Favourite British classic

Princess specifications:

wingspan 66,9 m
reference wing area 466 square m
planned MTOW 156,5 tons.

Sounds that Princess has a rather large wing loading and fast takeoff and cruise speed compared to other flying boats.

Brabazon and Princess found no market. But were the designs themselves technically sound? (Martin Mars never carried a ticketed passenger, but it still is fighting fires… could a Princess do the same if any were extant?)

Anyway, wasn’t this post asking which of the two people prefered?

No it asked which aircraft was the better long haul airliner.

I’m surprised people still post questions like that. What exactly is ‘Better’ supposed to mean?

Just as an example: If one was faster and the other was cheaper to operate then the first one would be better from the passenger’s point of view, the second better for the operator.

Pointless question.

Moggy

Just my meagre tuppence worth but,

Weren’t they obsolete before they made there first flights? I suppose if you put yourself in there position then the fact that the age of Jet travel was just around the corner, coupled with the huge changes in social britain after the war might not have been immediately obvious.

Feel free to shoot me down in flames though, I wasn’t even born until another 3 decades later!

Anyway, wasn’t this post asking which of the two people prefered?

Smiler.

Brabazon:
wingspan – 70,1 m
wing reference area – 494 square m
supposed MTOW – 130 tons.

Note that the wingspan is rather close to that of Convair B-36. Which flies quite well.

Both were built postwar based on pre-war thinking.

Huge flying boats and aircraft equipped like rail cars for the wealthy?
Sure, if it’s 1937 and pre-long range aircraft (like the DC-4)…
and before everyplace worth going to had a runway…(many courtesy of WWII).

Neither carried a single fare paying passenger………think that says it all !!!

Planemike

You could never directly compare them as one was a flying boat and the other a land plane

The only thing they really have in common is neither should have been built

Both shocking wastes of time money and muddled thinking of the times (he said with very 21st century viewpoint) not even as if the industry learned lot from either one – Brabazon looked slinky I guess, but didn’t even the mock up have ivory soap dishes etc etc ???

Ah yes I can hear the Chicken Pate News now, ‘the price of progress these two new giant airliners capable of flying 15 people from the UK to our empire in the astounding time of under three days, complete with powder and smoking rooms’

Personally I prefer the Princess!

What was the better long-haul airliner – Brabazon or Princess?

Neither.. they were both unnecessarily overcomplicated and er a little on the large side,there was already enough info available about complex engine installations and why to avoid them in a/c design 😉

cheers baz

Neither of them can have been that much good at long-haul – I don’t think either of them ever got to fly outside the UK !!!! :diablo:

Now if you’d included the Comet, or even the Britannia……..