During the 1990s we kept up our run of flying unique and unusual types when we helped operate a Piper Super Cub floatplane. Apart from one other aircraft which was sometimes operated by our friends at Southampton, for the majority of the time we were the only people in England to fly a floatplane.

The aircraft was imported from America in the early 1990s by Barry Jackson, and was first put together in it's wheeled configuration at Redhill Aerodrome. This aircraft was factory built as a floatplane rather than many which are converted afterwards.

The main reason why there are no longer any floatplanes operated in England, is that there are only a few places from which you can fly. Inland lakes are perfect due to the fresh water and relatively calm conditions, however, speed limits, wildlife, and neighbours (!) mean that there are only a handful of places that were useable, including Vachery Pond near Cranleigh, West Sussex, and Bewl Water reservoir in Kent. We could also operate on the sea, but only when the conditions were calm enough, and the aircraft would need a good clean afterwards to stop salt corrosion.

The Super Cub was based at Knepp Castle estate in West Sussex, see right. This was the perfect base due to their being a polo field in front of the castle which we could land on when the aircraft was on its wheels, and then just a few hundred metres away was an old hammer pond with jetty for our water operations when floats were fitted.

The lake (see left) was 1000 metres long, an average of 50 metres wide, and a minimum depth of just 2' 6", with trees around most of the perimeter. The lake pointed north-south which became interesting in cross winds, and if that wasn't enough, to keep the pilots concentration there were small power cables across the water one third of the way in from the northern end!! You had to make sure you were committed to landing above or below the wires, and to never change your mind at the last moment! After a couple of years we managed to get these removed which was a great relief to everyone.

Apart from flying for pleasure, the aim was to train people for their floatplane rating. At the time it was necessary to go to the USA to get a rating, as there were few float equipped aircraft over here and there was little or no reason to convert to a CAA recognised British rating. After working with the CAA to write a teaching syllabus, and then licensing the water (like an aerodrome is licensed), we were ready to teach the British floatplane rating. This consisted of several hours conversion on to type with a general flying test, and ground seamanship exam.

During our operations we also operated pleasure flying along with our colleague and his De Havilland Beaver floatplane. This took place at Knepp Castle for a weekend during their steam rally event in the mid 1990s, and was the first time pleasure flying on a floatplane had been available for 50 years. The photograph above shows the Beaver moored together with the Super Cub at the lakes' jetty, note the boat house to the right of the photo. The photo right shows the Beaver, G-DHCB (which was chosen to stand for De Havilland Canada Beaver), which easily operated from the lake with its 450hp powerplant.