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28 March 2010

On this day in history: First seaplane flight, 1910

On 28th March 1910, Henri Fabre made the first successful flight in a seaplane at Martigues, near Marseilles. Fabre took four years to design and build the Fabre Hydravion, nicknamed Le Canard ('The Duck'), aided by the mechanic Marius Burdin and the naval architect Léon Sebille. Le Canard had three floats, a small wing and a control surface at the front, and a large wing at the back, where a Gnome Omega 50 hp rotary piston engine powered the 2.6 metre propeller.

After several unsuccessful attempts during the preceding weeks, Fabre finally achieved a distance of 457m (1500ft) reaching an altitude of over two metres (6ft) above the Étang de Berre on the first of four consecutive flights that day. Following his success, Fabre patented the innovative floats designed by an engineer called Bonnemaison, which provided extra lift to the aircraft and proved popular with other seaplane pioneers. He also went on to design several other seaplanes, setting up a factory to make them during the First World War.

Related posts
Montgolfier Brothers first public balloon flight: 4th June, 1783
First Zeppelin flight: 2nd July, 1900
First successful powered aeroplane flight: 17th December 1903
First flight around the world: 28th September, 1924
Charles Lindbergh arrived in Paris: 21st May, 1927

3 comments:

Ryan said...

Its amazing when you think about it, I watched a documentary last night about the stealth bomber.

VetTech said...

Makes me want to go all Joe Merchant when I think about it.

Borkiman said...

So much innovation in 100 years.

Thanks for the comments.