Seaplane Experimental Station

Seaplane Experimental Station
Felixstowe, Suffolk
Sheds and slipways.
Coordinates	51°56′42″N 1°19′16″E / 51.945°N 1.321°E / 51.945; 1.321
Type	Naval air station Royal Air Force station
Site information
Controlled by	Royal Navy (1913-18)  Royal Air Force (1918-19)
Site history
In use	August 1913-June 1919 (June 1919)
Battles/wars	First World War

The Seaplane Experimental Station, formerly RNAS Felixstowe, was a British aircraft design unit during the early part of the 20th century.

The unit at Felixstowe was commissioned 5 August 1913 under the command of Captain C. E. Risk, RM as Seaplanes, Felixstowe followed by Lieutenant C. E. H. Rathborne, RN in 1914 and Lieutenant-Commander John Cyril Porte, RN 1915.

RNAS Felixstowe was created soon after the outbreak of World War I following the formation of the Royal Naval Air Service 1 July 1914.

As the name implies, the unit designed seaplanes and flying boats. These were generally known by the Felixstowe name although, apart from the prototypes, these flying boats were built by aircraft manufacturers such as Short Brothers, Dick, Kerr & Co. and Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company (the latter two forming part of English Electric in 1918–1919).

Upon Porte's recommendation, the station was initially equipped with Curtiss flying boats. He improved their hull designs, before developing the Felixstowe flying boats from those experiments. Many Felixstowe boats were built under licence in the USA. The craft were flown on long-range patrols to spot the German High Seas Fleet and Zeppelins, with many based at RNAS Felixstowe.

In 1916 they ran trials in conjunction with the Submarine Service at Parkeston Quay to test the carriage and launching of seaplanes carried on the deck of submarine E22.