| Potez 160 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Role | Experimental scaled flying boat |
| National origin | France |
| Manufacturer | CAMS |
| First flight | 20 June 1938 |
| Number built | 1 |
The Potez-CAMS 160 was a one-off 5/13 scale flight model built in France, first flown in the summer of 1938 to test aerodynamic and hydrodynamic qualities of the Potez-CAMS 161 airliner and mail carrier, which was too large for detailed modelling in existing wind tunnels.
In 1936 the northern French factories of Potez and of the seaplane maker CAMS, the latter owned by Potez since 1932, [1] were nationalized along with those of Amiot, Breguet and ANF Mureaux into SNCAN. [2] In the same year the design bureau of Potez-CAMS was beginning the development of the Potez-CAMS 161 six engine, trans-Atlantic passenger flying boat, [1] intended to be a key component of Air France's Transatlantique fleet. [3] To test the design they built a 5/13 scale flying scale model of it, careful not just to scale dimensions of the flying surfaces and hull, but also to copy the form the nose around the cabin, engine cowlings and retractable float housings. Control surface detail and the flaps of the 161, together with its variable-pitch propellers, were included on the resulting Potez-CAMS 160. It was intended to prove both the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic behaviour of the airliner. [2] It flew for the first time on 20 June 1938. [4]
The 160 was a high-wing monoplane. The wing was a semi-cantilever structure, with two parallel bracing struts on each side from the lower fuselage to the wing just inside the central engines, straight-edged in plan with taper on the trailing edge only and rounded tips. [2] [5] It was fitted with interconnected Handley Page slots and ailerons as well as split flaps. It was powered by six four-cylinder inverted inline air-cooled Train 4T engines, each producing 30 kW (40 hp) driving three blade, variable-pitch propellers. [2] The engines were mounted on the wing underside, housed in long, narrow cowlings intended to mimic those around the 664 kW (890 hp) Hispano-Suiza 12Ydrs water-cooled V-12 engines of the full scale aircraft. [2] [4]
The little flying boat had a conventional stepped hull and was stabilized on the water by a pair of floats, attached under the outboard engines and retracting into their cowlings. [2] [6] Its enclosed, tandem seat cockpit was shaped to reproduced the form of the 161's nose, [2] though the full sized aircraft had proportionally shorter glazing. [1] The 161 had a twin fin empennage with a N-strut braced, parallel chord tailplane mounted on top of the fuselage on a short pillar with marked dihedral. The fins were of the endplate type, with curved leading edges and roughly symmetric above and below the tailplane; on each, the rudder was split into an upper and lower part. All of these features appeared on the final, full size airliner. [2]
The Potez-CAMS 160 appeared, after its first flight, at the 1938 Paris Aero Show. [5]
Data fromJane's All the World's Aircraft 1938 [2]
General characteristics
Performance
The Nord Aviation 3202 was a 1950s French military trainer aircraft designed and built by Nord Aviation to meet a French Army requirement for a two-seat basic trainer, as a replacement for the biplane Stampe SV.4. Altogether, 101 examples were built, with the first flying on 17 April 1957.
The Potez 43 was a family of French light utility and sports aircraft, developed in early 1930s. They were three-seat single-engine high-wing monoplanes.
Chantiers Aéro-Maritimes de la Seine (CAMS) was a French manufacturer of flying boats, founded in Saint-Ouen in November 1920 by Lawrence Santoni.
The Potez-CAMS 141 was a French long range reconnaissance flying boat of the late 1930s. Intended to equip the French Navy, only a single prototype was completed before the German invasion of France stopped production. That prototype did, however serve operationally from bases in French North Africa until scrapped in 1943.
The Potez 62 was a French twin-engine civil airliner, designed by Henry Potez in 1934. The French military adapted this airframe two-years later to create the Potez 650.
The Nord 3400 Norbarbe was a French two-seat observation and casualty-evacuation aircraft built by Nord Aviation for the French Army Light Aviation.
The Sud-Est SE.200 Amphitrite was a flying boat airliner built in France in the late 1930s, originally developed as the Lioré et Olivier LeO H-49 before the nationalisation of the French aircraft industry. It was a large, six-engine design with a high-set cantilever monoplane wing, and twin tails. It was developed in response to a French air ministry specification of 1936 for a transatlantic airliner for Air France with a range of 6,000 km (3,700 mi) and capacity for 20 passengers and 500 kg of cargo. Designs were submitted by Latécoère, Lioré et Olivier and by Potez-CAMS as the Laté 631, LeO H.49 and the Potez-CAMS 161 respectively, and examples of all designs were approved for construction. A large mock-up, resting on simulated water, was displayed at the 1938 Salon de l'Aéronautique.
The Saro A.33 was a British prototype flying boat built by Saunders-Roe Limited in response to a British Air Ministry Specification R.2/33 and in competition with the Short Sunderland.
The Potez 661 was a four-engined metal low-wing monoplane airliner developed in France just before World War II. The single example flew with Air Afrique on French colonial routes.
The Potez 662 was a higher powered and faster development of the Potez 661. Like its predecessor, it was a low wing, four engine monoplane carrying 12 passengers. Only one was built, serving with the French Air Ministry.
The Train 2T, 4T and 6T were low power piston engines for light aircraft, produced in France. They were inverted, air-cooled in-line engines with the same bore and stroke, differing chiefly in the number of cylinders.
The Bernard 160 was a three engine, multi-role monoplane designed in the early 1930s to meet a French government call for aircraft suited to policing and medical duties in its African colonies. Two prototypes were built and tested, but no further orders were placed.
The Potez 37 was a two-seat, long range reconnaissance aircraft built to compete for a French government contract. It flew in mid-1930 but did not win the competition, so only two were completed.
The Wibault 2, Wib 2 or Wib 2 BN.2 was a single engine biplane aircraft designed and built in France in the early 1920s. It was intended as a heavy night bomber, though a thirteen-seat passenger version was proposed. Only one was built.
The Potez-CAMS 161 was a large, French six-engined flying boat airliner, designed to operate on the North Atlantic routes that were opening up in the late 1930s. Its development was almost halted by World War II. Just one was built and partially tested before its destruction by Allied forces near the war's end.
The Potez XVIII was a French airliner from the early 1920s, a three-engine biplane carrying up to twelve passengers.
The Potez 35 was a twin engine bomber aircraft, designed and built in France in the late 1920s. Only one was completed.
The SFCA Lignel 20 was a French, single engine, low wing monoplane, one of a series of this type built by SFCA in the 1930s. It was capable of aerobatics but was primarily a racing aircraft.
The Potez 51 was a 1930s French intermediate trainer, intended to replace the ageing Potez 25 which had sold worldwide. It did not go into production.
The Dewoitine D.720 T3 was a French reconnaissance/cooperation aircraft built by Dewoitine in the late 1930s.
Bousquet, Gérard (March 1989). "Le Potez-CAMS 161". Le Fana de l'Aviation (in French) (232): 33–37. ISSN 0757-4169.