Can anyone identify this flying boat?

[Bruce2002]

My brother and I are trying to get a high resolution scan of this background digital image (see link) that we came across a few years ago, but we're having no luck as to it's origins. Our only clues are that the photo was taken around 1913, and for some reason, we believe this is somewhere on the coast of Santa Barbara. There is a wealth of information available by looking at the photo, and I can be quite a slewth and spend days looking in the hopes of finding another photo to compare this plane to. But if you know what this plane is, and any other information about it, we would greatly appreciate you helping us out. We would like to make a proper print of it. I'm sure that knowing this information will lead us to the original print or negative quicker.

http://www.bagpipes.com/other/Flying_Boat.jpg

Thank you,
Bruce Farrar

[GWB]

I'll ask my fellow trivia nuts at Flightlines.....

[GWB]

here's the answer

Compliments of Dave Galvin:

This is the one and only Loughead Model G Hydro Aeroplane, built in 1913. The Loughead brothers, Malcolm and Alan, had borrowed $4000.00 dollars to build it but nobody wanted to pay the $10.00 a head they were charging to fly in it so the cab company that loaned them the money siezed it. The cab company didn't know what to do with it either so in 1915 they let the Loughead brothers take it to the Panama-Pacific Exhibition in San Francisco (where this picture was taken)to see if they could make enough money to pay for it. They did indeed pay for it and had enough left over to start their own aircraft company in Santa Barbara, California later that year. Eventually tiring of people mispronouncing and misspelling their name, they had it legally changed to Lockheed.

[Bruce2002]

Thank you

I must admit that your story (compliments of Dave Galvin) is a good one. In the time since I posted this message, I have come to a similar conclusion. I hadn't heard the part about the cab company, however.

I posted this on quite a few message boards, and surprisingly, the major consensus is that it may be a Martin derivative. Possibly a modified TA or TT.

This photo that I found on the web: http://www.aerofiles.com/loughead-g.jpg shows the Model G with palm trees and a steep mountain line (almost definitely Santa Barbara).

Now I need to confirm where the other photo was really taken. You say San Francisco, but I don't see any background of the bay. The Pennsylvania Class armored cruiser in the background is a strong case for San Francisco because the USS Maryland and USS Pennsylvania shipped out of there often. In fact, I came across a photo of a Curtiss D-Hydro being loaded or off-loaded from the USS Pennsylvania: http://www.aerofiles.com/curt-dboat.jpg . The pontoon on the D-Hydro looks the same as the one on the Model G. Maybe they shared parts!

If the photo was really taken at the Exposition, that would put the picture around 1915, and not 1913 as I had thought. Questions, questions...

Maybe more answers will come now that we have at least identified the airplane. You see, my goal is to get my hands on the physical print to make a proper reproduction of it. And that requires me locating it. Whose wall is this hanging on?

Of course, it wouldn't be complete without the whole story, so the search for answers continues.

Much appreciated,
Bruce

[GWB]

Just an FYI, Galvin is a walking aviation encyclopedia with a photographic memory. He used to work for Revell models and had access to their vast research material. We have never been able to stump him on a "name that plane" challenge. Even on the most obscure subject matter, he does the research and produces the correct answer......