Operational History
Water Bird flew intensively during December 1911 and January 1912, logging some 60 flights. The longest was for 20 miles, reaching 800 ft. Joyriding passengers were carried through the Winter, but in March 1912 Water Bird was destroyed in its lakeside hangar by a storm. Remnants of the aircraft (float, rudder and tailplane) survived until at least 1961.
Water Bird was succeeded by the Lakes-built Water Hen, their first complete product. It was initially almost identical to its predecessor apart from straight edged ailerons. Larger, later modifications removed much of the similarity between the two aircraft, the later Water Hen having a much wider central float.
Read more about this topic: Lakes Water Bird
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)