Not sure why you persist in promoting this as the first airboat in the world. :dontknow:
It has been debunked many times over the years, most recently in March when you posted this the last time.
unforgiven11B said:
Alexander Graham Bell invited the “ first” airboat in 1905. Mr. Glenn Curtis introduced them in south Florida in the 20’s.
Given Curtis' boat shown in your post is credited for having been built in 1920, that effort was additionally preceded by:
a) Brazilian aviation pioneer Santos Dumont, who built a similar vessel for testing aircraft engines in 1907,
b) the Tellier Brothers, French aviation pioneers also in 1907,
c) Frenchman Jacques Schneider (of Schneider Trophy fame) developed and experimented with a multi-passenger airboat circa 1913–1914.
Finally, the first early airboats to see real use was in 1915, when
d) the British Army initially deployed their prototype for reconnaissance on the Tigris River in WW1; then contracted for more.
Their number had increased to nine by 1918 when the Armistice was signed ending the war. Photo from Mesopotamia, 1918.
