Photo: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
The 28 March 1930, Henri Fabre successfully made the first seaplane flight
in Martigues, near Marseille, France.
Fabre was not alone in his search for build an airplane that could take off from the water, fly successfully and land safely on the water. Other inventors had been trying even before they managed to take off and land . The Austrian William Kress built a seaplane in 1901 that floated, but did not take off, it didn’t even float and it sank.
Gabriel Voisin and Ernest Archdeacon built a glider in 1905 that took off from the Seine river, but not by its own means: it had to be towed by a boat Pioneers Louis Blèriot of France and Glenn Curtiss of the United States were also in the running.
Fabre’s seaplane had an ash wood frame with cotton cover. The floats were constructed of plywood and were so well designed that they provided additional lift when the plane was in the air. It weighed just over half a ton.
Fabre had never flown a plane before that historic day in March 1910. Started the rotary motor 7-cylinder Gnome and 33 horsepower and took off at a height of 6½ feet above the water. The seaplane sailed to 34 mph and flew about 1¼ miles.
In the late 1990s 1910, the seaplanes were among the largest and fastest aircraft in the world. The ability to stop at shore stations for refueling made seaplanes a relatively safe and reliable means of long-distance transportation.
He eventually established a seaplane manufacturing company during the First World War. He died in 1984 at the age of 101 years.
During World War II, the Allies used seaplanes to access remote areas of the Pacific Ocean for reconnaissance, anti-submarine warfare, search and rescue missions. After the war, seaplanes were withdrawn from military use, in part due to large investments in jet aircraft and longer runways during the war.
Today’s modern seaplanes are primarily light amphibious aircraft equipped with floats that allow pilots to land in remote areas around the world.
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