Why aren’t there Flying Boats anymore? Because landing and takeoff is rough, they are not very stable, engines became more powerful, more runways on land were built, and the sea is very corrosive.
Before we start, let’s have a quick look at what a Flying Boat actually is. You are probably thinking of one of those seaplanes with giant floats on struts under its fuselage, but that is not a flying boat. There are three types of planes that can take off and land on water. The first type are float planes, which are the ones I just mentioned. They are normal planes but have had their retractable landing gear replaced with floats so they can takeoff and land on water. When they are on water, all of the plane is kept out of the water above the floats. The second type are amphibious aircraft. They are similar to float planes, but they have wheels on the bottom of their floats so they can also land on a runway. The third type are flying boats. They are boats with wings. They have a hull and a keel. When they are on water, their hull is submerged in the same way as a boat. A flying boat may have floats underneath its wings, but these are for stability and cannot support the weight of the plane.
The first flying boat was made in 1911 by François Denhaut. There were many advances during World War 1 and by the 1920s, flying boats were a common feature and they became much larger. So, why did they disappear?
Flying boats were built to solve a list of problems that gradually went away one by one. However, one of the biggest problems with flying boats is the surface they were taking off and landing on, namely the sea. Early planes were tested on lakes, which are much smoother than the surface of the sea. If there was too much wind and the waves became too high, take off and landing was extremely difficult, if not impossible. On the landing, the pilot needed to land across the waves so that the boat wouldn’t tip over. And that was another problem with flying boats. Their wings and high body made them inherently unstable. It was not uncommon for flying boats to capsize. The floats on their wings were for stability, but there was only so much stability they could offer.
The two main reasons flying boats have disappeared were the improvements in the engines of regular planes and the increase in available runways, both of which happened in World War 2. The main reason the flying boat was invented was for international flights. Planes in the early 20th century didn’t have enough power to make a trans-Atlantic or a trans-Pacific flight. If the plane ran out of fuel and couldn’t find anywhere to land, it would crash in the sea and the crew would die. The solution to this was flying boats because they would be able to land in the sea without any problem. They could then be refueled by a support boat.
Secondly, assuming a plane could fly across the Atlantic, or across other seas, there were no places for them to land. Planes were so few that there were not many runways. The earliest planes took off from beaches, fields, and roads. If you couldn’t guarantee a safe landing place at the end of your flight, it was very difficult to make the flight. Flying boats weren’t limited here because as long as there was sea, they could land.
Just before and during the Second World, the power of plane engines increased significantly. Transcontinental flights were no longer impossible and planes didn’t need to fear dropping in to the sea. Coupled with this, both sides in the war built a large number of runways wherever they went. Air power and air support were vital to the war effort, so they built many runways. After the war, most of these runways were maintained and planes now had a runway they could land on. And, of course, it is far more convenient to land on a runway near a city than it is to land on the sea. Flying boats were no longer necessary.
The final reason flying boats disappeared was the corrosion. Seawater is obviously salty and salt is a corrosive. Sea boats had to be checked constantly because the salt would corrode important pieces and they would no longer work or they would be a danger. Maintenance was a huge task. So, it was easier not to have flying boats than to have them. And this is what I learned today.
Image By image http://www.alaska.faa.gov/fai/afss/AcftPhoto-List.htmhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/49487266@N07/7881222436, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33729
Sources
https://simpleflying.com/flying-boats-popularity/
https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/1857/why-were-flying-boats-phased-out
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_boat
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-a-flying-boat-and-a-seaplane
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