In summer 1912, the British pioneer aviator
Thomas Sopwith, also a keen yachtsman and power-boat racer, started design of a
flying boat, to be called the "Bat Boat" after a flying machine in
Rudyard Kipling's short story
With the Night Mail, to combine his interests in aviation and the sea. The resultant design was a
biplane, powered by a
Gnome rotary engine in a
tractor configuration. The hull, which was made of
Consuta, (i.e.
plywood sheeting sewn in place with copper wire) was built by
S. E. Saunders, the shipbuilders based at
Cowes on the
Isle of Wight who were experienced in the construction of power-boats, while the wings, of about 30 ft (9.15 m) span, were built at Sopwith's flying school at
Brooklands. Although the aircraft was approaching completion by August 1912, it was abandoned and was never flown. Sopwith then produced a completely new design of flying boat, still called "Bat-boat", this time a
pusher configuration two-bay biplane powered by a 90 hp (67 kW)
Austro-Daimler engine. The hull, which was again built by Saunders of Consuta, accommodated two people side by side in an open cockpit in line with the leading edge of the wings, and had a curved, vee-profile planing bottom. The wings, of 41 ft (12.5 m) span, were unstaggered, with lateral control by
wing warping. The tail, which had no fixed fin, was carried on tailbooms connected to the wings, while an additional forward
elevator was fitted to the front of the hull to supplement the normal elevator fitted to the tail. The new Bat-boat was assembled at Sopwith's new factory at
Kingston upon Thames early in 1913, and was displayed at the International Aero Show at
Olympia, London in February that year. The Bat-Boat was sent from Olympia to Cowes for tests in March, with both Thomas Sopwith and
Harry Hawker attempting, with little success, to get the Bat Boat airborne. The Bat Boat was wrecked by a storm. A second Bat Boat soon followed, omitting the forward elevator, while a third aircraft was built using components of the first prototype, but with a 100 hp (75 kW)
Green engine and an amphibious undercarriage. Thus equipped, the third Bat Boat won the £500
Mortimer Singer prize for the first all-British amphibious aircraft on 8 July 1913. In 1914, Sopwith laid down a second pair of Bat Boats. These two aircraft had a similar layout to the first three aircraft, but were larger, having a span of 55 ft (16.76 m), and were powered by 200 hp
Salmson engines. The first of these pair was displayed at the Olympia Air Show in March 1914. Also in March, Sopwith commenced building a final Bat Boat to compete in the 1914
Daily Mail Circuit of Britain race for seaplanes. This was similar to the Salmson powered Bat Boat exhibited at Olympia, but was powered by a 225 hp (168 kW)
Sunbeam engine. However, the outbreak of the
First World War led to cancellation of the Circuit of Britain race. ==Operational history==