With Portugal's entry into the Great War in March 1916, the country's ports, ships and communication routes came under permanent threat from German submarine weapons. Using airborne resources, together with the existing naval resources, would allow for greater effectiveness in the surveillance and defence of Portuguese ports and coasts, minimising and making up for the obvious shortage of naval assets.
The then First-Lieutenant Sacadura Cabral was the main advocate of the use of airborne resources in the Navy. After completing his pilot training and specialisation in seaplanes, in France, he returned to Portugal in January 1917 and proposed to the Minister for the Navy the creation of a system for aerial surveillance of the coast, which would be the most effective means of detecting the enemy submarines that were attacking national ports and ships with impunity.
The acquisition of two seaplanes from the Franco-British consortium “FBA”, in January 1917, and their arrival at the Naval Aviation Centre (NAC), in Lisbon, in December of the same year, marked the operational start of the Portuguese Naval Aviation.
'FBA' Type B 'Schreck'
These seaplanes, designed jointly by France and England, were the first to operate in the Portuguese Naval Aviation. Naval Aviation had a total of 3 seaplanes of this type, the third of which was manufactured at the Naval Aviation Centre (NAC), in Lisbon, using spare parts, a new engine bought from France, and a structure entirely built by some of the Center's carpenters.
They flew until 1918, the year they were shot down. The specimen on display is the oldest Portuguese aircraft that has survived to this day, and it is thought that there are only three of these in the world.
Characteristics: Single-engine, two-seat biplane coastal reconnaissance and bombardment aircraft.
Engine: radial, air-cooled, 9-cylinder 'Gnome Monosoupage', 100 H. P. (rotary engine);
Crew: 1 Pilot and 1 Observer
Dimensions: Length: 8.78m / Wingspan: 13.71m / Height: 3.40m
Maximum Speed and Range: At sea level, about 109 km/h, with a range of 300 km
Armament: 1 light machine gun; Bombs