The Lakes Flying Company was an early British aircraft manufacturer of seaplanes based at

Windermere Windermere (sometimes tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in length, and almost 1 mile (1.5 km) at its wides ...

. In 1914 it was taken over by the Northern Aircraft Company Limited.

History

The first product of the Lakes Flying Company was the Lakes Water Bird, which first flew on 25 November 1911 but was destroyed in March 1912 when the Hangar collapsed in a gale. The Water Bird was the first successful British seaplane. It was followed by two further aircraft, the Water Hen and

Sea Bird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

. The final design was the Hydro-monoplane. The seaplanes performed many pleasure flights from the Lake for the general public. In November 1914 the company was bought by the Northern Aircraft Company and the lakeside facility was expanded and pilot training (advertised as The Seaplane School) as well as pleasure flights were undertaken. One of the pilots of the Northern Aircraft Company was

John Lankester Parker John Lankester Parker OBE FRAeS Hon. MSLAE (1896 – 22 August 1965) was Chief Test Pilot for Short Brothers from 1918 until his retirement in 1945. He joined Shorts in 1916 as a part-time test pilot and assistant to then Chief Test Pilot Ronald ...

, who became Chief Test Pilot for the

Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...

company in Rochester, Kent and later

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, Northern Ireland.

Aircraft

* 1911 Lakes Water Bird * 1912 Lakes Water Hen * 1912

Lakes Sea Bird The Lakes Sea Bird was a two-seat floatplane built during 1912 by the Lakes Flying Company using the fuselage of the Avro Duigan which had been built by Avro for John Robertson Duigan. It gave many visitors to Windermere their first flight in t ...

* 1914

Lakes Hydro-monoplane A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a Depression (geology), basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the World Ocean, oce ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * Defunct aircraft manufacturers of England Companies based in Cumbria 1914 disestablishments in England 1911 establishments in England British companies disestablished in 1914 British companies established in 1911 {{England-hist-stub