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In 1940 the solution to German U-boats off the US east coast was deemed
to be giant long-range flying-boat bombers. Boeing was the obvious
builder with its track record of the prewar "Clipper" airliners and the Navy
ordered 57 to start with. Boeing built a whole new plant at Renton by Lake
Washington to build the Sea Ranger. The XPBB-1 prototype flew in July
1942 and was the largest twin-engined aircraft built to date, but the
experiences of the Pacific War saw the War Department completely revise its
strategy in favour of land-based bombers. The Sea Ranger programme was
cancelled and the Renton plant was swapped with the army for one in
Kansas. Renton subsequently built over 1000 B-29s and later C-135 jet
tanker/transports and 707 airliners. The solitary Sea Ranger never flew a combat mission before it was mothballed and scrapped.
Jim Winchester "The World's Worst Aircraft", 2005
| CREW | 10 |
| ENGINE | 2 x 2300hp Wright R-3350-8 piston engines |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 45872 kg | 101131 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 42.58 m | 139 ft 8 in |
| Length | 28.88 m | 94 ft 9 in |
| Height | 10.40 m | 34 ft 1 in |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 348 km/h | 216 mph |
 | A three-view drawing (800 x 361) |
| steve, stevelewisnewport(@)yahoo.co.uk, 28.11.2008 With a max range of 6300 miles @ 158 mph, a incredible flight duration of nearly 40hrs, was this potentially the longest flight duration of a standard production aircraft, a world record possibly | | Jim Medley, jmedley1341(@)msn.com, 27.05.2008 This plane looks a lot like a USN ASW plane flown by VP 49 out of Burmuda during Cuban crises. It was called the P5M Marlin. If you have info please email to jmedley1341@msn.com | | Cass Phillips, cassphillips(@)cox.net, 26.04.2008 The hull of this plane looks a lot like the PBM. |
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Do you have any comments about this aircraft ?
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COMPANY
PROFILE
FACTS AND FIGURES© Surprisingly for such a large flying
boat, the XPBB was twin-engined.
Defensive armament was only
four machine guns but the bomb
load was greater than a B-29's. © The XPBB-1 s wing was based on
that of the B-29 Superfortress. Some
of rhe aerodynamics were inherited
from Boeing's Model 314 Clipper. © There was a plan to use special
barges to catapult launch the Sea
Ranger so as to increase the already
long range, but this was never tested.
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