Roden 448 1/48 Beech Staggerwing Floatplane

The practice of converting airplanes with standard wheeled undercarriage into floatplanes, to permit them to touch down on the surfaces of lakes and reservoirs, was established in the early days of WWI, when military aircraft of various kinds (fighters, secret agent transports, even bombers) had to operate in areas where bodies of water were plentiful. This innovation was evidently a very successful type of design, and, in spite of the widespread distribution of such comparable airplanes as flying-boats and amphibians, it continued to be employed in the post-war years for various categories of aircraft.