Savoia-Marchetti's little flying boat was a hit with US buyers. Photo from: The John Fornasero Papers/The Museum of Flight

Inside the hangar at Fantasy of Flight museum. The S.56 amphibian biplane was manufactured under licence by American Aeronautical Corporation at Port Washington, NY and was the first plane to be used by the NYPD. Powered by a 125 hp Kinner B-5 radial engine, the S.56B appealed to recreational aviators during the Golden Age of Aviation.

Licence-built aircraft with over 40 of the Italian designed flying boats built in the US. NC14381 is sometimes designated the S.56C on account of its 100hp Kinner radial which was about 10% more powerful than the Kinner engine used in most American built aircraft. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

One of two surviving examples of the Savoia-Marchetti S-56B, licence-built by American Aeronautical Corporation from 1929. This one had just arrived at Duxford at the start of a European tour, possibly in commemoration of a 1931 flight from London to Hong Kong by Smith Reynolds, an ancestor of the present owners of N194M. (The other S-56B is preserved outside the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, NY, but is now in poor condition due to corrosion.)

One of two surviving examples of the Savoia-Marchetti S-56B, licence-built by American Aeronautical Corporation from 1929. This one had just arrived at Duxford at the start of a European tour, possibly in commemoration of a 1931 flight from London to Hong Kong by Smith Reynolds, an ancestor of the present owners of N194M. (The other S-56B is preserved outside the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, NY, but is now in poor condition due to corrosion.)

The American Aeronautical Corporation, founded by Enea Bossi, produced the S.56 amphibian for the American market at Port Washington, Long Island, and this looks like the place. NC897W is not listed as an S.56 in the Golden Years Register. Apparently the registration was first used by an Albert TE.1 which was cancelled in September 1930. The Port Washington site was sold to Pan Am in 1933. Bossi also built a stainless steel variant of the S.56, the Budd BB-1 Pioneer.

Training, tourist and observation aircraft seating a pilot and copilot plus one passenger behind them. Exhibited here as the optional amphibian version. Only two remain in the world, license-built NC349N now in the Cradle of Aviation Museum at Long Island (NY) and this one.

Three-seat amphibian powered by a 100 h.p. Kinner K-5 engine. Named "The Beachcomber". One of 25 built under licence from Savoia by the American Aeronautical Co of Port Washington NY in 1929. Photo obtained 60 years ago.