Review of Reviews, 1/12/13. 



977 



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JUST EISING FOR AN AIR PLIGHT. 



THE FLYING BOAT. 



The flying boat is the latest word 

 in aviation. The builders claim for it 

 the highest developmeait of use and 

 safety so far obtained. It seems to 

 point the way for the future and to 

 assure the permanence of aviation as a 

 sport and as a useful art. Most signi- 

 ficant of all, the navies of the world 

 are taking it up in all seriousness as a 

 valuable adjunct. Mr. Post describing 

 the machmes in " Outing," tells how 

 they have been evolved and what they 

 have done. 



AN AERIAL AMPHIBIAN ! 



There are three words often confused and 

 often used interchang-eably that must be 

 clearly disting-uished before one can speak 

 intelligently of the new, almost revolutionary 

 development in mechanical flig-ht. They are 

 " hydroplane," " hydroaeroplane," and 

 "flying: boat." The hydroplane is a high- 

 power motor boat, made so as to skim over 

 the surface of the water at an extremely 

 high rate of speed. The hydroaeroplane is 

 a stand aeroplane fitted with floats so con- 

 structed that it can ligfht upon, rise from, 

 and skim over the surface of the water as 

 well. The flying- boat is a seaworthy motor 

 boat hull, with spray hood and cockpit for 

 passengers, to which is added planes and 

 rudders, so that besides doing: all a motor 

 boat can do, it can also fly at great speed 

 and rise to great heig:hts in the air. Roughly 

 speaking-, tlie hydroaeroplane is an aeroplane 

 that can float ; the flying- boat is a motor 

 boat that can fly. 



FROM FLOATS TO BOATS. 

 Mr. Glen Curtiss, the famous Chanute's 

 old pupil, is probably the greatest aerial 

 inventor now living. He it was who 

 invented the hydroaeroplane, and it 

 was he who combined the two floats into 

 one flat-bottomed pontoon with a scow- 

 shaped bow and thus evolved the flying 

 boat. 



The next step in its development came 

 when the machines were used for exhibition 

 purposes, and the aviators exploiting them 

 pushed their possibilities to the limit, so that 

 they had often to go through very high seas, 

 and it was clearly seen that a more sea- 

 worthy craft was needed for operation in 

 surf or storm, or upon the ocean. The 

 machine now began to change along lines 

 of increased efficiency and comfort. To cut 

 down head-resistance the passengers were 

 placed in the body of the pontoon, which was 

 developed into the hull of a motor boat and 

 given something approaching the fineness 

 of its lines. 



A FLYING YACHT. 

 Already, says Mr. Post, the flying 

 boat has assumed the proportions of a 

 pleasure craft. It can carry four pas- 

 sengers, and possesses all the qualities 

 of a high-speed motor boat, with the 

 added advantage that if the water grows 

 monotonous, it can sweep into the air, 

 or if the pleasures of one lake be ex- 

 hausted, it can jump over a mountain 



