Latécoère 631 SEMAF - African Cargo Run Achievement

Multi achievement

Latécoère 631 SEMAF - African Cargo Run

This is a virtual airline achievement created by Wayback Machines.

It's autumn, 1949. Latécoère 631-08 F-BDRE has been converted by the Société d’Exploitation du Matériel Aéronautique Français (SEMAF) to haul cargo from France to various ports in Africa. This flight transports cargo from Abidjian, Ivory Coast to ports in Cameroon, Chad and Tunisia.

History

Latécoère 631

The Latécoère 631 was a civil transatlantic flying boat built by Latécoère, and it held the distinction of being the largest flying boat ever constructed up to that time. In 1936, the French Civil Aviation Authority issued a specification for a 40-passenger airliner with a range of 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles).

The Latécoère 631 was ordered in 1938, with plans for it to be powered by six Gnome et Rhône P.18 engines, each producing 1,650 horsepower (1,230 kW). It was designed to be a transatlantic aircraft, capable of long-distance flights.

Construction of the Latécoère 631 was halted due to the outbreak of World War II. After the signing of the Franco-German Armistice in 1940, work on the prototype resumed. The prototype, registered as F-BAHG, took to the skies on November 4, 1942. Unfortunately, it was subsequently confiscated by the Germans and passed to the Luftwaffe. The aircraft was destroyed by an attack from two Royal Air Force de Havilland Mosquito planes over Lake Constance in 1944.

The second Latécoère 631, F-BANT, flew for the first time on March 7, 1945. It was powered by six Wright Cyclone engines. Air France purchased four of these aircraft, which entered service on the Biscarrosse - Port-Étienne - Fort de France route in July 1947.