by wickedwillie on May 17th, 2004

wickedwillie

Question

Help answer this question below.

What's the essential difference between a flying boat and a water plane?

  • Like
  • Report

Answers. 2 helpful answers below.

  • by Charles Varvaro on August 14th, 2004

    Charles Varvaro

    What we now call sea planes were originally called flying boats. Early sea planes looked like boats with wings attached. A great example is the Dornier Do-X (www.aviationtrivia.homestead.com/DornierX.html).

    Possibly the most sophisticated flying boat/sea plane was the Martin P6M Sea Master (www.aviationtrivia.homestead.com/P_6M.html). It is described as a floating B-52 with a speed of over 600 MPH and a ceiling of over 40,000 feet.

    The Russians experimented with a number of water planes they call Ekranoplans. These have wings like sea planes, but the wings are too short for flight. Instead the wings generated just enough ground effect lift to raise the hulls to about a maximum of ten feet above the surface. This allows the Ekranoplans to attain aircraft-like speeds. The largest Ekranoplans are the TKV-34 "Caspian Sea Monsters." They weigh over 500 tons and have a speed of 300 MPH (www.aviationtrivia.homestead.com/34.html).

    • Like
    • Report

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

  • by Anonymous on February 17th, 2005

    Anonymous

    The main difference is that a seaplane usually is supported in the water by separate floats, which are sometimes interchangeable with fixed wheel landing gear for land-based operation. A flying boat floats on its hull, which is nothing more than a fuselage which has a boat-shaped bottom and is made waterproof for water-based use.

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

Want to attach an image to your answer? Click here.

Did this answer your question? If not, then ask a new question or create a poll.

You're reading What's the essential difference between a flying boat and a water plane?

Follow us on Facebook!

Related Ads

ANSWERBAG BUZZ

Humanities questions
Questions about humanities
Humanities question
Humanities answers
HUMANTIES TEST QUESTIONS ANSWERS