N4634 was built and sent to the ELTA exhibition by the Gosport Aircraft Company. Seaplanes for the ELTA used a location at the mouth of a channel, quite exposed to the elements of the IJ Bay. The view is south towards the city centre with the triple-spired Posthoornkerk above the tailplane. Once source says the flying boat was banned from flying by the British Air Ministry, but it did fly at the exhibition, perhaps after the civil registration G-EAIK was validated. 'Returned to RAF 8.20.' Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

Amazing photo of an Aeromarine flying boat flying over Bimini in the Bamahas. Photo date 17 January 1922 according to one source, but photo reportedly issued as a postcard in the autumn of 1921. Columbus sank between Key West and Havana on 13 January with the loss of four passengers and mail. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution

American version of the British Felixstowe F5L which in turn was an improved development of the American Curtiss H-12. F5Ls were built in the US by the Naval Aircraft Factory and Curtiss. Photo from: National Archives at College Park, Maryland

This early US airline offered flights from Key West to Havana and from Miami to Bimini - both international destinations which still allowed drinking. Photo from: Monroe County Public Library

The Aeromarine 75 could seat about ten passengers and was a civil conversion of the American-built Felixstowe F.5L, itself based on a Curtiss design. Civil aviation in America lagged behind Europe through lack of government support, but Aeromarine's own airline was quite innovative, with branches in Florida and New York plus a Detroit - Cleveland service across Lake Erie. The Great Lakes Division only lasted from July 1922 until September 1923 though. In other photos its aircraft carry names and a light paint job. Here the rear fuselage reads 'Aerial Express' and a British contemporary source mentions the Aerial Express Company of Detroit. Photo from: Wayne State University

From around 1918, this nose is a rare survivor. The type was developed from the American Curtiss F.5L This nose section has been beautifully restored after being used as a garden shed and is displayed at the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation museum