Sud-Est SE.200 Amphitrite
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Sud-Est SE.200 Amphitrite
A large, six-engined seaplane ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sud-Est_SE.200_Amphitrite ), the prototype was destroyed at Lake Constance. The wikipedia article states: "The remains of the first SE.200 were raised by Dornier in 1966" and the link provided in evidence for that says:
C’est en septembre 1966 que la Dornier
Werke GmbH faisait parvenir à Sud-Aviation des
photos prises au lac de Constance montrant le SE-200
n° 1, sorti de l’eau après 22 ans passés au fond du lac.
Comme le soulignait alors Jean Liron dans Aviation
Magazine : « l’appareil avait conservé une apparence
de bon aloi qui fait honneur à la construction
française ».
A machine translation, improved by me, reads: It was in September 1966 that the Dornier Werke GmbH sent to Sud-Aviation photos taken at Lake Constance showing the SE-200 #1, out of the water after 22 years at the bottom of the lake. As Jean Liron pointed out in Aviation Magazine: The aircraft had retained an appearance of good quality which honors French construction».
(The machine translated appareil as camera; I changed it to aircraft. It had 'the construction French' where I have 'French construction'.)
So it looks as if this remarkable aircraft was raised from the depths of Lake Constance in 1966. What then? Scrapped?
C’est en septembre 1966 que la Dornier
Werke GmbH faisait parvenir à Sud-Aviation des
photos prises au lac de Constance montrant le SE-200
n° 1, sorti de l’eau après 22 ans passés au fond du lac.
Comme le soulignait alors Jean Liron dans Aviation
Magazine : « l’appareil avait conservé une apparence
de bon aloi qui fait honneur à la construction
française ».
A machine translation, improved by me, reads: It was in September 1966 that the Dornier Werke GmbH sent to Sud-Aviation photos taken at Lake Constance showing the SE-200 #1, out of the water after 22 years at the bottom of the lake. As Jean Liron pointed out in Aviation Magazine: The aircraft had retained an appearance of good quality which honors French construction».
(The machine translated appareil as camera; I changed it to aircraft. It had 'the construction French' where I have 'French construction'.)
So it looks as if this remarkable aircraft was raised from the depths of Lake Constance in 1966. What then? Scrapped?
The article diplomatically omits that the aircraft was sunk by an attack on the Dornier works by RAF Mosquitos !
The big French flying boats had the most appalling bad luck. Shortly after this loss at Dornier the other remaining SE-200 production was destroyed in a further attack on their Marseilles home. Meanwhile its close competitor, the Latecoere 631, also lost their one taken to Dornier in the same attack (is that still under water ?), several more were lost immediately post-war in serious crashes which led Air France to abandon the type, they were put into storage at their factory near Bordeaux, and were all destroyed when the hangar roof fell in after an unexpected substantial snowfall.
The Bordeaux works was later used to build the two French competitors to the big hovercraft many will remember that ran from Dover to Calais. One was lost even before delivery when the works were destroyed by fire, this nearly got the second one as well, but that never worked properly and eventually was given up.
The big French flying boats had the most appalling bad luck. Shortly after this loss at Dornier the other remaining SE-200 production was destroyed in a further attack on their Marseilles home. Meanwhile its close competitor, the Latecoere 631, also lost their one taken to Dornier in the same attack (is that still under water ?), several more were lost immediately post-war in serious crashes which led Air France to abandon the type, they were put into storage at their factory near Bordeaux, and were all destroyed when the hangar roof fell in after an unexpected substantial snowfall.
The Bordeaux works was later used to build the two French competitors to the big hovercraft many will remember that ran from Dover to Calais. One was lost even before delivery when the works were destroyed by fire, this nearly got the second one as well, but that never worked properly and eventually was given up.
Anthracite
In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite was the goddess of the sea, the queen of the sea, and the wife of Poseidon. She was a daughter of Nereus and Doris (or Oceanus and Tethys). Under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, she became the consort of Poseidon and was later used as a symbolic representation of the sea. Her Roman counterpart is Salacia, a comparatively minor figure, and the goddess of saltwater.
The Bordeaux works was later used to build the two French competitors to the big hovercraft many will remember that ran from Dover to Calais. One was lost even before delivery when the works were destroyed by fire, this nearly got the second one as well, but that never worked properly and eventually was given up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N500_Naviplane
I travelled on the one which entered service in around May 1979 on a day trip to Boulogne. A slightly more comfortable trip than my one previous hovercraft experience from Calais to Ramsgate on a Hoverlloyd SRN4. Only our timeous arrival over Pegwell Bay's mudflats meant the roller coaster ride ended before I saw my lunch again.
The SEDAM N500:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N500_Naviplane
I travelled on the one which entered service in around May 1979 on a day trip to Boulogne. A slightly more comfortable trip than my one previous hovercraft experience from Calais to Ramsgate on a Hoverlloyd SRN4.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N500_Naviplane
I travelled on the one which entered service in around May 1979 on a day trip to Boulogne. A slightly more comfortable trip than my one previous hovercraft experience from Calais to Ramsgate on a Hoverlloyd SRN4.
Went that way again in 1982, the remaining French machine was dumped abandoned on the ramp at Boulogne, where (presumably in full sight of the terminal) it was later broken up.
