also utilize under wing floats or wing like hull projections (called sponsons) for additional stability. Ascending into common use during the First World War, flying boats rapidly grew in both scale and capability during the interwar period, during which time numerous operators found commercial success with the type. Flying boats were some of the largest aircraft of the first half of the 20th century, exceeded in size only by bombers developed during the Second World War. Their advantage lay in using water instead of expensive land based runways, making them the basis for international airlines in the interwar period. They were also commonly used as maritime patrol aircraft and air sea rescue, particularly during times of conflict. Flying boats such as the PBY Catalina and Short Sunderland played key roles in both the Pacific Theater and the Atlantic of the Second World War. The popularity of flying boats gradually tailed off during the Cold War era, partially because of the difficulty in maintaining operations in inclement weather when sea conditions may easily prevent taking off and landing while land based aircraft are unaffected, and investments in airports during the conflict that eased the introduction of larger, and more efficient, land based airliners. Despite being largely overshadowed, limited use of the type continued with some operators, such as in the case of the Shin Meiwa US 1A and the Martin JRM Mars. In the 21st century, flying boats maintain a few niche uses, such as dropping water on forest fires, air transport around archipelagos, and access to undeveloped areas. Many modern seaplane variants, whether float or flying boat types, are convertible amphibious aircraft where either landing gear or flotation modes may be used to land and take off.

The quest for an aircraft that could take off or land from water began with float planes, which are not flying boats. The Frenchman Alphonse Pénaud filed the first patent for a flying machine with a boat hull and retractable landing gear in 1876 but failed to build one. Austrian Wilhelm Kress is credited by some with attempting to build the first successful seaplane Drachenflieger, a floatplane, in 1898, although its two 30 hp Daimler engines were inadequate for take off and it later sank when one of its two floats collapsed. On 6 June 1905, Gabriel Voisin took off and landed on the River Seine with a towed kite glider on floats. The first of his unpowered flights was 150 yards. Fabre's first successful take off and landing by a powered floatplane inspired other aviators and he designed floats for several other flyers. The first hydro aeroplane competition was held in Monaco in March 1912, featuring aircraft using floats from Fabre, Curtiss, Tellier and Farman. This led to the first scheduled seaplane passenger services at Aix les Bains, using a five seat Sanchez Besa from 1 August 1912. At the same time the British boat building firm J. Samuel White of Cowes on the Isle of Wight set up a new aircraft division and produced a flying boat in the United Kingdom. This was displayed at the London Air Show at Olympia in 1913. In that same year, a collaboration between the S. E. Saunders boatyard of East Cowes and the Sopwith Aviation Company produced the "Bat Boat", an aircraft with a consuta laminated hull that could operate from land or on water, which today we call an amphibious aircraft. for the U. S. Navy which rapidly resulted in the America, designed under Porte's supervision following his study and rearrangement of the flight plan; the aircraft was a conventional biplane design with two bay, unstaggered wings of unequal span with two pusher inline engines mounted side by side above the fuselage in the interplane gap. Wingtip pontoons were attached directly below the lower wings near their tips. The design (later developed into the Model H), resembled Curtiss' earlier flying boats, but was built considerably larger so it could carry enough fuel to cover 1100 mile (1770 km). The three crew members were accommodated in a fully enclosed cabin. Trials of the America began on 23 June 1914 with Porte also as Chief Test Pilot; testing soon revealed serious shortcomings in the design; it was under powered, so the engines were replaced with more powerful engines mounted in a tractor configuration. There was also a tendency for the nose of the aircraft to try to submerge as engine power increased while taxiing on water. This phenomenon had not been encountered before, since Curtiss' earlier designs had not used such powerful engines nor large fuel/cargo loads and so were relatively more buoyant. In order to counteract this effect, Curtiss fitted fins to the sides of the bow to add hydrodynamic lift, but soon replaced these with sponsons, a type of underwater pontoon mounted in pairs on either side of a hull. These sponsons (or their engineering equivalents) and the flared, notched hull would remain a prominent feature of flying boat hull design in the decades to follow. With the problem resolved, preparations for the crossing resumed. While the craft was found to handle "heavily" on takeoff, and required rather longer take off distances than expected, the full moon on 5 August 1914 was selected for the trans Atlantic flight; Porte was to pilot the America with George Hallett as co pilot and mechanic.

