This Account of Flying-Boats will deal mainly with British craft, and must necessarily have a personal approach from one who has been involved in flyingboat development over nearly the whole of its life history.

The prehistoric giant amphibians suffered eclipse through changing environment; similarly changed conditions in Aviation caused the still-evolving flying-boat to come to the end of its economic life. Probably concrete runways were the basic reason for the disappearance of flying-boats for both civil and military use, since landplanes were then no longer restricted either in size of efficiency or aerodrome conditions.