Originally Posted by
Chris Scott
Hi guys,
I'm not in charge of this discussion;
but, for what it's worth, I did say
competent... I'm not sure that the Brabazon and Princess quite achieve that soubriquet, due primarily to lack of power.
From a number of fascinating conversations with the late Dick Stratton, who was flight engineer on the Princess (and went on to FTE some equally impressive projects) the basic problem with the Princess was that it was a big seaplane, at the time when the world was building runways around the world and seaplanes were becoming superfluous. As an aeroplane, and within the available technology of the 1950s, it seems to have been pretty effective.
Dick did tell me once that he believed he had the world record for simultaneous engine failures - 6 !
G