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A Boeing 314 flying low | |
Role | Flying boat airliner |
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National origin | United States |
Manufacturer | Boeing Airplane Company |
First flight | June 7, 1938(85 years ago) |
Introduction | 1939(85 years ago) |
Retired | 1948(76 years ago) |
Status | Retired |
Primary users | Pan American World Airways British Overseas Airways Corporation United States Navy |
Produced | 1938–1941 |
Number built | 12 |
The Boeing 314 Clipper was an American long-range flying boat produced by Boeing from 1938 to 1941. One of the largest aircraft of its time, it had the range to cross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. For its wing, Boeing re-used the design from the earlier XB-15 bomber prototype. Twelve Clippers were built, nine of which served with Pan Am.
Pan American had requested a truly trans-Pacific flying boat with unprecedented range and double the passenger payload of the airline's Martin M-130. Boeing's bid was successful and on July 21, 1936, Pan American signed a contract for six. Boeing engineers adapted the cancelled XB-15's 149 ft (45 m) wing, and replaced the 850 hp (630 kW) Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp radial engines with the 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) Wright Twin Cyclone. Pan Am ordered six more aircraft with increased engine power and capacity for 77 daytime passengers as the Boeing 314A.
The huge flying boat was assembled at Boeing's Plant 1 on the Duwamish River in Seattle , and towed to Elliott Bay for taxi and flight tests . The first flight was on June 7, 1938, piloted by Edmund T. "Eddie" Allen . At first the aircraft had a single vertical tail, and Allen found he had inadequate directional control. The aircraft returned to the factory and was fitted with the endplates on the ends of the horizontal tail in place of the single vertical fin. This too was found to be insufficient and finally the centerline vertical fin was restored, after which the aircraft flew satisfactorilyCeiling
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The Eagle can be armed with combinations of four different air-to-air weapons: AIM-7F/M Sparrow missiles or AIM-120 AMRAAM advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles on its lower fuselage corners.
The F-15 was shown to be capable of controlled flight with only one wing after an Israeli F-15D suffered a mid-air collision
The F-15 was shown to be capable of controlled flight with only one wing after an Israeli F-15D suffered a mid-air collision