The Curtiss Model H was a family of classes of early long-range flying boats, the first two of which were developed directly on commission in the United States in response to the £10,000 prize challenge issued in 1913 by the London newspaper, the Daily Mail, for the first non-stop aerial crossing of the Atlantic. As the first aircraft having transatlantic range and cargo-carrying capacity, it became the grandfather development leading to early international commercial air travel, and by extension, to the modern world of commercial aviation. The last widely produced class, the Model H-12, was retrospectively designated Model 6 by Curtiss' company in the 1930s, and various classes have variants with suffixed letters indicating differences.
Curtiss Model H
Porte and Curtiss as they appeared in The New York Times 10 March 1914, standing next to a Model F.
Porte & Hallett on "America", following the launch on Keuka Lake at Hammondsport, June 1914, showing the Curtiss OX-5 engines.
Model H-8 prototype on Lake Keuka, 1916.
A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy.
Short S23 "C" Class or "Empire" flying boat
A PBM Mariner takes off in 1942
Dornier X in 1932
Gabriel Voisin, air pioneer, next to Henry Farman (left), in 1908