An iconic building on the Isle of Wight serves as a reminder of Britain’s largest flying boat. Ken Ellis outlines its brief career
“We rarely took off with all ten engines working. On one occasion we departed on nine and came back on seven.” The words of a flight test observer during the trials of the Princess, the largest flying boat ever built in Britain. At first glance, it appeared to be six engined, but only the outboard ones were singles, the others were coupled turbines driving contra-rotating propellers – that’s ten!
Of three airframes, only one took to the air; its flying career lasted 644 days, during which it conducted 47 sorties. On completion of its final outing, on May 27, 1954, it had a total of 97 hours, 50 minutes ‘on the clock’.
With an all-up weight of 330,000lb, the Princess was over five times the laden weight of a military Short Sunderland MR.5. Tip to tip, the tailplane measured 77ft 2in, just 10ft shorter than the wingspan of a Vickers Wellington. At 209ft 6in the span of the Princess was 18in shorter than that of a Boeing 747 Series 400 ‘Jumbo’. Enough of the stat-fest... what became of this leviathan?
Status symbol
If you take the car ferry out of Southampton, across the Solent to the Isle of Wight, yo…
