XPost: alt.usage.english   
   From: nospam@de-ster.demon.nl   
      
   Hibou  wrote:   
      
   > Le 23/07/2025 à 22:12, Aidan Kehoe a écrit :   
   > > Ar an tríú lá is fiche de mí Iúil, scríobh J. J. Lodder:   
   > >> Hibou wrote:   
   > >>>   
   > >>> [...] Apparently it depends on the species of duck. Some think they're   
   > >>> flying boats, others that they're seaplanes.   
   > >>   
   > >> On usage: In my English they are all seaplanes,   
   > >> to be divided in floatplanes and flying boats.   
   >   
   >   
   > ObAUE: ... to be divided into...   
   >   
   > Dutch English?    :-)   
      
   No, just being careless later in the evening.   
      
   > > Wikipedia comments that 'British usage is to call floatplanes "seaplanes"   
   > > rather than use the term "seaplane" to refer to both floatplanes and flying   
   > > boats.[2].' I had a strong interest in aviation as a teenager and this   
   usage   
   > > seems to have stuck with me; the magazines I read were from the UK. [...]   
   >   
   >   
   > Just so. Seaplanes have floats on legs, while in flying boats the   
   > fuselage forms a hull.   
      
   Now you made me look it up.   
   My wikipedia says:   
   ===   
   A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and   
   landing (alighting) on water.[1] Seaplanes are usually divided into two   
   categories based on their technological characteristics: floatplanes and   
   flying boats; the latter are generally far larger and can carry far   
   more.   
   ===   
   Usage varies, it would seem.   
      
   > >> Floatplanes are typically smaller, while flying boats can be huge,   
   > >> up to Spruce Goose size.   
   > >> AFAIK the flying boats have gone almost completely extinct,   
   > >> (some dinosaurs from WWII excepted) [...]   
   >   
   > Canadair flying boats are being used as water bombers in France and   
   > elsewhere.   
   >   
   >    
      
   Certainly, seen them in action.   
   Also, quite by accident, I have seen a flight of them,   
   six in formation, going west. (the ancient model, with piston engines)   
   I guess on their way from Marseilles to the Landes,   
   to do their thing there. They make a lot of heavy noise,   
   and they are surprisingly slow, so impossible to miss.   
      
   By a recent newspaper article they are having problems.   
   Put bluntly, the planes are falling apart, (also the newer turbo-props)   
   and the French cannot keep them airworthy in sufficient numbers.   
   They need to be replaced, but there is no money for that.   
      
   The original design was for taking in fresh water.   
   Lacking that nowadays they must use sea water,   
   which results in more corrosion.   
      
   France seems to be unable these days to reach rational decisions   
   in things like this.   
   Surely the investment in water bombers must pay for itself   
   in terms of things not burned?   
      
   Jan   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)