Osea Island Seaplane Trials

with Commander John Porte’s invovlement

In 1913 Osea Island was enveloped in tight security when the Royal Navy conducted a series of tests on a revolutionary new two-man Seaplane called Seagull which was intended to be the main line of defence against enemy submarines and Zeppelins. The British Deperdussin Aeroplane Company demonstrated the seaplane in the Blackwater Estuary around Osea Island. The aeroplane was a single engine monoplane with revolutionary large floats. However, the Seagull design did not prove successful during the trials and was not taken into service by the RNAS.

In 1913 Flight Magazine published two articles about the Osea Island trials. Both articles can be seen here...

select above to view the 5-page article

which includes several photos

select above to view the 1-page article

select below to view the associated photos

Osea Island’s involvement with seaplanes did not end in 1913. The Deperdussin's test pilot during the Osea Island trials was John Cyril Porte who went on to become the commander of the Felixstowe Naval Air Station, later called the Felixstowe Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment (MAEE). Lieutenant-Commander Porte is credited with designing the Felixstowe F1, F2 F3 an F4 seaplanes and the best known of all the Felixstowe “Porte Baby”. Some of these were tested in the Blackwater. Both during WW1 and after Shorts Brothers built many Felixstowe F3 and F5s to MAEE specifications. Here are more photos from the time...

select to zoom in on the photos

Here are some extracts from... https://wikivisually.com/wiki/John_Cyril_Porte

 

Lieutenant Colonel John Cyril Porte, CMG, FRAeS

John Porte flew Deperdussin aircraft in the Military Aeroplane Trials at Larkhill and at air races at Hendon Aerodrome, where he became a popular figure with the weekend crowds, achieving a considerable reputation as a skilled pilot. In November 1912 Porte became a director of British Anzani.

Porte tested the British Deperdussin Seagull float plane successfully at Osea Island in June 1913. Around this time he was recovering from a serious operation to his jaw. During the collapse and liquidation of Deperdussin from about August 1913, Porte lost all his investments, following which he was employed by White & Thompson as a designer and test pilot.

Pursuing his interest in flying boats, in January 1914 Porte was engaged in building improved Curtiss flying boats for White & Thompson with a flying school to support the enterprise.

In April 1912 Porte was test pilot, and joint managing director of the British Deperdussin Company alongside Italian D. Lawrence Santoni, who was already well known in aviation circles and went on to found Savoia. They were the first to establish a British factory for the manufacture of a foreign aircraft; with Porte as technical director and designer, Frederick Koolhoven joined them from France as chief engineer and works manager in the summer of 1912. Porte invested nearly all his money in the venture.

Porte assisted with assembly and testing of the America flying boats at RNAS Felixstowe, he was officially posted to Felixstowe in September 1915 as Commander of the Experimental Flying Wing where he would frequently fly on offensive patrols to gather what was required of the aircraft. His first design implemented at Felixstowe was the Porte Baby, a large, three-engined biplane flying-boat powered by one central pusher and two outboard tractor Rolls-Royce Eagle engines. Between November 1915 and 1918 it was the largest flying boat built and flown in the United Kingdom.

Under Porte's supervision the Naval and Seaplane Experimental Station continued to enlarge and improve the design of the Felixstowe aircraft independently of Curtiss, through the F.3 and the F.5; Porte's last design to be built was the 123 ft-span five-engined Felixstowe Fury Triplane. It was largest seaplane in the world and largest British aircraft at the time. Several hundred seaplanes of Porte's design were built for war-time patrolling of the east coast of England, for naval reconnaissance around the Mediterranean Sea, and were even sold to the US for coast patrols. Armed with torpedoes and depth charges they could attack ships and U-boats.

Worn out by overwork and worry, illness overtaking him. Porte died suddenly in Brighton, East Sussex, in October 1919, age 35. He is buried at West Norwood Cemetery.

His monument has the epitaph:

" Colonel Porte was the inventor of the British flying boats "

In 1922 Porte was recognised for an award from

The Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors

in relation to flying boats

John Porte - possibly seated in Seagull

 

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