Curtiss and Porte's plans were interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War. Porte sailed for England on 4 August 1914 and rejoined the Navy, as a member of the Royal Naval Air Service. Appointed Squadron Commander of Royal Navy Air Station Hendon, he soon convinced the Admiralty of the potential of flying boats and was put in charge of the naval air station at Felixstowe in 1915. Porte persuaded the Admiralty to commandeer (and later, purchase) the America and a sister craft from Curtiss. This was followed by an order for 12 more similar aircraft, one Model H 2 and the remaining as Model H 4's. Four examples of the latter were assembled in the UK by Saunders. All of these were similar to the design of the America and, indeed, were all referred to as Americas in Royal Navy service. The engines, however, were changed from the under powered 160 hp Curtiss engines to 250 hp Rolls Royce Falcon engines. The initial batch was followed by an order for 50 more (totalling 64 Americas overall during the war). One flying boat pilot, Major Theodore Douglas Hallam, wrote that they were "comic machines, weighing well under two tons; with two comic engines giving, when they functioned, 180 horsepower; and comic control, being nose heavy with engines on and tail heavy in a glide." At Felixstowe, Porte made advances in flying boat design and developed a practical hull design with the distinctive "Felixstowe notch". Porte's first design to be implemented in Felixstowe was the Felixstowe Porte Baby, a large, three engined biplane flying boat, powered by one central pusher and two outboard tractor Rolls Royce Eagle engines. Porte modified an H 4 with a new hull whose improved hydrodynamic qualities made taxiing, take off and landing much more practical, and called it the Felixstowe F.1. Porte's innovation of the "Felixstowe notch" enabled the craft to overcome suction from the water more quickly and break free for flight much more easily. This made operating the craft far safer and more reliable, although similar devices had been in use in France since 1911. The "notch" breakthrough would soon after evolve into a "step", with the rear section of the lower hull sharply recessed above the forward lower hull section, and that characteristic became a feature of both flying boat hulls and floatplane floats. The resulting aircraft would be large enough to carry sufficient fuel to fly long distances and could berth alongside ships to take on more fuel. Porte then designed a similar hull for the larger Curtiss H 12 flying boat which, while larger and more capable than the H 4s, shared failings of a weak hull and poor water handling. The combination of the new Porte designed hull, this time fitted with two steps, with the wings of the H 12 and a new tail, and powered by two Rolls Royce Eagle engines, was named the Felixstowe F.2 and first flew in July 1916, proving greatly superior to the Curtiss on which it was based. It was used as the basis for all future designs. It entered production as the Felixstowe F.2A, being used as a patrol aircraft, with about 100 being completed by the end of World War I. Another seventy were built, and these were followed by two F.2c, which were built at Felixstowe. The Felixstowe F.5 was intended to combine the good qualities of the F.2 and F.3, with the prototype first flying in May 1918. The prototype showed superior qualities to its predecessors but, to ease production, the production version was modified to make extensive use of components from the F.3, which resulted in lower performance than the F.2A or F.3. The Felixstowe flying boats were extensively employed by the Royal Navy for coastal patrols, including searching for German U boats. In 1918 they were towed on lighters towards the northern German ports to extend their range; on 4 June 1918 this resulted in three F.2As engaging with ten German seaplanes, shooting down two confirmed and four probables at no loss. Before the development of highly reliable aircraft, the ability to land on water was a desirable safety feature for transoceanic travel. In 1923, the first successful commercial flying boat service was introduced with flights to and from the Channel Islands. The British aviation industry was experiencing rapid growth. The Government decided that nationalization was necessary and ordered five aviation companies to merge to form the state owned Imperial Airways of London (IAL). IAL became the international flag carrying British airline, providing flying boat passenger and mail transport links between Britain and South Africa using aircraft such as the Short S.8 Calcutta. During the 1920s, the Royal Air Force (RAF) Far East flight performed a series of "showing the flag" long distance formation flights using the newly developed Supermarine Southampton. Perhaps the most notable of these flights was a expedition conducted during 1927 and 1928; it was carried out by four Southamptons of