11/30/2009. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "Intended for passengers and air mail services to Africa and the Middle-East, Maurice Hurel developed the wooden four-passenger CAMS 53 flying boat from his earlier design, the CAMS 51 C.

As proof of concept, a CAMS 51 was fitted with a strengthened hull and flew in 1927, registered as F-AKBL (c/n 001), when further converted to CAMS 53 specifications, it became the first of 32 built in the factory of Saint-Denis: CAMS 53 (15 built), CAMS 53-1 (larger range, 11 built), CAMS 53-2 (larger payload, 5 built), all powered by two (respectively 500, 580, and 600 hp) Hispano-Suiza twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled V-engine, while the sole CAMS 53R was powered by two 450 hp Renault 12Ja twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled V-engines.

Nine aircraft were bought by Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, and the first service Marseilles – Algiers was flown on October 22, 1928. On May 15, 1929, a CAMS 53-2, flown by Gérôme Paris, established a world record when it carried a load of 4,409 lb (2,000 kg) to an altitude of 15,837 ft (4,827 m) over Saint-Raphaël. The last flight by a CAMS 53 was made in 1938.

Registered on October 16, 1928, F-AISV was produced as the fifth CAMS 53, later converted to a CAMS 53-1. A few years later, on January 11, 1933, the aircraft crashed on take off from Algiers Harbor, Algeria, one of the three crew was killed, the aircraft was lost."