Flying boat
A
flying boat is an
aircraft that is designed to take off and alight upon
water. Although some argue that it is a distinct class in its own right, others consider it as a type of
seaplane which uses its
fuselage as a floating
hull (instead of
pontoons mounted below the fuselage).
Flying boats were among the largest aircraft of the first half of the
20th century. Their ability to alight on water allowed them to break free of the size constraints imposed by general lack of large, land-based runways, and also made them important for the rescue of downed pilots, a capability put to great use in
World War II. Following World War II, their use gradually trailed off, with many of the roles taken over by other aircraft types. In the 21st century, flying boats maintain a few niche uses, such as for dropping water on forest fires and for air transport around island clusters.
 |
Curtiss NC Flying Boat "NC-3" water-taxis before takeoff, 1919 |
The flying boat
NC-4 was the first airplane to fly across the
Atlantic Ocean in
1919. In the
1920s and
1930s, flying boats made it possible to have regular air transport between the
U.S. and
Europe, opening up new air travel routes to
South America,
Africa, and
Asia.
Foynes,
Ireland and
Botwood,
Newfoundland and Labrador were the termini for many early transatlantic flights. Where land-based aircraft lacked the range to travel great distances and required
airfields to land, flying boats could stop at small
island,
river,
lake or coastal stations to refuel and resupply. The
Pan Am Boeing 314 "Clipper" planes brought exotic destinations like the
Far East in reach of air travelers and came to represent the romance of flight.
BOAC and
Imperial Airways provided flying boat passenger and mail transport links between
Britain and
South Africa,
Australia and
New Zealand using aircraft such as the
Short Empire and the
Short S.8 Calcutta.
The military value of flying boats was quickly recognized, and they were utilized by various nations in tasks from
anti-submarine patrol to
maritime search and rescue. Aircraft such as the
PBY Catalina and
Short Sunderland recovered downed airmen and operated as scout aircraft over the vast distances of the
Pacific Theater and
Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. The largest flying boat of the war was the
Blohm und Voss Bv 238 which was also the heaviest plane to fly during the Second World War.
The
Hughes H-4 Hercules in development in the U.S. during the war was even larger than the Bv238, but it did not fly until
1947. The "Spruce Goose", as the H-4 was nicknamed, was the largest flying boat ever to fly. That short 1947 hop of the 'Flying Lumberyard' was to be its last however, a victim of post-war cutbacks and the disappearance of its intended mission as a transatlantic transport.
By this time the age of the flying boats was largely at an end. Several factors contributed to the decline. The ability to land on water became less of an advantage owing to the considerable increase in the number and length of land based runways, which had been driven by the needs of the allied forces during the Second World War. Further, as the speed and range of land-based aircraft increased, the commercial competitiveness of flying boats diminished, as their design compromised aerodynamic efficiency and speed to accomplish the feat of waterborne takeoff and alighting. Competing with new civilian jet aircraft like the
De Havilland Comet and
Boeing 707 was impossible. Aircraft like the
Saunders-Roe Princess made it to prototype stage but orders or a purpose never came.
Helicopters overtook the flying boats in their air-sea rescue role. The land-based
P-3 Orion and
carrier-based
S-3 Viking became the
US Navy's fixed-wing anti-submarine patrol aircraft.
The shape of the Spruce Goose was a harbinger of the shape of larger aircraft yet to come, and the type also contributed much to the designs of later
ekranoplans. However, true flying boats have largely been replaced by
seaplanes with floats and
amphibian aircraft with wheels. The
Beriev Be-200 twin-jet amphibious aircraft is one of the closest 'living' descendants of the flying-boats of old, along with the larger amphibious planes used for fighting forest fires. There are also several experimental/kit amphibians such as the Glass Goose, the SeaMax and the Seawind.
*
AD Flying Boat*
List of flying boats and seaplanes*
Dornier Do X*
Seaplane*
Amphibious aircraft*
Jerome C. Hunsaker*
RAF Gatow*
Flying Clippers Pan American's Fabulous Flying Ships*
The Boeing B-314*
Flying Boats of the world - A Complete Reference*
Foynes Flying Boat Museum*
Present Day Application of Flying Boats*
ultralight seaplane SeaMax*
The Dornier Do X*
Centaur Seaplane
