Seaplanes in Istanbul Redux

(pictured) in istanbul The Dornier Do J Wal ("whale") was a twin-engine German flying boat of the 1920s designed by Dornier Flugzeugwerke. The Do J was designated the Do 16 by theReich Air Ministry (RLM) under its aircraft designation system of 1933.

The Societa Anonima Aero-Espresso Italiana [1]maintained a semi-weekly seaplane service between Büyükdere, Istanbul and Brindisi via Piraeus, Greece. The Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne (French) initiated service between Istanbul and Paris as early as 1921 as the Franco-Roumaine Compangie. Numerous sections of the country were marked off as military zones through which no airplane might pass.


It was also in the year 1914 that the Ottoman Army purchased its first American aircraft, a Curtiss F2 seaplane which was demonstrated by an American pilot John Cooper. It was flown for about a year but because of a lack of spare parts and the great distances involved, this was to be the last purchase of American aircraft until the year 1932. 






Mavi Boncuk |

Seabird Airlines will begin seaplane transportation with Twin Otter-type propeller aircraft [2] between İstanbul and Çeşme and between Çeşme and Bodrum in the coming days.

Seabird Airlines will launch its first flights in August as a regional passenger carrier from İstanbul to popular resort towns in southern and western Turkey. In time, the Greek islands and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) will be included among its destinations. With the Twin Otters, it will take an hour and 20 minutes to fly from İstanbul to Çeşme in the western province of İzmir.

[1] Società Anonima Navigazione Aerea (abbreviated SANA) was an Italian airline established 1925 in Genoa, concentrating on flying boat routes in the western Mediterranean area.

The initial route, Genoa, Rome, Naples, Palermo was started on April 7, 1926. The seaplanes utilized were built in Marina di Pisa under license from Dornier.

In 1934, the airline merged with Aero Espresso Italiana, Società Italiana Servizi Aerei (SISA) and Società Aerea Mediterranea (SAM), to form Ala Littoria, the pre-war national airline of Italy.

Fleet
Dornier Do J "Wal" (12 passengers, 19 aircraft)
Dornier Do R "Super Wal" (12 passengers, 6 aircraft) 
Dornier Do X (66 passengers, 2 aircraft) 

[2] The DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian 19-passenger STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada and currently produced by Viking Air. The aircraft's fixed tricycle undercarriage, STOL abilities and high rate of climb have made it a successful cargo, regional passenger airliner and MEDEVAC aircraft. The versatility and manoeuvrability have made them popular all over the world, especially in areas with difficult flying environments, including Papua New Guinea, coastal surveillance in Canada, the Kelabit Highlands region in Sarawak, and to service the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides. None of them with easy landing options.