The Baby was used as a shipborne scout and bomber aircraft operating from larger ships such as seaplane carriers and cruisers, and smaller vessels such as naval trawlers and minelayers. It was even considered for operation from submarines. The main role of the Baby was to intercept German Zeppelin raids as far from Britain as possible.
The SPAD S.XIV was a single-seat French biplane seaplane fighter aircraft built by Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés (SPAD) and flown by the French Navy during World War I.
The Grigorovich M-16 was a reconnaissance floatplane used by both the Russian Empire and Estonia Airforce during World War 1.
The Curtiss HA (sometimes Dunkirk Fighter) was an American biplane seaplane designed by Captain B.L. Smith of the United States Marine Corps, and built by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company.
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Like the other Junkers designs of the period, the aircraft featured a metal framework that was skinned with corrugated duralumin sheets. 47 examples were delivered before the Armistice, including three built as floatplanes under the designation CLS.I (factory designation J 11).
A floatplane is essentially a development of land-based aircraft, with floats mounted under the fuselage instead of a wheeled landing gear. Floatplanes are traditionally more popular than flying boats for small aircraft designs, since it permits a single piston engine to be installed at the nose of the fuselage. This could be done on flying boats only by mounting the engine high above the fuselage. The fuselages of floatplanes are typically more aerodynamic than flying boats; while the large floats underneath the fuselages add extra drag and weight to floatplanes, rendering them less manoeuvrable during flight than their land-based counterparts. The installation of the floats resulted in a loss of speed, slower rate of climb and increased empty weight.
A floatplane has slender pontoons mounted under the fuselage. Two floats are common, but other configurations are possible. Only the "floats" of a floatplane normally come into contact with water. The fuselage remains above water.
Some small land aircraft can be modified to become float planes and in general floatplanes are small aircraft. Floatplanes are limited by their ability to handle wave heights typically greater than 12 inches (0.31 m). These float pontoons add to the empty weight of the airplane, and to the drag coefficient, resulting in reduced payload capacity, slower rate-of-climb and slower cruise speed.
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