the Far East Flight, setting out from Felixstowe via the Mediterranean and India to Singapore. Both the RAF and Supermarine acquired considerable acclaim from these flights, as well as proving that flying boats had evolved to become reliable means of long distance transport. In the 1930s, flying boats made it possible to have regular air transport between the U. S. and Europe, opening up new air travel routes to South America, Africa, and Asia. Foynes, Ireland and Botwood, Newfoundland and Labrador were the termini for many early transatlantic flights. In areas where there were no airfields for land based aircraft, flying boats could stop at small island, river, lake or coastal stations to refuel and resupply. The Pan Am Boeing 314 Clipper planes brought exotic destinations like the Far East within reach of air travelers and came to represent the romance of flight. By 1931, mail from Australia was reaching Britain in just 16 days – less than half the time taken by sea. In that year, government tenders on both sides of the world invited applications to run new passenger and mail services between the ends of the British Empire, and Qantas and IAL were successful with a joint bid. A company under combined ownership was then formed, Qantas Empire Airways. The new ten day service between Rose Bay, New South Wales (near Sydney), and Southampton was such a success with letter writers that before long the volume of mail was exceeding aircraft storage space. A better solution to the problem was sought by the British government during the early 1930s, who released a specification calling for a new large aircraft capable of carrying up to 24 passengers in spacious comfort along with adequate room for airmail or freight while simultaneously being capable of a cruising speed of 170 mph and a range of at least 700 miles; the capacity for an extended range of 2,000 miles to serve the North Atlantic route was also stipulated. Originally intended for use by IAL, partner Qantas agreed to the initiative and undertook to purchase six of the new Short S23 "C" class or "Empire" flying boats as well. Being ordered from aviation manufacturer Short Brothers, the Empire was reportedly hailed as being "one of the world's boldest experiments in aviation", while early sceptics referred to the order less favourably as being a 'gamble'. Delivering the mail as quickly as possible generated a lot of competition and some innovative designs. One variant of the Short Empire flying boats was the strange looking "Maia and Mercury". It was a four engined floatplane "Mercury" (the winged messenger) fixed on top of "Maia", a heavily modified Short Empire flying boat. Unfortunately this was of limited usefulness, and the Mercury had to be returned from America by ship. The Mercury did set a number of distance records before in flight refuelling was adopted. Sir Alan Cobham devised a method of in flight refuelling in the 1930s. In the air, the Short Empire could be loaded with more fuel than it could take off with. It had wing like protrusions from the fuselage, called sponsons, to stabilize it on the water without the need for wing mounted outboard floats. This feature was pioneered by Claudius Dornier during the First World War on his Dornier Rs. I giant flying boat, and perfected on the Dornier Wal in 1924. The enormous Do X was powered by 12 engines and once carried 170 persons as a publicity stunt. Over 250 were built in Italy, Spain, Japan, The Netherlands and Germany. Numerous airlines operated the Dornier Wal on scheduled passenger and mail services. Wals were used by explorers, for a number of pioneering flights, and by the military in many countries. Though having first flown in 1922, from 1934 to 1938 Wals operated the over water sectors of the Deutsche Luft Hansa South Atlantic Airmail service.

The military value of flying boats was well recognized, and every country bordering on water operated them in a military capacity at the outbreak of the Second World War. Flying boats such as the PBM Mariner patrol bomber, PBY Catalina, Short Sunderland, and Grumman Goose were procured in large numbers. The Sunderland, which was developed in parallel to the civilian Empire flying boat, was one of the most powerful and widely used flying boats throughout the conflict, while Catalinas were one of the most produced ASW of the war, with over 2,661 being produced in the US alone. Flying boats were commonly utilized to conduct various tasks, from anti submarine patrol to air sea rescue and gunfire spotting for battleships. They would recover downed airmen and operate as scout aircraft over the vast distances of the Pacific Theater and the Atlantic, locating enemy vessels and sinking numerous submarines. A flight of Catalinas spotted the Japanese fleet approaching Midway Island, beginning the Battle of Midway. On 3 April 1940, a single Sunderland operating off Norway was attacked by six German Junkers Ju 88C