Latécoère 631 Flying Boat

The Latécoère 631 was a civil transatlantic flying boat built by Latécoère, the largest ever built up to its time. The last Latécoère 631 was withdrawn from service in 1955 after the losses of aircraft no.7 (owned by Latécoère, lost at sea), 6 (Air France, lost in the Atlantic), 3 (SEMAF, off Cap Ferret) and 8 (France-Hydro, in Cameroon).
General characteristics:
Crew: 5
Capacity: 46
Length: 43.46 m (142 ft 6⅝ in)
Wingspan: 57.43 m (188 ft 4½ in)
Height: 10.1 m (33 ft 1½ in)
Wing area: 349.4 m² (3,760 ft² [2])
Empty weight: 32,400 kg (71,280 lb[2])
Loaded weight: 71,350 kg (137,300 lb)
Powerplant: 6× Wright R-2600-A5B Cyclone 14-cylinder air cooled radial engine, 1,194 kW (1,600 hp) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 394 km/h (213 knots, 245 mph[2])
Cruise speed: 297 km/h (161 knots, 185 mph)
Range: 6,035 km (3,281 nm, 3,750 mi)
Service ceiling: m (ft)
Rate of climb: m/s (ft/min)
Wing loading: 92.7 kg/m² (19.0 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 0.10 kW/kg (0.070 hp/lb)
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[@Tillerman56]

For sure, the most beautiful flying boat ever. I visited Lake Biscarosse and the Musée Historique de l'Hydraviation. It is located in the houses which were built to accomodate engineers who worked for the Latécoère factory. Sadly, the Hourtiquets seaplane base is off-limits as it is located on the edge of a firing range.

[@robertlyon8876]

Now thats what I call a big flight deck

[@tricosteryl]

Building this Big aircraft helped french industry to discover modern technologies and maintain know how on building Big aircraft Problem was french crews and operators had barely the appropriate level to operate such a huge and advanced aircraft. That lead to accidents, and reliability issues. But it was welcome to maintain the link between France and its remaining colonies. And... It was outrageously beautyfull

[@jetaddicted]

My pops flew it as a passenger from St Louis, Senegal, to France, late 40’s or early 50’s.

[@AVMamfortas]

What a beauty.

[@aaaht3810]

That's one roomy flight deck.

[@Tflexxx02]

"Palatial" as far as flight decks go.

[@1rudrakshsharma]

So beautiful ❤

[@RatPfink66]

Sadly, the 631 was not only unreliable but dangerous. 5 of the 10 ships crashed, taking dozens of lives. The rest were grounded and scrapped.

[@Tflexxx02]

Sorry to hear that. But it was already too late for sea planes in the late 40s. Since the development of large bombers during the war, the move was on for land-based airliners and cargo planes after the war. With this plane, the French were still back in the 1930s before the war.

[@Mark-st7mp]

Latécoère 631 was obviously too challenging to pronounce for the speaker so he decided to talk about a giant flying boat only.😄

[@navelriver]

The morse key was for communication between flight crew members.

[@1kleineMax1]

@bgm1958 About half the size This: Wingspan: 57.43 m Length: 43.46 m Height: 10.1 m Spruce Goose Wingspan: 97.5 m Length: 66.74 m Height: 25.2 m

[@bgm1958]

How does this compare in size to the Spruce Goose?

[@johnkersey3460]

No photo of Pan Am air base in Central African ,there were 2 in the early years ( top secrets )?

[@cz2681]

is the video blacked out for anyone else?

[@guybertrand7250]

One was just found in lake simon quebec canada wtf!!!

What happened to it?

[@1kleineMax1]

@bgm1958 But this one could actually fly ;)

[@diabeticalien3584]

Get your facts right. The spruce goose could fly, and if flown more, I believe firmly it would have shown great characteristics.

[@Inpreesme]

Diabetic Alien lol Flying in yards is not quite the same but you go ahead and keep dreaming the Spruce goose was a real airplane

[@brain8484]

it was fine until the wings fell off

[@user-ps1oc5bf5b]

Big

[@brustdiesel]

I heard it only flew backwards

[@user-fi8wx2oo6j]

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