An Ocean‐Going Commercial Boat: The Latécoère 521 Flying Boat Compared with Other Similar French and American Machines

ON April 7, a three‐engined Wibault monoplane took‐off from Le Bourget, the Paris airport, for Toulouse, with a consignment of mail for South America. This flight marked the inauguration of a new all air‐mail service to South America, which will operate twice a month in each direction. From Toulouse the mail was carried to Casablanca in a Bréguet 393, a new three‐engined “sesqui‐plane” for commercial service. From Casablanca the mail was carried to Dakar, the jumping‐off point for trans‐Atlantic services in the Senegal, in a three‐engined long‐range version of the Wibault low wing monoplane. At Dakar the consignment of mail was loaded into the hold of the Blériot 5190 “Santos Dumont,” flying boat, which took‐off for Natal in South America. In exactly 43 hours and 52 minutes from the take‐off at Paris, the mail was landed at Natal, whence it was further transported by air to South American cities reached by Air France.