Hello seaplane pilots,
As a non-pilot I'm writing a book on the German WWII Arado Ar 196 floatplane. The warship
Graf Spee was the first to take an operational Ar 196 during its famous voyage that ended in the River Plate. That plane ruined two BMW 132 radial engines in just over two months. It is said that, when landing, the floats kicked up spray into the hot engine which cooled down too abruptly, causing cracks.
Is spray entering the engine a common problem in floatplanes? If so, is that related to a high landing speed? Or would you say it was probably bad flying and could be avoided?
I know that the left and right floats were interchangeable, so identical - is that common? Maybe not ideal for spray deflection?
The twin floats had been stretched during the testing phase. But a never built improved variant had still longer floats, so the Germans were not enitirely happy in some respect or another. They also kept testing a central float witn outriggers variant of the aircraft, which should make landing the aircrat in rough sea easier, but made it less stable when manoeuvring on the water.
Thanks for any attempts to help me out
Peter