Before the war Porte worked with American aircraft designer Glenn Curtiss on a trans-atlantic flying boat. Due to the start of the Great War he returned to England, eventually to command of the naval air station at Felixstowe, Suffolk.[2] Porte decided that the original Curtiss flying-boats that the Royal Navy acquired could be improved and a number of modifications to in-service flying-boats were made.[2] The modifications had a mixed result so Porte using the experience gained, developed with his Chief Technical Officer John Douglas Rennie,[1] a new single-step hull known as the Porte I.[2]
The Porte I hull used the wings and tail unit of an original H-4 (No.3580) powered by two Hispano-Suiza 8 engines; the new flying boat was designated the Felixstowe F.1.[1][2] During trials of the F.1 two further steps were added to the hull and a deeper V-shape which greatly improved the performance on takeoff and landing.[1][2] Porte went on to design a similar hull, the Porte II for the larger Curtiss H-12 flying boat, which became the Felixstowe F.2.[2][3]
^ abcdefgChorlton, Martyn, ed. (2012). Aeroplane Collectors' Archive: Golden Age of Flying-boats. Kelsey Publishing Group, Cudham, Kent. p. 23. ISBN978-1-907426-71-1.
Sons of Our Empire: Film of the Royal Naval Air Service at Felixstowe, including a Curtiss Model H-2 and prototype Felixstowe F.1 (No. 3580) fitted with Anzani engines, Porte and Commodore of Harwich, George C. Cayley RN returning from a flight in a Felixstowe F.1, about August 1916.
