Books about Seaplanes 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: $31.92 [Notify me when price goes down.]

USN PBY Catalina Of Pacific War.
Price: $11.34 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $12.39 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Finally, over 50 years after her last flight with Pan American Airways, the complete story of the famed, Boeing-built, B-314 flying Clipper ship has been written Author M.D. Klas, historian and writer of Pan Ams early flying boat era during the 1930s and 1940s, has put together historical accounts of America?s greatest and the worlds largest commercial airplane of the 1930s and early 1940s. It covers the multiple reasons for the planes conception, stages of construction, testing, delivery flights, christenings, inaugural operations, established records, World War II special missions histories, post-war services and the individual demise accounts surrounding each of the twelve models built specifically for Pan Am. The history of sales to and operations with British Overseas Airways (B.O.A.C.) now British Airways is also included in in-depth coverage..
Price: $37.95 [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: $25.64 [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.]

The greatest of all flying boats, the PBY Catalina, was one of the most versatile aircraft ever built. This definitive study, first published in 1985, pulls together in a single volume all of the aircraft's fascinating facts. The author carefully analyzes the PBY's dual use in the war as a plane of mercy and as a bomber, and he chronicles the flying boat's contributions in peacetime. .
Price: $17.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Albatross was the premier fixed-wing rescue aircraft for the U.S. Air Force and Coast Guard. Its very colorful history begins in 1946 and spans nearly a quarter of a century, including service with twenty-two foreign nations. With a total of 466 built by Grumman, more than eighty examples still thrive on the civil register. The Albatross also saw extensive service in the Korean and Vietnam wars. The fascinating history of this unique aircraft is complemented by over 200 photographs including many in color showing the great variations in color schemes and markings..
Price: $11.29 [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: $21.97 [Notify me when price goes down.]