User:TheLongTone/Lakes Waterhen

The Lakes Water Hen was an early British floatplane designed by Oscar Gnosspelius in 1912. It was used by the Lakes Flying Company for pilot training and pleasure flights.

Design
The Waterhen was a development of the earlier Lakes Water Bird, and was also an unequal-span pusher two-bay biplane. The wings were designed with a deep camber to produce a low take-off speed and manufactured by A.V. Roe. Ailerons were fitted on the top wing. Bamboo outriggers carried the forward elevator and the empennage, which consisted of a rectangular horizontal stabiliser bearing a pair of semicircular elevators and a rudder. There was no fixed vertical surface. Pilot and passenger sat side by side on the lower wing. It had a single broad single step float made of aluminium and duralmin with a canvas covering, built by local boatbulders Borwick and Sons. Airbags were fitted under the outer bay of the lower wings.

Later modified, with the addition of a nacelle to protect the crew, the replacement of the single float by a pair. and the removal of the wing tip floats.

Operational history
First flown on 30 April 1912, and during the following months made around 250 flights, Used by Lt. F.A. Trotter to gain Royal Aero Club certificate No. 360. Flown by the Lakes Company until the outbreak of the First World War, when it was reqsitioned and used as a trainer at Lake Windemere by the RNAS.