Page "Flying boat" Paragraph 10

Trials of the Model H ( christened America ) began in June 1914, with Lt. Cmdr.

Porte as test pilot.

Testing soon revealed a serious shortcoming in the design ; especially the tendency for the nose of the aircraft to try to submerge as engine power increased while taxiing on water.

This phenomenon had not been encountered before, since Curtiss ' earlier designs had not used such powerful engines nor large fuel / cargo loads and so were relatively much more buoyant.

In order to counteract this effect, Curtiss fitted fins to the sides of the bow to add hydrodynamic lift, but soon replaced these with sponsons, a type of underwater pontoon mounted in pairs on either side of a hull, to add more buoyancy.

These sponsons ( or their engineering equivalents ) would remain a prominent feature of flying boat hull design in the decades to follow.

With the problem resolved, preparations for the crossing resumed.

While the craft was found to handle " heavily " on takeoff, and required rather longer take-off distances than expected, 5 August 1914 was selected as the trans-Atlantic flight date.

Porte was to pilot the America.