Background
Large bodies of water appealed to several aviation pioneers in the first two decades of the 20th century since they offered large spaces for take-off and emergency landings. Builders also anticipated naval interest. It emerged that one of the main problems was getting the floats to leave the water, that is to "unstick". The first seaplane to fly, on 28 March 1910 at Martigues, France was built by Henri Fabre, though the machine built by Glenn Curtiss and first flown on 26 January 1911 was the first practical seaplane. In England A.V.Roe & Co had put the first Type D on floats and it left the water on 18 November 1911 at Barrow-in-Furness using stepped floats, but dropped back into the water and was damaged. It flew successfully in April 1912, though always underpowered.
Read more about this topic: Lakes Water Bird
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