I thank you very much for the honour of your request to read this lecture before you.

In preparing this lecture I anticipated your permission to give you only some personal experience and my personal opinion regarding large all-metal seaplanes, for I know rather little about the machines of other constructors.

There is no branch of engineering where a big machine does not give a distinct advantage over an equally powerful combination of several small units. In our special case of the seaplane, these general advantages of the big unit are so obvious that they were recognised very early, and therefore I must not take your time by repeating them. I only mention the most outstanding quality of the large seaplane, i.e., its increased seaworthiness.

I am indebted to the Air Ministry for permission to use the material contained in the various official reports dealing with this subject, and I wish to say that the views expressed in this paper are my own personal views and do not in any way represent the official view of the Air Ministry, nor indicate the policy to be pursued.

I am also indebted to the makers of the aircraft for supplying information in such detail and for permission to make use of this information.