History of the Wasser-F-Schleppts

Quote from the German Research Institute for Gliding (DFS): “The
concept of the gliderboat is as old as gliding itself.”

Let us recall: Jacques Schneider, founder of the Schneider Trophy, was a passionate sailor and aviation enthusiast who, around 1910—like many others—believed that the future of takeoff and landing strips lay on the water. Lakes and seas were abundant in many places, whereas runways on land were expensive and could not be built everywhere. This view was also shared in Switzerland. In the article “The Water Airfield at Zürichhorn,” Hans-Heiri Stapfer writes in his book *Aviation on Lake Zurich Since 1919*: “Shortly after the end of World War I, airfields were few and far between; at the same time, it could not be denied that a large portion of Switzerland’s major cities are located on lakes or rivers.” In 1920, an impressive fleet of 12 Macchi and Savoia seaplanes operated from Lake Zurich. Thus, it would have been conceivable—albeit purely hypothetically—to tow gliders into the air from Lake Zurich, which could then land back on the water after hours of gliding.

Out of curiosity, we wanted to know whether glider tows had ever been performed from the water in the past. Based on our internet research, it can be said that numerous tows have been carried out to date using float-equipped, mostly modified land-based gliders. Gabriel Voisin made the first attempt. On June 6, 1905, he took off from the Seine—towed by a motorboat with a 150-PS engine—becoming the first person to launch an aircraft into the air from the water, and flew a full 150 meters at an altitude of 15 meters.

In 1929, *AVIATION Magazine* published a report stating that an attempt had been made to fly to Europe using a Peel Glider—a U.S.-made biplane glider—suspended from an ocean liner! However, the whole thing went wrong (as was to be expected?). If we consider today’s model water glider tow plane enthusiasts to be “crazy,” then those folks back then must have been three times as crazy!

I received additional information from my model aircraft club colleagues Hanno Pfeifer and Dominique Vultier. Example 1: In 1936, a Dornier Do 12 (an amphibious flying boat with an overhanging engine) towed a Seeadler-type water glider on Lake Constance. At 40 km/h, the “Seeadler” leveled off and touched down on the water at 58 km/h. This beautiful glider model, equipped with swept-back wings, was designed to take off and land on both water and land and to be capable of thermal and cross-country gliding. Example 2: In the fall of 1944, water glider towing exercises were conducted on Lake Chiemsee using seaplanes as tow planes. In these operations, cargo gliders (DFS 230 type) equipped with floats were towed aloft by a biplane (Heinkel He 60) that was also fitted with floats.

To the best of our knowledge, however, this marks the end of the history of the “Wasser-F-Schleppt” with tow planes, as it was no longer considered practical, and it may eventually see a revival in the field of model aircraft...