Books about Seaplane from Amazon.com

Recapturing the fabulous era of flying boats.

For a world coming out of economic depression in the 1930s, the Pan American Airways Clipper "flying boats" symbolized elegance and luxury, adventure and romance. Illustrated with rare period photographs, vintage travel posters, magazine ads and colorful company brochures, this fascinating book covers every aspect of the fabulous era of Pan American's graceful clippers.

Like their maritime namesakes, the Clippers used the oceans to form a vast global network of travel routes. Pan Am founder Juan Trippe was a visionary who saw the importance of international travel to a changing world. His Clippers would play a key role in the evolution of transoceanic flight, setting time and distance records over the Atlantic and Pacific, providing airmail delivery between countries, and eventually serving the Allies as troop and cargo transports during World War II.

Pan Am Clippers permanently changed the world's concept of time and space by dramatically reducing travel time and opening up international air travel to the general public.

This fascinating, informative and richly illustrated book brings back another time and way of life.

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Price: $32.77 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $12.23 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Success on the Step is the story of a unique group of people. They happen to be people who've done amazing things with seaplanes but it's a people story, nevertheless People who have never wavered from the principle on which the company was founded. Do the right thing..
Price: $12.53 [Notify me when price goes down.]

An award-winning aviation historian chronicles the Navy's efforts to develop a powerful sea-based strike force through the use of long-range attack seaplanes supported by surface ships and submarines. William Trimble traces the concept back to the early 1930s when American strategic planners sought ways to mount an assault across the Pacific with minimum air support. But it was not until 1950, when the Navy was threatened with losing its big carriers and long-range aircraft, that the idea of a Seaplane Striking Force was resurrected. Lured by breakthroughs in seaplane performance and the promise of the turbojet-powered Convair Sea Dart fighter and the Martin Sea Master attack flying boat, the Navy believed it could challenge the Air Force in the strategic role, the author explains, but found that the technology did not live up to expectations.

This book investigates the difficulties of weapon system procurement within the context of strategic realities, interservice rivalry, and constrained defense budgets. It also looks at an alternative weapon system that the Navy saw as a means of extending its conventional reach and as a complement to the carrier and land-based bomber used for nuclear deterrence. That weapon, however, proved unsuccessful in the end. The author helps the reader understand that while conceptual and operational flaws kept the Seaplane Striking Force from achieving the goals set for it, the idea of a mobile weapon system capable of long-range attacks from the sea remains valid. Other books touch briefly on the subject, but this is the first to examine the concept in depth..
Price: $22.04 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Written for pilots who want to fly airplanes that can take off and land from water, this resource provides tips for experienced seaplane pilots as well as requirements for getting certified as a seaplane pilot. All the tasks a pilot must demonstrate during the checkride to receive a seaplane certificate are covered in detail, including preflight preparations, taxiing, sailing, seaplane base and airport operations, takeoffs and landings, and emergency operations. The FAA practical test standards are included as an appendix..
Price: $27.74 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This comprehensive text on basic and advanced techniques for float planes, amphibians, and flying boats covers natural elements, seamanship, water aerodromes and seaplane bases, ground and water operations Also included are instructions on high speed (step) taxiing, takeoffs and landings, docking, ramping and buoying, operations with amphibians, and flying multiengine seaplanes. Included are museum-quality historical and contemporary photographs; watercolor and black-and-white illustrations; and explanatory maps, and tables..
Price: $21.96 [Notify me when price goes down.]

During World War I, the navies of the opposing forces discovered the value of aerial reconnaissance and many experiments were made to allow larger warships to carry one or sometimes two aircraft aboard. In the early days these were float planes that were lowered by crane into the sea and then lifted back aboard upon their return. This was a lengthy affair and when a speedy departure was necessary, time was of the essence. A new system was devised so that a powerful catapult system and a short ramp could, with the added speed of the ship, get an aircraft airborne in a fraction of the time previously required. Thus was born a highly specialized type of aircraft.

This book includes all the major designs that went to war in the First and Second World Wars and includes aircraft used by all the combatants. It looks at how the aircraft evolved and how the warships were modified to accommodate the aircraft and the catapult system. The use of these fixed-wing aircraft was abandoned when the invention of the helicopter was made in the early post WW II years..
Price: $25.55 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $9.09 [Notify me when price goes down.]