All The Largest Flying Boats In History

all the largest flying boats in history Dornier do X at the time of its production the Dornier do X was the largest heaviest and most powerful flying boat in the world designed by Claude Dornier and completed in 1929 the do X made its first flight on July 12th that same year marking the dawn of large-capacity air travel it was powered by 12 engines mounted in six in the cells above the wing and weighed more than 31 tons equal to the mass of three and a half elephants the do X had three decks in its hull the upper deck housing the pilots a crew of 14 and engine and navigation controls the lower deck holding its 5110 gallons of fuel and the middle deck which was able to accommodate 70 passengers with incredible luxuries like sleeping berths a bar dining rooms and laboratories during a test flight it carried as many as a hundred and seventy people and was operated by Germany's national airline Lufthansa until 1933 when a crash landing broke off the aircraft's tail only three DX's were ever produced and they never enjoyed commercial success Latika air 5:21 another large transatlantic passenger aircraft valetti co air 5:21 was a French six engine flying boat that need its first flight on January 10th 1935 to mark the three hundredth year of French rule in the Americas it reached Pensacola Florida but was caught in a deadly hurricane and capsized and had to be sent back to France by boat to be rebuilt the all-metal aircraft had a large shoulder wing that was connected to sponsons on both sides which provided stability on the water it could carry 30 passengers on transatlantic flights in November 1937 it set a seaplane record for distance when it flew 3,600 miles or about one-and-a-half times the length of the Mississippi River in 34 hours and 37 minutes Martin JRM Mars in 1938 the United States Navy contracted the Glenelg Martin company to build an over water patrol bomber which would become the Navy's largest flying boat the Martin Mars had four propeller engines a deep boat like hull twin vertical tail fins and a 200 foot wingspan by 1942 the aircraft had been fully tested but the war shifted and a navy no longer had a need for a slow patrol bomber it was converted to a transport aircraft to be used mainly on Pacific routes between California and Hawaii the Mars ferried cargo as well as people and set a world passenger load record on March 4th 1949 when it carried 269 people from San Diego to Alameda California after being retired from the US Navy in 1956 the JRM Mars underwent another career change and four aircraft were converted into firefighting water bombers by a consortium of Canadian forest companies each aircraft can drop 60,000 pounds of fire retardant foam every 15 minutes to cover areas up to four acres at a time the planes refill their 7,200 gallon tanks while skimming the water with two underbelly scoops and can take on over a ton of water per second Latika Air 631 valetti co-heir 631 a descendant of the 521 was ordered in 1938 by the French Civil Aviation Authority to be another transatlantic airliner due to the outbreak of world war ii construction of the aircraft was halted and was not resumed until the signing of the franco-german armistice in 1940 the 631 made its first flight in 1942 was subsequently confiscated by the Germans and destroyed but the French continued to manufacture them in secret it was 142 feet long with a wingspan of a hundred and eighty-eight feet was powered by six propeller engines and could fly at a maximum speed of 245 miles per hour on august 2nd 1948 and air france 631 was infamously lost at sea over the atlantic ocean when it caught fire with 40 passengers and 12 crew members aboard at the time it was the deadliest accident suffered by this type of aircraft and Air France withdrew it from service following the incident sued sse2 hundred m48 before the nationalization of the French aircraft industry French aircraft manufacturer sue dest built a large six engine flying boat airliner in the late 1930s named the se 258 it featured a high set cantilever monoplane wing and twin tails was 131 feet long and 32 feet tall or about the height of two giraffes it was designed to accommodate 40 passengers a crew of eight and two pilots much like the leti co-heir 631 construction of the SC 200was abandoned after the outbreak of world war ii picked up again after the fall of france but the aircraft was destroyed in an air raid by the Germans in 1944 after being salvaged and repaired the SC 200 was able to make its first flight on April 2nd 1946 but was eventually scrapped after a hard landing during a test in 1949 tupolev AMT 22 the enormous tupolev a NT 22 was a Soviet flying boat that had two holes and was powered by six engines in three new cells mounted over the wing built in 1934 it was designed mainly as reconnaissance aircraft to explore remote offshore areas carry out bombing missions in heavily fortified enemy territory and transport bulky cargo such as small submarines or semi submersible torpedo boats on December 18 1936 it set a world record for carrying capacity amongst sea planes when it lifted ten tons of cargo to a height of 6,371 feet and was capable of carrying loads over fourteen tons for the weight of about eight cars Blohm & Voss BV 238 the Blohm & Voss