Quote:
Originally Posted by dimlee
Regarding waves as obstacles for a seaplane landing: it depends on local weather condition more than on particular area. Both Black Sea and West Med can be pretty rough. Waves are shorter than in the ocean and in "open" seas but high enough to cause a damage. Beaufort 9-10 winds and waves up to 6-9 m are not rare in those areas in winter period.
East Med is much calmer through most of year, especially in Levant - real safe haven. English Channel can be bad at Western approaches, but waves are much smaller in Dover Strait. Barentz probably was very tricky for seaplanes in winter. Ice helps to reduce waves, but... it's still ice. I wonder were they able to land in pancake ice conditions, for example.
Besides the waves, wind speed should be taken into account, of course. And in autumn/winter period - icing effect which is real menace for small ships stability and can develop extremely fast under certain conditions (wind speed/temperature/humidity).
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I seem to recall reading somewhere that the some He115's had been fitted with steel reinforcing strips on keel of the floats to make it possible to land and takeoff directly from ice for winter operations in the north. I can't remember however if this had only been trials or was actually operational used.