Hughes H-4 Hercules
VFRMSFS 2020 · 2024
The largest flying boat ever built, made almost entirely of laminated birch. Howard Hughes flew it only once, a short hop over Long Beach Harbor in November 1947. No aircraft with a wider wingspan flew until 2019.
Units
Performance
- Service ceiling
- 20,900 ft
Fuel
- Total capacity
- 53,000 l
- Fuselage tank
- 14 × 3,790 l
Runway
- Usable surfaces
- Water
No published runway figures for this type yet.
Cockpit and systems
- Cockpit
- Analog gauges
- Systems
- Constant-speed propeller
Weights and capacity
- Max take-off weight (MTOW)
- 181,437 kg
Licence and training
- Extra training or endorsements
- None beyond the licence and rating.
EASA terms. Other authorities name and split ratings differently.
Flight rules and approvals
- Flight rules
- VFR only
Assumes the usual equipment. The aircraft's own documents decide what it may fly.
Type
- Manufacturer
- Hughes
- Category
- Aeroplane
- Engines
- 8× Piston
- Wake turbulence category
- H · Heavy
- In service since
- 1947
- Microsoft Flight Simulator
- 2020 · 2024
Scale drawing
TopSideFrontLength 66.65 mWingspan 97.51 mHeight 24.18 m
- Length
- 66.65 m
- Wingspan
- 97.51 m
- Height
- 24.18 m
- Fuselage width
- 7.6 m
- Propeller diameter
- 5.23 m
Drawn to scale from the published length, span and height; finer shapes are approximate.
Size comparison
- Hughes H-4 HerculesLength 66.65 m
All drawn at one scale. The person is 1.8 m tall.
Typical published values for the named variant, for learning only. Always fly with the aircraft's own flight manual (POH/AFM).
Fly the Hughes H-4 Hercules in the simulator
Practise your radio calls with this aircraft type in the AI ATC simulator.
