rior to World War II most large, long-range multiengine airliners were flying boats. Part of the reason for that was the weight of a land-based airliner’s landing gear, which was thought to exact a greater penalty on performance than the aerodynamic drag imposed by a flying boat’s hull. An additional consideration was the lack of the long runways required to accommodate big landplanes compared with the ready availability of suitable bodies of water from which flying boats could operate. A further incentive was the widespread belief that a flying boat would have a better chance of surviving if
