Chantiers Aéro-Maritimes de la Seine

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The aviation company Chantiers Aéro-Maritimes de la Seine , mostly known as CAMS , was a French flying boat manufacturer based in Saint-Ouen .

history

The history of CAMS began in 1916 when Lawrence Santoni became the official importer of the Italian flying boat manufacturer Società Idrovolanti Alta Italia (SIAI). The SIAI was founded in Italy in 1915 by Luigi Capè and Raffaele Conflenti . At the beginning of 1920, Santoni reached an agreement with the owners of SIAI for a production facility in France. The Società Idrovolanti Alta Italia later became part of SIAI-Marchetti .

Lawrence Santoni founded CAMS in Saint-Ouen in November 1920. In 1921 the Italian aircraft designer Raffaele Conflenti became the technical director of the new French company Chantiers Aéro-Maritimes de la Seine, which first produced the SIAI models p. 9, p. 13 and p. 16 under license. From 1922 Raffaele Conflenti developed its own flying boats and license production was given up. Numerous new types of flying boats were created under his leadership.

The first model from the French company was the CAMS 30E . It was a seaplane that the French government purchased from CAMS for the military aviation school. From 1926 onwards, the company was led by the aeronautical engineer Maurice Hurel . The main products that led to the positive result of the company were, above all, the military seaplane CAMS 37. Around 300 copies of this model were produced and 115 of the CAMS 55 were sold.

CAMS ran into financial difficulties from 1930. Due to several new development projects, including a seaplane carrier for the North Atlantic. In 1932, CAMS became insolvent and was taken over in 1933 by Henry Potez , who was already active as a French aircraft manufacturer Potez . In the factory in Saint-Ouen, aircraft were then produced for Potez, which became known on the market as POTEZ-CAMS. In 1936, CAMS joined the Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud-Est .

Potez got into trouble himself in the mid-1960s. After the Potez 840 turboprop aircraft could not establish itself in this market segment, Potez had to stop production. In 1967 the entire plant was taken over by Sud Aviation .

Type overview (extract)

Well-known aircraft that CAMS developed and manufactured

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