BV 238 was a mammoth German flying boat built during World War two and the largest aircraft produced by any of the Axis powers during that time weighing in at over 60 tons or the weight of 100 grand pianos it was also the heaviest aircraft ever flown when it took its first flight in April 1944 it was powered by a series of six v12 piston engines mounted on a high monoplane wing it was capable of transporting and delivering soldiers and vehicles for amphibious assault and there were even rumors that Adolf Hitler could use it to escape to South America only one aircraft was ever completed and it was sunk by Allied fighter planes in 1945 while Italy docked at a seaplane base on Chelsea Lake in Germany Hughes h4 Hercules the largest flying boat ever built was the 400 thousand pound behemoth the Hughes h4 Hercules nicknamed Spruce Goose for its wooden construction designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft Company between 1942 and 1947 it has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in history it was made almost entirely out of birch wood contrary to its nickname to minimize the crafts total weight and to avoid using critical wartime materials like aluminum the h4 had a single hull eight radial engines was over five stories tall had a wingspan almost as long as a football field and was designed to carry 750 fully equipped troops or two Sherman tanks over long distances by 1947 the h4 had cost the US government a whopping 22 million dollars in an additional 18 million dollars of Howard Hughes's own money and Hughes was even called to testify before the Senate war investigating committee over the controversial use of government funds for the aircraft a few months later on November 2nd 1947 Hughes and a crew of 35 pilots engineers and invited guests flew the Spruce Goose for the first and only time we're at coasted 33 feet above the surface of Long Beach harbor for less than one minute before landing saunders-roe sr 45 princess built by british manufacturer saunders-roe between 1946 and 1952 the SR 45 princess was the largest all-metal flying boat ever constructed the design incorporated several brand new technologies for the time including a pressurized cabin all hydraulic controls and turboprop power the princess's six propellers were powered by 10 engines and the fuselage contained two passenger decks that could accommodate a hundred and five passengers with all the luxuries of an ocean liner three princesses were built but only one ever flew the original prototype made its first test flight on August 22nd 1952 and eventually clocked about a hundred hours of flight time in 46 total tests in 1958 the United States Air Force stepped in to convert the three princesses into nuclear-powered bombers but those plans were eventually abandoned leaving the princess to become a forgotten chapter in Britain's imperial past B Reeve a forty albatross a more modern variant of the flying boat is the beery of a forty albatross the largest amphibious aircraft in the world which was developed by B Reeve Aircraft Company in the mid 1980s the Russian a40 was devised primarily as an anti-submarine warplane but was also capable of reconnaissance and search-and-rescue missions and could take off and land from both water-based and traditional runways the a40 s first test flight occurred on December 8th 1986 when the craft ran out of runway during a high-speed taxiing test and was forced to go airborne with a maximum speed of 500 miles per hour and a range of 3,400 miles or about the distance from Moscow to Jerusalem and back the a40 was capable of delivering weapons such as anti-ship missiles torpedoes depth charges and naval mines since 1989 the a40 has set 148 World Records caproni CA 60 Nova plan o this nine wing flying boat prototype was designed by Italian aviation pioneer Gianni caproni and was known for its three massive sets of wings mounted on top of the crafts hull construction of the Nova plano also known as the capron ASIMO began in 1919 and it was intended to become a 100 passenger transatlantic airliner which was considered to be a rather outlandish idea at the time it had eight v12 engines and a wing area of over 8,000 square feet equivalent to the size of three tennis courts the aircraft was tested twice and tragically crashed on March 4th 1921 the CA 60 was such an extraordinary aircraft that Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki featured it and its creator in the 2013 animated film the wind rises you

Channel: Sploid

Views: 451,463

Rating: 4.711092 out of 5

Keywords: sploid, behemoth, dornier, bv 238, biggest, sud est, do x, gizmodo, princess, caproni, airliner, all the cool stuff, big plane, flying boats, martin mars, Gawker Media, beriev, blohm and voss, saunders roe, giant, trans atlantic, huge, ww2 flying boats, sncase, aircraft, tupolev, largest, gigantic, latecoere, seaplane, catalina flying boats, ant 22, howard hughes, sr 45, planes, h4 hercules, spruce goose, flying boat, se 200

Id: eCQeNERAiBk

Length: 9min 52sec (592 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 06 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/mmowg]

When in WoWp? War Thunder has these wonderful planes!

[u/jss78]

That Blohm and Voss plane is truly awe inspiring. Enough to turn the doubtful into a wehraboo.