The seaplane as seen in The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.
CN-3411 is a Moroccan-registered yellow seaplane that was radioed to support the Karaboudjan, appearing in The Crab with the Golden Claws.
Role in Book[]
After Tintin, Snowy, and Captain Haddock escaped the Karaboudjan during the events of the story, a seaplane called by the ship registered as CN-3411 was sent to dispatch them while they are lost at sea onboard a lifeboat from the Karaboudjan. The seaplane attempts to shoot them down using its machine gun integrated into it's engine shaft and propeller, but Tintin, still having a pistol he stole from the Karaboudjan, successfully obstructs the seaplane after firing a single bullet at its main ignition lead. Tintin and Haddock then put the seaplane's crew in captivity onboard and take over the aircraft with the intention of using it to travel to Spain.
Unfortunately, not only do they later get caught in a severe storm when flying, but Haddock gets drunk onboard the seaplane after drinking a bottle of whiskey inside it and makes Tintin lose control of the aircraft. They then end up crash-landing in the Sahara Desert and abandon the seaplane as it burns down (also after bringing out the knocked-out pilot and co-pilot tied-up).
Other Portrayals[]
In the 2011 motion-capture film, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, CN-3411's role is largely the same, except instead of Haddock himself causing Tintin to lose control of the seaplane resulting in its crash-landing, it ends up running low on fuel initially, and Tintin tasks Haddock on loading medical alcohol onboard into its fuel intake (though Haddock drinks it himself anyway and instead belches right into the fuel intake, resulting in more peril).
Trivia[]
- CN-3411 is based on a Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker, particularly an example with added floats and modified to have machine guns. However, the seaplane's registry number was completely fictional and real life copies of its basis had an entirely different number registry pattern.
- In the Ellipse-Nelvana adaptation of The Crab with the Golden Claws, the seaplane blows up after Tintin and Haddock abandon it rather than it just burning down.
- Despite its only appearance in The Crab with the Golden Claws and its fairly-small capacity to the story, it has become quite an iconic vehicle of the franchise.
- Another CH-300 Pacemaker also appears in The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn painted in a light/dark blue-grey livery. Tintin and Haddock use this seaplane in the film to catch up with the Karaboudjan after Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine onboard initially successfully gains ownership of the parchments from the three models of The Unicorn detailing the whereabouts of Sir Francis Haddock's treasure.
Gallery[]
