Why vintage seaplanes are taking off

Why vintage seaplanes are taking off

Flying a vintage seaplane is the most fun you can have with your clothes on,” says Steve Slater, 61, vice-chairman of the Vintage Aircraft Club based in Northamptonshire, and a member of the Honourable Company of Air Pilots. Seaplanes evolved from the beginning of the 20th century, but they gained real recognition after the second world war, with thousands of models appearing. While some pilots attached floats to 1930s and ’40s Piper Cubs, creating “floatplanes”, manufacturers created “flying boats” that float on their hulls, some with retractable wheels for terra-firma movements – see the cult Seabee. James Bond flew one to Scaramanga’s island lair in 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun. Now the market for these models is throttling up once more.

“There’s an essence of freedom with a seaplane,” confirms Hamish Mitchell, an air traffic controller in Scotland who owns a 1969 Cessna 172 seaplane with retractable wheels called Wee Dram. He finances it running air safaris and seaplane-conversion courses for licensed aviators through Scotland on Floats. “Scotland is like a mini-Alaska. You see beauty from a seaplane you wouldn’t otherwise see.” 

Flying seaplanes off English or Welsh inland waters is tricky, but mostly permitted in Scotland and Northern Ireland. It’s one reason why