Landing a Floatplane
 

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

"Did you see it? It was definitely there when we took off!"
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e4b2fc3424.png

The British equivalent, albeit an older design, was perhaps the Walrus which had the engine in a protected position.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f3c4eda2d2.jpg

Yes, I know the video :) The Kriegsmarine captains did complain the aircraft was not as tough as the old Heinkel He 60, which was unduly heavy.

Funnily enough I watched that very video only yesterday ! Not entirely sure what actually let go but it did get a fair intake of water !

Prop erosion due to spray is a notable problem in seaplane operations generally. Not heard of spray cooling issues for engines and most are of course covered but it does make sense.

Thank you Custard.

The Ar 196 also initially had an issue with the engine mounting not being strong enough. When it collapsed the propeller would cut into the fuel tanks in the floats.That is what happens in the video, I believe.

The other issue I desribed seems only have to happened to the pilot of Graf Spee, so maybe he used a wrong landing technique - too flat? Does that make any sense? Certainly he had little experience as the type had been rushed into service.

Peter