Seaplanes and flying boats have a rich and storied history that supported the development of aviation at a time when airports as we now know them did not exist. The first successfully powered seaplane flight occurred in 1910 in Marseilles, France just 7 years following the Wright Brothers first flight. Henri Fabre piloted an invention he called the Hydravion (French for seaplane/floatplane). Fabre’s aircraft was equipped with plywood floats that enabled the lightweight plane to take off from and land safely on water.