The Biggest Flying Boats

Building flying boats was a specialized business. One of the few companies making these aircraft was the German company Blohm und Voss. It built the biggest flying boat of World War II: the
six-engine BV 222 Viking, originally planned as a civilian aircraft. During the war, however, the Viking became a mil­itary transport, flying troops and sup­plies to German bases in North Africa. After Viking, Blohm und Voss built the even larger BV 238. This giant weighed as much as three B-17 bombers. It made its first flight in 1945 but was destroyed shortly afterward by Allied aircraft.

Even the giant BV-238 would have been dwarfed alongside the Hughes H4 Hercules. Built by U. S. millionaire and aviator Howard Hughes, this was the biggest flying boat ever. Also known as the Spruce Goose, it was piloted on its unsuccessful first and only flight by

Howard Hughes himself. The H4 flew for about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) on November 2, 1947, but rose no higher than about 80 feet (24.4 meters). The H4 never flew again. Another postwar giant, the British Princess (1952), which had ten engines, also failed. It was clear that land planes, not flying boats, were the future for passenger flying.

The Martin Company, founded by U. S. aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin

in 1917, produced several successful flying boats for the U. S. Navy, such as the PBM Mariner (1939) and P5M Marlin (1948). Martin also built the four-engine Mars, the biggest flying boat ever used by the U. S. Navy. Entering service in 1943, the Mars was able to carry a load of 20,500 pounds (9,307 kilograms) from California to Hawaii; it once carried 308 people. Martin’s P6M SeaMaster (1955) was jet-powered and probably

THE HUGHES H4 HERCULES (SPRUCE GOOSE)

The Hughes H4 was the biggest flying boat and the biggest propeller plane ever built. It weighed 180 tons (163 metric tons) and was 219 feet (67 meters) long. It had the biggest wingspan of any airplane-320 feet (98 meters). The H4 had eight engines and could have seated 700 passengers, but it was designed to be a military aircraft. The H4 is now on display at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. The huge hangar in which the giant airplane was built later became a movie studio.

the fastest flying boat ever, with a speed of over 600 miles per hour (965 kilo­meters per hour). Only three were built before the U. S. Navy canceled the contract in 1959. The propeller-engine Marlin was the last flying boat to serve with the U. S. Navy, flying until 1966.