The plane was essentially a bomber. A very big bomber designed for range. Under no circumstances was this plane to fall into enemy hands. Had they been in some older commercial plane then I am sure they could have considered their chances going East but due to the fact that they were in command of some highly advanced 'dual use' technology, going anywhere near the enemy was not an option. Because of the progress of the war and how the seaplane ended up defunct we do not appreciate that sea planes were serious high tech and vast expense.