fighters; during the engagement, it shot one down and damaged another until it retreated and drove off the rest. The Germans reputedly nicknamed the Sunderland the Fliegendes Stachelschwein ("Flying Porcupine") due to its defensive firepower. Sunderlands in the Mediterranean theatre proved themselves on multiple high profile occasions, flying many evacuation missions during the German seizure of Crete, each carrying as many as 82 passengers. One Sunderland flew the reconnaissance mission to observe the Italian fleet at anchor in Taranto before the famous Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm's torpedo attack on 11 November 1940. The largest flying boat of the war was the Blohm & Voss BV 238, which was also the heaviest plane to fly during the Second World War and the largest aircraft built and flown by any of the Axis Powers. Only the first prototype ever flew, commencing flight trials in April 1944. Months later, it was strafed and partially sunk while moored on Lake Schaal, to the east of Hamburg; it never returned to flight, instead being intentionally sunk in deep water after the end of the conflict. The Imperial Japanese Navy operated what has been often described as the best flying boat of the conflict, the Kawanishi H8K. Its design was based upon its immediate predecessor, the Kawanishi H6K, but was a considerably larger and longer ranged aircraft designed at the request of the Navy just prior to the outbreak of war. On the night of 4 March 1942, two H8Ks conducted the second raid on Pearl Harbor, refuelling en route by submarine at French Frigate Shoals in order to achieve the necessary range; poor visibility caused this attack on Pearl Harbor to fail to accomplish any significant damage. An improved H8K2 variant of the type, featuring extremely heavy defensive armament, was also introduced. In November 1939, IAL was restructured into three separate companies: British European Airways, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), and British South American Airways (which merged with BOAC in 1949), with the change being made official on 1 April 1940. BOAC continued to operate flying boat services from the (slightly) safer confines of Poole Harbour during wartime, returning to Southampton in 1947. The Martin Company produced the prototype XPB2M Mars based on their PBM Mariner patrol bomber, with flight tests between 1941 and 1943. The Mars was converted by the Navy into a transport aircraft designated the XPB2M 1R. Satisfied with the performance, 20 of the modified JRM 1 Mars were ordered. The first of the five production Mars flying boats entered service ferrying cargo to Hawaii and the Pacific Islands on 23 January 1944. Following the end of the conflict, the Navy opted to scaled back their order, buying only the five aircraft. The five Mars were completed, and the last delivered in 1947. The U. S. used several 4 engine flying boats during World War II, including those that had been operating as civilian airliners. This included five Boeing B 314 Clippers, four more as the C 98s; two Martin M 130 Clippers,a Martin XPB2M 1/XPB2M 1R prototype, and one JRM 1 Mars; three Sikorsky VS 44s (JR2S 1). However, the main 4 engined flying boat of the U. S. forces was the PB2Y Coronado, of which nearly 220 were used in several versions:maritime patrol, bombing, medical/hospital transport, and for regular cargo; it also served with British forces in the Battle for the Atlantic. One of the features of flying boats that was useful for search and rescue, was the ability to land on the water and not only pull out people from the water but stay there. One of the famous cases of this was the sinking of the Indianapolis, which went down on 31 July 1945, leaving hundreds of sailors in the water. Once it was realized it was missing, it was searched for, and the first to arrive was an amphibious PBY 5A Catalina patrol plane flown by Lieutenant Commander (USN) Robert Adrian Marks. Marks and his flight crew spotted the survivors and dropped life rafts; one raft was destroyed by the drop, while others were too far away from the exhausted crew. Against standing orders not to land in the open ocean, given the unique situation and lives at risk, Marks took a vote of his crew and decided to land the aircraft in 12 feet (4 m) swells. He was able to maneuver his craft to pick up 56 survivors. Space in the plane was limited, so Marks had men lashed to the wing with parachute cord. The aircraft was unflyable with so many on it but could still float. This protected many of the exhausted men from being eaten by sharks or drowning while waiting for the main rescue force to arrive. After nightfall, the destroyer escort Cecil J. Doyle, the first of seven rescue ships, used its searchlight as a beacon and instilled hope in those still in the water. Cecil J. Doyle and six other ships picked up the remaining survivors. After the rescue, the PBY was sunk by Cecil J. Doyle to scuttle it.

