ATLANTIC FLYING BOAT
THE BRISTOL, the flag ship of the three Boeing 314-A flying boats of the British Overseas Airways Corporation, paid a brief visit to a South-West Coast port recently. For the first time since British Airways took delivery of the Boeings in May last year, we were then permitted to get an all too brief glimpse of one.
The Bristol was the first of the new Model A Boeing 314 flying-boats to be built. Three of the six originally ordered by Pan-American Airways were sold to the British Government at a cost reported unofficially to be $1,000,000 each and were turned over to British Airways for war services.
The only structural difference in the Boeing 314-A is the step, which has been moved a little towards the stern. This change has done away with the porpoising to which the Boeing 314 was liable.
Other improvements include four 1,600 h.p. Wright Cyclone GR2600A5 motors, instead of the 1,500 h.p. Wright Cyclones, which drive new Hamilton Hydromatic airscrews of larger diameter and improved blade design, and bigger built-in fuel tanks in the sponsons. The take-off has been improved and the range increased from 3,100 to more than 4,000 miles. The all-up weight is now 84,000 lb. and the cruising …
