curtisshydroplane

Now that is just cool.

It was not long before the first regularly-scheduled passenger air service began between St Pete and Tampa, FL. in 1914. nice image!

Glenn Curtiss's first flying boat, the 1912 Flying Fish, is depicted in this Bain photo. Note the squarish tail. The rounded tail of the flying boat in the photo above was a feature of Curtiss's second such craft, the America, built in 1914. Photos of the America and a modern reproduction of it are on this page at the Glenn Curtiss Museum website. Curtiss tested his flying boats near Hammondsport, on Lake Keuka in the Finger Lakes district of upstate New York. The America was tested on July 12, 1914, and was the subject of this New York Times article the following day. Note that the article cites the speed of the craft as 60 mph, matching the speed cited in the caption on this Bain photo. A 1912 Times report on the testing of the Flying Fish gives the top speed of that craft as 54 mph. The photo above almost certainly depicts the America, probably on July 12, 1914.

whyaduck: Thanks for this information. We'll update the source data and reload the description.

I imagine that was a difficult shot to take with the technology of the time. I particularly like how one of the pilots appears to be looking right at the camera.

maybe G. M. Hecksher, find references to aviator of that name. A Flickr photo here with alternate spelling. www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/3575394619/

Harry Angstrom: In both photos here in Flickr, the spelling is G. M. Heckscher, and a search through Google Books of published sources such as the American Aviation Historical Society journal and Glenn Curtiss: Pioneer of Aviation by Alden Hatch (Guilford, Conn: The Lyons Press, 2007), show Heckscher with that spelling, so I think the existing captions can remain. Thanks for the comment!

At Keuka Lake, Hammondsport, New York, 1913.

I found his passport application. He is Gustave Maurice Heckscher (1884-1967). He was born on 15 May 1884 in Philadelphia and it looks like he died in 1967. I will add him to Wikipedia later.

Curtiss was a genius. The Curtiss Aviation Museum in Hammondsport, NY is worth a visit. A good time to go is in the Fall when the foliage is so beautiful in the Finger Lakes. www.glennhcurtissmuseum.org/

And take some time to do some wine tasting while there.

Oh, yes, we visited two wineries. Tne NY State wines are every bit as good as the California wines

On Keuka Lake, New York.