After the end of the Second World War, the use of flying boats rapidly declined for several reasons. The ability to land on water became less of an advantage owing to the considerable increase in the number and length of land based runways during the conflict. Furthermore the commercial competitiveness of flying boats diminished, as their design compromised aerodynamic efficiency and speed in order to accommodate waterborne takeoff and landing. New land based airliners such as the Lockheed Constellation and Douglas DC 4 were developed with comparable reliability, speed, and long range. The new landplanes were relatively easy to fly, and did not require the extensive pilot training programs mandated for seaplane operations. One of the 314's most experienced pilots said, "We were indeed glad to change to DC 4s, and I argued daily for eliminating all flying boats. The landplanes were much safer. No one in the operations department had any idea of the hazards of flying boat operations. The main problem now was lack of the very high level of experience and competence required of seaplane pilots". The Hughes H 4 Hercules, in development in the U. S. during the war, was even larger than the BV 238 but it did not fly until 1947. The Spruce Goose, as the 180 ton H 4 was nicknamed, was the largest flying boat ever to fly. Carried out during Senate hearings into Hughes' use of government funds on its construction, the short hop of about a mile at 70 ft above the water by the "Flying Lumberyard" was claimed by Hughes as the H 4's vindication. Cutbacks in expenditure after the war and the disappearance of its intended mission as a transatlantic transport left the H 4 with no purpose. Despite never flying again, a full time crew of 300 workers maintained the H 4 in a flightworthy condition in a climate controlled hangar up until Hughes' death in 1976. In early 1944, the British Air Ministry issued a contract for the production of a small jet powered flying boat, the Saunders Roe SR. A/1, that was intended for use as an air defence aircraft optimised for use in the Pacific theatre. By adopting jet propulsion for the flying boat, it was possible to design it with a hull, rather than making it a floatplane, and thus eliminating the performance handicaps typically imposed upon floatplanes. It was projected to be capable of attaining speeds of up to 520 mph at 40,000 ft. However, due to the end of the conflict, pressure for the SR. A/1 quickly dissipated. However, officials judged that such an aircraft was unnecessary, and that the aircraft carrier had demonstrated a far more effective way to project airpower over the oceans. During late 1950, shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War, interest in the SR. A/1 programme was briefly resurrected amongst British and American officials, with whom data had been shared in the project. During the Berlin Airlift (which lasted from June 1948 until August 1949) ten Sunderlands and two Hythes were used to transport goods from Finkenwerder on the Elbe near Hamburg to isolated Berlin, landing on the Havelsee beside RAF Gatow until it iced over. The Sunderlands were particularly used for transporting salt, as their airframes were already protected against corrosion from seawater. Transporting salt in standard aircraft risked rapid and severe structural corrosion in the event of a spillage. In addition, three Aquila Airways flying boats were used during the airlift. While flight testing of the innovative and ambitious flying boat went relatively smoothly, determining that the Princess was indeed capable of achieving its envisioned performance figures, only one prototype of the type would ever fly. In 1951, BOAC performed an in depth reevaluation of its standing requirements, and determined that the airline had no present need for the Princess, or any new large flying boat. The airline had already chosen to terminate its existing flying boat services during the previous year. Following the US Navy's withdrawal of support, Martin tried unsuccessfully to market the SeaMaster to the civilian market, rebranding it as the SeaMistress, but the initiative picked up no takers. During the 1950s, the Japanese aircraft manufacturer ShinMeiwa Industries conducted internal design studies into developing flying boats that would exhibit greater levels of seaworthiness than their predecessors. Shin Meiwa developed further flying boat concepts around this period, including the Shin Meiwa MS (Medium Seaplane) a 300 passenger long range flying boat with its own beaching gear; and the gargantuan Shin Meiwa GS (Giant Seaplane) with a capacity of 1200 passengers seated on three decks.

The shape of the Short Empire, a British flying boat of the 1930s was a harbinger of the shape of 20th century aircraft yet to come. Today, however, true flying boats have largely been replaced by floatplanes or amphibious aircraft with wheels. The Beriev Be 200 twin jet amphibious aircraft is used for fighting forest fires. There are also several experimental/kit amphibians such as the Volmer Sportsman, Quikkit Glass Goose, Airmax Sea Max, Aeroprakt A 24, and Seawind 300C. The ShinMaywa US 2 is a large STOL amphibious aircraft designed for air sea rescue work, derived from the earlier US 1. The first example was delivered to the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force in 2009; the service has replaced its US 1 fleet with the US 2. A civilian orientated fire fighting variant of the US 2 has also been designed and promoted to prospective customers. The Canadair CL 415, an improved model of the Canadair CL 215, remains in production during the twenty first century. The type has been primarily used for forest fire suppression, but has also seen use in other capacities, such as a maritime patrol aircraft. The German company Dornier Seawings, an off shoot of the original Dornier company, has repeatedly announced plans to launch production of its SeaStar composite flying boat. In February 2016, Dornier launched the improved CD2 SeaStar. During the 2010s, the state owned company Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) launched a program to develop a massive new amphibian, the AVIC AG600. On 24 December 2017, it made its maiden flight from Zhuhai Jinwan Airport. The ICON A5 is an amphibious aircraft in the light sport class. The Progressive Aerodyne Searey is an amphibious aircraft in the light sport class, available as a kit built experimental or factory built aircraft. Shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union two separated scientific production associations (NPO) in Samara started to make flying boats for a new developing russian general aviation. Today NPO Aerovolga makes its La series with La 8 being its latest while NPO Chaika makes L series with L 65 being its latest in a line up.