A Brief History
On March 28, 1910, aviation history was made when French aviator, Henri Fabre, made the first take off by an airplane from water in a seaplane of his own design.
Digging Deeper
The aptly named Fabre Hydravion, was of the “float plane” type, an airplane equipped with floats slung underneath, as opposed to the “flying boat” type where the hull of the airplane is the floatation device on the water.
Before World War II, there was a lack of suitable airfields around the world, making airplanes that could take off and land on the water versatile machines. In fact, for two decades before World War II, flying boats such as the Pan Am Clippers dominated air passenger travel.
Aircraft carriers came to dominate naval aviation, but small floatplanes were often found on larger warships through World War II as well. Today, float planes are mostly used in remote locations lacking airfields.
Bonus Note: The author has flown in float planes to remote Canadian lakes.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Fabre, Jean-Henri. The Story Book of Science. MuseumAudiobooks.com, 2020.
Workman, Robert. Float Planes and Flying Boats: The U.S. Coast Guard and Early Naval Aviation. Naval Institute Press,, 2017.
The featured image in this article, an old postcard in honor of the Hydravion and Henri Fabre, is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929.
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