Potez-CAMS 161

The Potez CAMS -161 was one of the three largest seaplanes ever built in France.

History

The six -engined Potez - CAMS 161 flying boat with a wingspan of 46 meters was developed in the late 1930s in which air carriers CAMS. She was provided as a passenger aircraft for the planned in the late 1930s North Atlantic route Air France Transatlantique. It was designed by Maurice Hurel who also performed the test flights themselves.

Design and development

In early 1938 CAMS tested with a scaled smaller 161er model aerodynamics. The test flying boat had the designation Potez -CAMS 160 and a wingspan of 12.37 meters and six engines with 40 hp. The test flight boat corresponded to the scale ratio of 5:13. The test model was flown by two pilots and had a seating for technicians. The test machine was introduced after its first flight on the Air Show Salon de l' Aéronautique in Paris.

On March 20, 1942, the first flight of the Potez -CAMS 161 was almost a contemporary report gives the Erstflugdatum than December 7, 1939, and reported more flight tests in the first half of 1942. At the same time were at Groupe Latécoère the passenger flying boat Latécoère 631 and at the Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud -Est, the SNCASE SE.200 developed, but only after the CAMS 161 completed its maiden flight.

Technical Description

The Potez -CAMS 161 was an all-metal flying boat with semi- cantilever wing ( monoplane ) provided with two side support floats. The wing is braced on each side of the lower rump. The horizontal tail with a slight V- position had a fin on each outer side. The 6 Hispano-Suiza engines were housed in the wings. The passenger cabin with 40 seats and bedrooms had square on each side of the fuselage 10 board window. The first lighter version of the Potez -CAMS 161 with 20 seats and a gross vehicle weight of 37,000 kg was not built. The below Date refer to the Air France Atlantic version, registered in France and was painted in the typical Air France colors.

Whereabouts

The last record of the Potez -CAMS 161 are located in the Museum of Sartrouville that showcases a photo that was taken in April 1944, shortly before the destruction of the machine in September 1944. The Potez -CAMS 161 at that time had the camouflage of the German Air Force and wore the badge on the flying boat hull 16 ( Balkenkreuz ) 11 of the German Wehrmacht. The exact place where the CAMS 161 was destroyed by enemy fire towards the end of World War II, there are different reports. Hartmann describes the location on the Baltic Sea, while others call the Bodensee.

Data

  • Crew: 6
  • Capacity: 40 passengers
  • Length: 32,11 m
  • Wingspan: 46 m
  • Height: 8.87 m
  • Wing area: 261 m²
  • Empty weight: 22,979 kg
  • Total weight: 43,001 kg
  • Powerplant: 6 × Hispano -Suiza 12Ydrs, liquid-cooled V -12 engines with 660 kW ( 890 hp)
  • Propeller: 6 x three-bladed variable pitch propeller
  • Maximum speed: 335 km / h
  • Cruising speed: 300 km / h
  • Range: 6000 km at 60 km / h of wind and a full payload and standard fuel capacity
Chantiers Aéro-Maritimes de la Seine Shoulder wing Lake Constance
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